REVIEWS OF ACOUSTICAL PATENTS Free

• GEORGE L. AUGSPURGER, Perception, Incorporated, Box 39536, Los Angeles, California 90039

• DAVID PREVES, Starkey Laboratories, 6600 Washington Ave. S., Eden Prairie, Minnesota 55344

• BENJAMIN MARKHAM, Acentech Incorporated, 33 Moulton Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

• ERIC E. UNGAR, Acentech, Incorporated, 33 Moulton Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

• JOHN A. HOSSACK, Department of Biomedical, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908

• JAY KIRSCH, Harman Corporate Technology Group, 10653 S. Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 300, South Jordan, Utah 84095

[Editors' note: with this issue we bid farewell to Carl Rosenberg, who reviewed architectural acoustic patents almost every month for the past 20 years or more. His last review before his retirement appeared in last month's issue. Carl's area will be covered by his colleague Ben Markham, beginning with the present issue.]

Dana Massie and Sumit Sanyal, assignors to Knowles Electronics, LLC

27 December 2016; filed 20 November 2014

This patent is more than a little hard to pin down. The method described is intended “…for use in mobile devices and other contexts having mobile properties, which may require the ability to continuously monitor and update the acoustic signature of a room or other space with respect to the mobile device and/or other mobile properties.” The patent sets forth the notion that ultrasonic echo patterns can be used to derive such an acoustic signature. The ultrasonic probe signal is mixed with the normal audio signal.—GLA

Graham Bank, assignor to Flat Audio Technologies LLC

20 December 2016; filed 16 June 2009

This loudspeaker features a flat-panel diaphragm 51 driven by a single voice coil 55. The novel feature is a conical stiffener 60 that suppresses the first bending mode of the panel. The invention is well thought-out and clearly described. The patent includes frequency response curves showing a fairly smooth transition from pistonic to bending mode operation. It should be noted, however, that there was a flurry of interest in “flat cone” loudspeakers in the 1980s. Somewhat similar designs were produced by at least three major loudspeaker manufacturers.—GLA

Robert H. Blick and Burke S. Richmond, assignors to Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

27 December 2016; filed 5 March 2013

An audio transducer comprising a piezoelectric membrane having thickness less than an eardrum, is supported by and conforms to an outer surface of an eardrum. At least two electrodes attached to the piezoelectric membrane communicate with an antenna supported on the membrane, to exchange audio frequency electrical energy corresponding to audio stimulation of the eardrum and/or detection of sound at the eardrum. Circuitry on the piezoelectric membrane down-converts radio frequency energy received from a device outside the ear canal to a signal in the audio range to be applied to the electrodes. The membrane may be a semiconductor.—DAP

Roman Litovsky and Chester Smith Williams, assignors to BOSE CORPORATION

20 December 2016; filed 26 January 2015

In small low frequency loudspeaker systems, a passive radiator can be used instead of a vent to save valuable interior space. It is even possible to mount the loudspeaker on the passive radiator, thus saving panel area as well. In this patent, the idea is taken a step farther by employing two passive radiators, with loudspeakers mounted on each one. The illustration shows woofer 160 mounted on passive radiator 170. The woofer is nested between two tweeters 130 mounted on passive radiator 120. It is difficult to think of a practical application for this arrangement, but Bose may well have a product in mind.—GLA

Matthew A. Donarski et al., assignors to Apple Inc.

20 December 2016; filed 24 November 2014

It is difficult to find space for loudspeakers in smartphones and other small, portable audio devices. One attractive idea is to use the case itself as the loudspeaker diaphragm, and several patented designs already exist. In this variant, one panel is divided into several sub-panels, each driven by a separate actuator. The different sub-panels reproduce different bands of frequencies, and digital signal processing is used to achieve smooth combined response.—GLA

Ajay Kumar Vaidhyanathan et al., assignors to Intel Corporation

20 December 2016; filed 31 August 2015

The headphone wires of portable audio devices can pick up RF interference, causing problems with internal audio circuitry. Moreover, according to this patent, “…the RF signal in the headset wires can carry a modulating signal that is within the human hearing range.” The patent goes on to say that a conventional RF interference filter may be only partially effective, and that adaptive noise cancellation is a better option. A digital integrated circuit implementation is proposed.—GLA

Kim Spetzler Berthelsen and Kasper Strange, assignors to Analog Devices Global

20 December 2016; filed 10 October 2014

At least a half-dozen existing patents disclose methods for sensing loudspeaker voice coil temperature. The method described here is said to be well-suited for use in small, portable devices using Class D audio power amplifiers. It measures the current drawn by a probe signal whose frequency is well below the resonance frequency of the speaker. The probe signal is not necessarily a sine wave, and in preferred embodiments it is not continuous.—GLA

J. Craig Oxford, Nashville, TN and D. Michael Shiekts, St. Paul, MN

27 December 2016; filed 17 January 2012

The free-field low frequency response of a moving coil loudspeaker in a closed box is determined by only two factors. This makes it easy to calculate the electrical equalization required to lower the cutoff frequency as desired. The method can be described in terms of transfer functions, and that is what has been patented here. (Does anyone remember the original Bose 901 loudspeaker with its outboard equalizer?)—GLA

Seth D. Burgett and Michael Joseph Spenner, assignors to Harman International Industries, Inc.

20 December 2016; filed 24 March 2015

Like several similar designs, this headphone allows the wearer to hear a controlled amount of exterior sound. One or more air passages 34 lead to opening 38. The amount of air leakage is controlled by valves 40. Valve operation is automatic, and that is the novel feature of the design. A digital processor analyzes the signal from an external microphone and adjusts the valves accordingly. In addition, if the sensed signal includes a repeated sound (a warning signal), it is amplified and fed to the loudspeaker.—GLA

Sorin V. Dusan et al., assignors to Apple, Inc.

27 December 2016; filed 21 February 2014

Apple seems to be moving rapidly toward a standard wireless earbud configuration that includes two microphones and an accelerometer in addition to a loudspeaker. When a pair of these earbuds are used for hands-free communication, which one should be selected for optimum voice pickup? This patent describes a suitable method for making the choice. “Specifically, the determination may be based on at least one of a noise and wind level captured by the microphone in each earbud, the inertial sensor output from the inertial sensors in each earbud, the battery level of each earbud, and the position of the earbuds.”—GLA

Anssi Sakari Rämö et al., assignors to Nokia Technologies Oy

27 December 2016; filed 23 December 2011

This patent is more interesting for what it says than what it is intended to do (which is murky). The vocabulary used includes impressive technical terms like “target vector” and “tangible storage medium.” In one sentence, 40 words are used to inform us that the signals in two channels may be the same or different. The stated goal is, “a cost reduced approach for generating a multi-channel signal…with respect to application of speech, audio or video signals.” This is somehow to be accomplished by deriving and processing a noise component and a noise reduced component from a monophonic signal.—GLA

Joshua Brandon Lando and Matthew Fellers, assignors to Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation

27 December 2016; filed 26 August 2013

This is one of several recent Dolby patents dealing with home reproduction of full-immersion surround sound. Direct and reflected sounds from various locations are controlled by a processing system that works with metadata and audio objects as well as conventional channel-assigned audio. Although a broad, general approach is described in the patent text, the Claims are actually quite restricted.—GLA

James D. Logan, assignor to Twin Harbor Labs, LLC

13 December 2016; filed 31 August 2009

This patent describes devices that use accelerometers to determine if and when an object has been moved and provide a corresponding warning or message.—EEU

Jon Sessler and Michael Sessler, both of Sumner, WA

20 December 2016; filed 11 May 2015

Double-stud wall configurations are in common use to mitigate sound transmission. This patent describes a method for preassembling a pair of metal studs to save erection time. Two single studs, spaced a fixed distance apart, are adhered to one another with an acoustic damping material and a compliant spacer between the studs; in this way the dual-stud framing can be installed as one, while maintaining high sound transmission loss properties.—BEM

Glen A. Norris, Tokyo, Japan and Philip Scott Lyren, Hong Kong, China

27 December 2016; filed 8 September 2016

During a voice exchange between a computer program and a user, a sound localization point (SLP) of a voice is moved by a portable electronic device (PED), which communicates over the Internet with a server, executing the computer program. Binaural sound is provided to the user during the voice exchange via a head-worn electronic earphone in communication with the PED so that the origin of the voice of the computer program occurs at the SLP at a first location that is in empty space greater than one meter away from the user's head. In response to a user voice command, the SLP is moved from the first location in empty space to a second location inside the user's head. The voice of the computer program is provided via the earphone so that it occurs at the second SLP inside the user's head.—DAP

Peter Nikles, assignor to Sivantos Pte. Ltd.

13 December 2016; filed 9 June 2014

To reduce electromagnetic interference (EMI) coupling, an antenna system for a hearing instrument includes a coil core made of magnetically permeable material having an end shaped into a partly planar shield that is oriented transverse to the main send-and-receive spatial directions of the antenna system. Coupling into the antenna system from a hearing instrument component emitting EMI mainly in a noise radiation spatial direction is reduced by orienting the main send-and-receive spatial direction transverse to the noise radiation spatial direction. The hearing instrument component may include a coil configuration whose longitudinal axis is oriented transverse to that of the coil antenna. The hearing instrument component may be fastened to the planar shield. At last, one section of the planar shield may have its circumference surrounding the hearing instrument component in a direction facing away from the antenna system.—DAP

Sridhar Kalluri and Brent Edwards, assignors to Starkey Laboratories, Inc.

27 December 2016; filed 22 December 2009

Upon receipt of a start testing command, a pair of hearing aids are tested by having them generate and play repeatedly a dichotic sound in time synchronization that includes a progressively variable interaural time difference. At least one of the hearing aids is programmed to detect the start testing command. The testing has a predetermined programmable completion for the wearer to sense, and indicate if the binaural operation is detected during a time the dichotic sound is played. The hearing aids may play a pure tone, e.g., 500 or 900 Hz, as the dichotic sound. The dichotic sound may elicit a Huggins pitch. The hearing aids may play, as the dichotic sound, a complex tone simultaneously at integer frequency multiples of a fundamental frequency.—DAP

Thomas A. Scheller, assignor to Starkey Laboratories, Inc.

27 December 2016; filed 19 July 2013

A hearing assistance device receives a signal from a cellular telephone including a representation of a sensed parameter related to the cellular telephone location and movement. The hearing assistance device operating mode is adjusted by its signal processor according to the identified acoustic environment based on the received signal from the cellular telephone in combination with audio information from the hearing assistance device, without using an accelerometer in the hearing assistance device for identifying the acoustic environment. Identifying the acoustic environment may include identifying the inside of a moving vehicle. The signal received from the cellular telephone may include a signal received from a global positioning system and/or an accelerometer in the cellular telephone, that vehicle movement greater than 5 mph is detected.—DAP

Thomas Bo Elmedyb and Kristian Timm Andersen, assignors to Widex A/S

27 December 2016; filed 1 December 2015

An adaptively filtered first input signal from a first hearing aid system transducer is subtracted from a second input signal from a second transducer to form a difference signal, for which a power estimate is calculated to provide a noise estimate for a noise suppression gain calculator. The resulting time-varying gain to suppress noise is applied to the second input signal. The filter is adapted according to a control algorithm. The first and second input transducers may be in the same hearing aid, in the left and right hearing aids of a binaural system, or in one hearing aid and an auxiliary device, e.g., a smart phone or hearing aid remote control. The filter may be adapted in accordance with the control algorithm by minimizing the difference signal level.—DAP

Adnan Shennib, assignor to IHEAR MEDICAL, INC.

27 December 2016; filed 10 April 2015

An output based on fitting parameters, generated from a programmable hearing device in situ, includes a sequence of test audio signals comprising multiple test sound segments within an audible fitting soundscape corresponding to predetermined suprathreshold loudness levels. Several fitting parameters are adjusted based, at least partly, on the consumer's assessment of the output, by making first and second adjustments corresponding to relatively loud and soft sound segment levels, respectively. The sound segments may comprise several natural sounds, e.g., male and/or female speech, chirp, and background noise. The fitting parameters may comprise loud and soft level gains, compression ratio, maximum power output, and/or an expansion ratio. The test audio signals may be delivered wirelessly to the programmable hearing device, e.g., by a personal computer, smartphone or tablet.—DAP

Kyoungho Bang et al., assignors to Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

27 December 2016; filed 23 September 2013

Audio data processing in a mobile device is customized by adjusting a dynamic range of each of several frequency bands based on hearing characteristics of the user, which are obtained through tests conducted by the mobile device. The noise is reduced in the decoded audio data received through a wireless communication channel from an external device by determining whether or not audio quality optimization is to be performed. Either way, the noise in the audio data is suppressed. If audio quality optimization is to be performed, noise outside of the dynamic range is removed from the audio data. The decoded audio data may be telephone audio data. User input controlling the mobile device to adjust the decoded audio data may be received during telephone communication and may be based on the adjusted dynamic ranges of the frequency bands.—DAP

Lambert Mathias et al., assignors to MModal IP LLC

13 December 2016; filed 16 November 2015

For some kinds of recorded spoken materials, a rough draft text version is available, but not the kind of text that would be suitable for training a speech recognizer. The idea patented here is to analyze such a recording together with the available text materials and to produce a more accurate literal transcript such as would be useful for further recognizer training. Situations in the domain of medical records are examined in some detail.—DLR

Massimo Mascaro and David C. Bradley, assignors to KnuEdge Incorporated

27 December 2016; filed 18 July 2013

A common problem in the analysis of speech in noisy audio signals is the tracking of the second harmonic of the pitch, resulting in so-called octave errors in the pitch output signal. A solution described in this patent is a detailed analysis of the amplitude structure in the current and surrounding frames. The patent includes extensive mathematical details covering the proposed method.—DLR

Andrew Taylor Powers, assignor to TAYLOR-LISTUG, INC.

13 December 2016; filed 20 October 2015

This invention claims to strengthen the body of the guitar while still preserving natural amplification and sustain that is typically lost from bracing. Longitudinal braces on the underside of an acoustic guitar top are used to allow both rigidity and flexibility of the guitar, which are typically tradeoffs in other guitar designs.—JK

William Edwards, Tampa, FL

13 December 2016; filed 2 November 2015

This invention appears to allow a fret assembly to be removed from a string instrument without damaging the wood in the neck. An elongated rail rests in a channel in the neck of a guitar. Frets are screwed onto (or unscrewed from, when worn) bores in the rail, and spacers are placed between frets to allow different looks and feels (e.g., fret heights, fretboard relief) to the guitar. The rail, made of something other than wood, provides stability to the neck during environmental changes.—JK

Michael G. Vermillion, assignor to Sledgepad Innovations, LLC

13 December 2016; filed 9 June 2015

This invention appears to reduce resonances in a kick drum. A compression pad inside the drum contacts both the batter and resonance heads of the drum, with more contact area on the batter head (possibly with an additional planar baffle) than the resonance head. Baffles can be a variety of shapes including triangular prisms or pyramids, so that an optimum amount of contact (which is much less than the maximum amount) can be made, and so the pad can breathe.—JK

Steven Dourmashkin and Matthew Skeels, assignors to SPECDRUMS, INC.

13 December 2016; filed 17 February 2016

This invention appears to sense changes in color and motion to synthesize sound. An e-instrument device (shaped like a finger-worn ring or a drum stick or other shapes) contains a color sensor and motion sensors (e.g., accelerometers or gyroscopes), which high pass filters inadvertent (e.g., jerky) movements. The device is connected with other Bluetooth and WiFi devices (e.g., a processor), or can contain the processor itself. Sensed colors are measured for similarity in RGB values against a database of stored colors. An app lets the user determine how volume, pitch, sound, etc. are affected by the user actions. The device can be stimulated by clothing, furnishings, or any objects with interesting distribution of colors.—JK

Yukiya Miyachi, assignor to FUJIFILM Corporation

10 January 2017; filed 21 August 2014

This invention relates to an automated approach for determining blood vessel wall dimensions. In particular, the intima-media thickness (IMT) is a commonly sought dimension that is indicative of vascular disease that may lead to stroke or heart attack. The invention involves several approaches to determining the vessel interface boundary locations and combining these to obtain an improved IMT estimate.—JH

Dong Gyu Hyun et al., assignors to SAMSUNG MEDISON CO., LTD.; KOREA ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

17 January 2017; filed 22 September 2015

This invention relates to the need to calibrate position/orientation sensor information gained from a sensor placed on an ultrasound transducer array, with the objective of being able to more accurately determine the position of acquired ultrasound images in a fixed 3D space. The purpose is to more accurately relate acquired ultrasound image data to previously acquired image data obtained using another imaging modality (e.g., x-ray computed tomography). The invention makes use of both the position sensor information and detected features in both the ultrasound image data set and in the previously acquired image data set.—JH

Alexander A Oraevsky et al., assignors to TomoWave Laboratories, Inc.

17 January 2017; filed 22 February 2013

This invention relates to nanocomposite particles designed to enhance photoacoustic imaging. The inner layer is designed to effectively absorb incident transient optical waves, convert absorbed optical energy into heat, yield consequent thermal expansion and thereby generate an ultrasound pressure pulse. The outer second layer thermally insulates the inner layer from the surrounding aqueous environment and enhances the generation of transient ultrasonic pressure waves during photoacoustic imaging by slowing down thermal conduction away from the inner layer.—JH

King Yuen Wong and Chi Hyung Seo, assignors to SIEMENS MEDICAL SOLUTIONS USA, INC.

31 January 2017; filed 8 November 2013

In a battery operated portable ultrasound system, battery drain is saved by reducing scan line density in response to the detected removal of the transducer from a patient skin surface. Using the reduced scan lines, it is still possible to detect that the transducer has been returned to the patient. Once renewed patient contact is detected, scan line density can increase to obtain an optimal image. In this way, battery life is extended by reducing drain during periods where no diagnostically useful image is being generated.—JH