Steering of directional sound beams
Patent 7146011 Issued on December 5, 2006. Estimated Expiration Date: 
February 28, 2024. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.
February 28, 2024. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.Patent ReferencesUltrasonic nondiffracting transducer Visual and sound communication system with remote control means Sound localization using parametric ultrasound Multipanoramic ultrasonic probe Sparse two-dimensional wideband ultrasound transducer arrays Apparatus and method of broadcasting audible sound using ultrasonic sound as a carrier Patent #: 6052336 Inventors
AssigneeApplicationNo. 10789243 filed on 02/28/2004US Classes:381/77, ONE-WAY AUDIO SIGNAL PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION381/79, Near field381/111, CIRCUITRY COMBINED WITH SPECIFIC TYPE MICROPHONE OR LOUDSPEAKER381/116, With electrostatic loudspeaker367/92, Parametric sonar367/138, With beam forming, shaping, steering, or scanning600/459, Structure of transducer or probe assembly600/447, Electronic array scanning367/121By electrical meansExaminersPrimary: Chin, VivianAssistant: Faulk, Devona E Attorney, Agent or FirmForeign Patent References
International ClassesH04B 3/00H04B 5/00 H04B 1/02 H04R 3/00 G10S 15/00 AbstractApparatus is disclosed for steering a directional audio beam that is self-demodulated from an ultrasound carrier. The apparatus includes means for modulating a carrier signal with an audio signal and means for adjusting the amplitude and phase of at least one of the audio signal and/or the carrier signal to steer the audio beam to a desired direction. The apparatus also includes means for generating an ultrasound beam in the desired direction driven by the modulated carrier signal. The apparatus may include means for weighting the audio and/or carrier signal by a zeroth order Bessel function to synthesize a Bessel distribution source. A corresponding method for steering a directional audio beam is also disclosed. A harmonic generator may be used to generate harmonics of low frequencies in the audio signal. The harmonics may provide (upon demodulation) a psycho-acoustic impression of improved perception of low frequencies. Further, a modulated ultrasonic signal or an unmodulated audio signal may be band-passed into two or more different band-limited signals. The band-limited signals may be amplified and transmitted by ultrasonic transducers having mechanical resonance frequencies substantially equal to a characteristic frequency of the band-limited signals. Ultrasonic processing of the audio signal may include square root methods without generating large numbers of harmonics.Other References
| |
