Directional horn and method of use
AssigneeGM Global Technology Operations LLC
InventorsGuy Raz, Eli Tzirkel-Hancock
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A directional horn may include at least one group of a plurality of speakers or audio emitters. The audio emitters may each emit and audio signal at a same frequency. A processor may control a relative phase difference and relative gain difference between each audio signal, based on a determined direction. The directional horn may be positioned on a vehicle. The determined direction may be based on a direction indicated by a driver controlling the vehicle, external environmental factors, vehicle dynamics, or other factors.
Claims17
A tunable, vehicular directional horn, comprising:
- a horn mounted on a vehicle, the horn including at least one cluster of audio emitters, each of the audio emitters configured to emit;
- at least one audio signal;
- and
- a processor configured to:
- define a direction of focus of a horn sound based on sensor data, the horn sound being a composite of the audio signals,
- define a relative phase difference and a relative gain difference between each the audio signals, in accordance with the direction of focus of the horn sound.
A method of controlling a vehicular horn sound comprising:
- defining a direction of focus of the vehicular horn sound from sensor data derived from a sensor, the sound formed from a plurality of audio signals;
- and
- using a processor to define a phase and a gain difference between each of the plurality of audio signals in accordance with the direction of focus of the horn sound;
- and
- emitting audio signals in accordance with the phase difference and the gain difference.
A vehicular horn system, comprising:
- a plurality of audio emitters mounted on a vehicle, each audio emitter configured to emit audio signals;
- a processor configured to define a direction of focus of a composite sound formed from the plurality of the audio signals, the direction of focus derived from sensor data;
- and
- a processor configured to define a phase difference and a gain difference between each of the audio signals in accordance with the direction of focus of the composite sound.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.