Method and apparatus for occupant-based noise cancellation
AssigneeHarman International Industries, Incorporated
InventorsPrasanna Kumar Bolisetty Yeswanth Naga, Xiaodong Yang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described herein are methods and systems for a vehicle system which provide inbuilt noise cancellation in the vehicle and automatic detection of an auxiliary seat (e.g., an infant car seat) which may be positioned in the vehicle. In one or more embodiments, a method for controlling the noise cancelling system includes determining a presence of an auxiliary seat in a zone of a vehicle and, responsive to the presence of the auxiliary seat, activating a noise cancellation device to adjust a noise level in the vehicle zone.
Claims19
A method for an auxiliary carrier, comprising:
- outputting sound via a speaker array of the auxiliary carrier positioned in a first zone of a vehicle to at least partially reduce an environmental sound level when the environmental sound level exceeds a first sound level threshold;
- and
- outputting sound via speakers of a second zone of the vehicle to at least partially reduce the environmental sound level when the auxiliary carrier is positioned in the second zone of the vehicle and the environmental sound level exceeds a second sound level threshold,
- wherein one or more speakers of the first zone of the vehicle are shared by another zone of the vehicle, and outputting sound via the speaker array of the auxiliary carrier positioned in the first zone includes outputting the same sound as is output by speakers of the first zone, delayed by one-half wavelength with respect to sound output by speakers of the first zone.
A method for a vehicle system, comprising:
- detecting a presence of a user in a vehicle;
- detecting an age of the user;
- detecting a zone of the vehicle in which the user is positioned;
- detecting an environmental sound level within the zone of the vehicle in which the user is positioned;
- and
- in response to the environmental sound level within the zone of the vehicle exceeding a sound level threshold when the user is in the zone of the vehicle, outputting sound via speakers of the zone to reduce the environmental sound level to at least a first level when the age of the user is within a first age range, and to reduce the environmental sound level to at least a second level when the age of the user is within a second age range, different from the first age range.
A system for an auxiliary carrier, comprising:
- a location sensor selectively coupled to the auxiliary carrier and configured to detect a position of the auxiliary carrier with respect to a vehicle;
- a user sensor configured to detect a presence of a user in the auxiliary carrier;
- a microphone array configured to receive a sound input;
- a speaker array configured to output sound in a direction towards the auxiliary carrier;
- and
- a controller with computer-readable instructions that, when executed, cause the controller to identify a position of the auxiliary carrier with respect to the vehicle via the location sensor, identify the presence of the user in the auxiliary carrier, and, in response to the auxiliary carrier being positioned in the vehicle and the presence of the user in the auxiliary carrier being detected, detect the sound input via the microphone array and output sound, via the speaker array, to at least partially reduce a volume level of the sound input.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.