US 2017/0291541 A1 · MODIFYING AN AUDIO PANORAMA TO INDICATE THE PRESENCE OF DANGER OR OTHER EVENTS OF INTEREST

Abstract

A personal safety system detects imminent danger or other event of interest and then modifies a sound panorama to focus a user's attention towards the direction of the danger or other event of interest. The personal safety system may isolate sounds originating from the direction of the danger or other event of interest, collapse the sound panorama towards the direction of the danger or other event of interest, or compress the sound panorama to align with the direction of the danger or other event of interest. The personal safety system may be integrated into an automobile or a wearable system physically attached to the user. Advantageously, the attention of the user may be drawn towards imminent danger or other events of interest without introducing additional sensory information to the user, thereby reducing the likelihood of startling or distracting the user.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A system configured to indicate the presence of an event of interest to a user, the system comprising:

a processor configured to:
determine a location associated with the event of interest;
and
generate at least one signal associated with an audio panorama that is aligned with the location associated with the event of interest;
and
a plurality of audio output devices configured to output the at least one signal to the user so that the audio panorama is perceived from the location associated with the event of interest.

3 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to indicate the presence of an event of interest to a user, by performing the steps of:

determining a location associated with the event of interest;
generating at least one signal associated with an audio panorama that is aligned with the location associated with the event of interest;
and
transmitting the at least one signal to a plurality of audio output devices to output the audio panorama so that the audio panorama is perceived from the location associated with the event of interest.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Modifying an audio panorama to indicate the presence of danger or other events of interest

Life of this patent

Modifying an audio panorama to indicate the presence of danger or other events of interest

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20