# US 11,038,589 B2 · Visual light audio transmission system and processing method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,038,589 B2 - Document ID: US11038589B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/867,397 - Filed: 2020-05-05 - Published: 2020-08-20 - Granted: 2021-06-15 - Earliest claimed: 2018-04-20 - Assignees: Wave Sciences, LLC - Applicants: Wave Sciences, LLC - Inventors: James Keith McElveen; Gregory S. Nordlund, Jr.; Leonid Krasny - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11038589B2 ## CPC - H04B 10/116: Visible light communication - H04R 1/028: {associated with devices performing functions other than acoustics, e.g. electric candles} - G10L 21/0208: Noise filtering - G10L 21/0232: Processing in the frequency domain - H04B 10/1143: {Bidirectional transmission} - H04B 10/541: {Digital intensity or amplitude modulation} - H04B 11/00: Transmission systems employing ultrasonic, sonic or infrasonic waves - H04R 1/04: Structural association of microphone with electric circuitry therefor (in electric hearing aids H04R25/00) - H04R 3/005: {for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} - G10L 2021/02166: {Microphone arrays; Beamforming} - H04B: TRANSMISSION - H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K) - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING ## Abstract A visible light audio system is operable to enable free space optical communication of audio signals via transmission of modulated light intensity at a light source to a photo diode being operably engaged with a demodulator and audio output device. Embodiments of the present disclosure enable a plurality of visible light transmitting apparatuses being installed in a commercial or residential dwelling and operably engaged over a network to combine their microphone inputs via spatial, amplitude, spectral, and/or temporal filtering and physical and geometrical modeling methods to separate one or more acoustic sources using a visible light audio system comprising an array of light sources being operable to receive an audio source input. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A visible light audio system comprising: one or more light transmitting apparatuses being located within an acoustic environment and operably engaged to comprise an array, the plurality of light transmitting apparatuses comprising a plurality of transducers being configured to capture or transmit acoustic audio signals; a computing device comprising an audio processing module communicably engaged with the one or more light transmitting apparatuses to receive an audio input comprising the acoustic audio signals, the audio processing module comprising at least one processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause the processor to perform one or more spatial audio processing operations, the one or more spatial audio processing operations comprising: receiving the audio input comprising the acoustic audio signals; processing the audio input to determine at least one acoustic propagation model for at least one source location within the acoustic environment, the at least one acoustic propagation model comprising at least one Green's Function estimation; processing the audio input according to the at least one acoustic propagation model to spatially filter at least one target audio signal from one or more non-target audio signals within the audio input to derive a processed audio output, wherein the at least one target audio signal corresponds to the at least one source location; and transmitting the processed audio output via the one or more light transmitting apparatuses. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more light transmitting apparatuses are communicably engaged via a networked configuration. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2 wherein the networked configuration comprises a wireless or wireline communications interface. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the processed audio output comprises a modulated visible light output. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more spatial audio processing operations further comprise calculating at least one noise reduction filter. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more spatial audio processing operations further comprise applying a phase correction filter to the processed audio output. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the audio input comprises a live audio feed. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the audio input comprises a recorded audio file. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1 wherein the one or more spatial audio processing operations further comprise applying a whitening filter to the at least one target audio signal. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9 wherein the whitening filter is applied concurrently or concomitantly with the at least one acoustic propagation model. ### Claim 11 A spatial audio processing method comprising: receiving, with one or more light transmitting apparatuses comprising one or more acoustic transducers, an audio input; processing, with an audio processor, the audio input to determine at least one acoustic propagation model for at least one source location within an acoustic environment, the at least one acoustic propagation model comprising at least one Green's Function estimation; processing, with the audio processor, the audio input according to the at least one acoustic propagation model to spatially filter at least one target audio signal from one or more non-target audio signals within the audio input to derive a processed audio output, wherein the at least one target audio signal corresponds to the at least one source location; and transmitting, via the one or more light transmitting apparatuses, the processed audio output. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 wherein the processed audio output comprises a modulated visible light output. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 further comprising receiving, with a receiver device, the modulated visible light output. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The method of claim 13 further comprising outputting, with at least one audio output device operably engaged with the receiver device, the processed audio output. ### Claim 15 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 further comprising calculating, with the audio processor, at least one noise reduction filter. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 further comprising applying, with the audio processor, a phase correction filter to the processed audio output. ### Claim 17 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 further comprising applying, with the audio processor, a whitening filter to the at least one target audio signal to derive the processed audio output. ### Claim 18 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 wherein the audio input comprises a live audio feed. ### Claim 19 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11 wherein the audio input comprises a recorded audio file. ### Claim 20 A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions for commanding one or more processors to execute operations of a method for spatial audio processing, the operations comprising: receiving an audio input comprising at least one target audio signal and non-target audio signals; processing the audio input to determine at least one acoustic propagation model for at least one source location within an acoustic environment, the at least one acoustic propagation model comprising at least one Green's Function estimation; processing the audio input according to the at least one acoustic propagation model to spatially filter the at least one target audio signal from the non-target audio signals to derive a processed audio output, wherein the at least one target audio signal corresponds to the at least one source location; and transmitting the processed audio output via one or more light transmitting devices.