US 9,319,794 B2Granted

Surround sound system

AssigneeIndustrial Research Limited

InventorsTerence Betlehem, Mark Alistair Poletti

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Abstract

A surround sound system for reproducing a spatial sound field in a sound control region within a room having at least one sound reflective surface. The system uses multiple steerable loudspeakers located about the sound control region, each loudspeaker having a plurality of different individual directional response channels being controlled by respective speaker input signals to generate sound waves emanating from the loudspeaker with a desired overall directional response. A control unit connected drives each of the loudspeakers and has pre-configured filters based on measured acoustic transfer functions for the room for filtering the input spatial audio signals to generate the speaker input signals for all the loudspeakers to generate sound waves with coordinated overall directional responses that combine together at the sound control region in the form of either direct sound or reflected sound from the reflective surface(s) of the room to reproduce the spatial sound field.

Claims33

Dependent claims

A surround sound system configured to produce a spatial sound field in a sound control region within a room having at least one sound reflective surface, comprising:

multiple steerable loudspeakers located about the sound control region, each loudspeaker configured to receive a plurality of speaker input signals, each speaker input signal controlling one of a plurality of different individual directional beam response patterns which may be generated by the loudspeaker, and wherein the overall directional response of the sound waves emanating from the loudspeaker is that created by a combination of the individual directional beam response patterns as dictated by the speaker input signals;
and
a control unit connected to each of the loudspeakers and which in a playback mode receives input spatial audio signals representing a spatial sound field for production in the sound control region, the control unit having pre-configured filters for filtering the input spatial audio signals to generate the speaker input signals for driving the loudspeakers to generate sound waves with respective overall directional responses that are co-ordinated to combine together at the sound control region to produce the spatial sound field in the form of direct sound emanating into the sound control region directly from one or more loudspeakers and reflected sound emanating into the sound control region from the reflective surface(s) of the room, the filters of the control unit being pre-configured in a configuration mode prior to operating in playback mode based on acoustic transfer function data measured by a sound field recording system comprising a microphone array located in the sound control region and where the acoustic transfer function data represents the acoustic transfer functions measured by the microphone array in response to test signals generated by each of the loudspeakers for each of their individual directional beam response patterns at their respective locations in the room.

An audio device for driving multiple steerable loudspeakers to produce a spatial sound field in a sound control region, each loudspeaker having a plurality of different individual directional beam response patterns being controlled by respective speaker input signals to generate sound waves emanating from the loudspeaker with a desired overall directional response created by a combination of the individual directional beam response patterns as dictated by the speaker input signals, and where the loudspeakers are located about a sound control region in a room having at least one sound reflective surface, the device comprising:

an input interface for receiving input spatial audio signals representing a spatial sound field for production in the sound control region;
a filter module comprising filters that are configurable based on acoustic transfer function data representing the acoustic transfer functions measured by a sound field recording system comprising a microphone array located in the sound control region and where the acoustic transfer function data represents the acoustic transfer functions measured by the microphone array in response to test signals generated by each of the loudspeakers for each of their individual directional beam response patterns at their respective locations in the room, and wherein the filters filter the input spatial audio signals to generate speaker input signals for driving the loudspeakers to generate sound waves with respective overall directional responses that are co-ordinated to combine together at the sound control region to produce the spatial sound field in the form of direct sound emanating into the sound control region directly from one or more of the loudspeakers and reflected sound emanating into the sound control region from the reflective surface(s) of the room;
and
an output interface for connecting to all the loudspeakers and for sending the speaker input signals to the loudspeakers.

1 more element

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/817,945Filed 22 Aug 2011
Priority: NZ 58748320 Aug 2010
Published: US 2013/0223658 A129 Aug 2013
Granted: 19 Apr 2016
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H04R 5/02
Stereophonic arrangements: spatial or constructional arrangements of loudspeakers
H04S 3/002
Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic: non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound…
G10L 19/008
Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals,…:…
H04S 2420/11
Techniques used stereophonic systems covered by H04S but not provided for in its groups: application of ambisonics in stereophonic audio systems