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EP-4203523-B1 - MULTIZONE ACOUSTIC CONTROL SYSTEMS AND METHODS

EP4203523B1EP 4203523 B1EP4203523 B1EP 4203523B1EP-4203523-B1

Inventors

  • Villamizar, Francesto

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20221206

Claims (11)

  1. An acoustic system configured to modify a second acoustic signal corresponding to a second loudspeaker based on a first acoustic signal corresponding to a first loudspeaker, the system comprising: an acoustic processor configured to analyze and output acoustic signals to each of the first and second loudspeakers corresponding respectively to each of first and second acoustic zones of a shared acoustic space; and a non-transitory memory comprising instructions executable by the acoustic processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the acoustic processor, cause the system to: determine a first measure of loudness associated with a first acoustic signal, wherein the acoustic processor is configured to output the first acoustic signal as sound on the first loudspeaker in the first acoustic zone; determine a second measure of loudness associated with a second acoustic signal, generate a loudness filter comprising a maximum loudness level based at least in part on the first measure of loudness; modify the second acoustic signal based on the first acoustic signal by applying the loudness filter to the second acoustic signal to generate filtered sound signals, wherein a loudness level of the filtered sound signals is limited by the maximum loudness level; wherein the acoustic processor is configured to output the filtered sound signals on the second loudspeaker in the second acoustic zone.
  2. The acoustic system of Claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by the acoustic processor, further cause the system to: receive the first acoustic signal; receive selection of a first acoustic zone volume level via a first volume level selection interface, the first acoustic zone volume level configured to modify a volume level within the first acoustic zone; and determine the first measure of loudness based on at least the first acoustic signal and the first acoustic zone volume level during a loudness sampling period.
  3. The acoustic system of Claim 2, wherein the loudness sampling period is between about 1 millisecond and about 2 seconds.
  4. The acoustic system of one of Claims 1 to 3, wherein the instructions, when executed by the acoustic processor, further cause the system to: receive the second acoustic signal; and receive selection of a second acoustic zone volume level via a second volume level selection interface.
  5. The acoustic system of Claim 4, wherein the instructions, when executed by the acoustic processor, further cause the system to: determine the second measure of loudness based on at least the second acoustic signal and the second acoustic zone volume level during the loudness sampling period.
  6. The acoustic system of Claim 5, wherein the maximum loudness level is further based on the second measure of loudness.
  7. The acoustic system of Claim 6, wherein the maximum loudness level is further based on a difference between the second measure of loudness and the first measure of loudness.
  8. The acoustic system of one of Claims 4-7, wherein a loudness level of the filtered sound signals is limited by the maximum loudness level and the second acoustic zone volume level selection.
  9. The acoustic system of Claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed by the acoustic processor, further cause the system to: determine that the first acoustic zone is associated with a spatial region of the shared acoustic space; and modify the second acoustic signal based further on the determination that the first acoustic zone is associated with the spatial region of the shared acoustic space, particularly wherein the spatial region of the shared acoustic space corresponds to a driver of a vehicle.
  10. A computer-implemented method for modifying loudness of reproduced sound signals in at least one of a plurality of acoustic zones in a shared acoustic space, the method comprising: by an electronic processor of a system executing instructions stored on non-transitory memory connected to the electronic processor: receiving a first acoustic zone source signal configured to be reproduced as a first acoustic zone source signal on a first subset of a plurality of loudspeakers located in a first acoustic zone of the shared acoustic space; determining a measure of first acoustic zone loudness based on at least the first acoustic zone source signal during a first loudness sampling period; generating a loudness filter comprising a maximum loudness level based at least in part on the measure of first acoustic zone loudness; receiving a second acoustic zone source signal configured to be reproduced as a second acoustic zone source signal on a second subset of the plurality of loudspeakers located in a second acoustic zone of the shared acoustic space; applying the loudness filter to the second acoustic zone source signal to generate filtered sound signals, wherein a loudness level of the filtered sound signals is limited by the maximum loudness level; and reproducing the filtered sound signals on the second subset of the plurality of loudspeakers.
  11. The method of Claim 10, further comprising: receiving selection of a first acoustic zone volume level via a first volume level selection interface.

Description

This disclosure relates generally to acoustic systems and particularly to multizone acoustic control systems and methods. Single-zone acoustic systems can be configured to output sound into a single acoustic zone. Multizone acoustic control systems can allow a user to independently control aspects of different acoustic zones, including zones located in a shared acoustic space. Some features with respect to multizone acoustic control systems are lacking, and this application provides solutions for gaps in the current art. The invention is directed to an acoustic system according to claim 1 and to a computer implemented method according to claim 10. Further aspects of the invention are defined according to the dependent claims. EP 3 232 688 Al discloses an apparatus for generating a plurality of loudspeaker signals from two or more audio source signals, wherein each of the two or more audio source signals shall be reproduced in one or more of two or more sound zones, and at least one of the two or more audio source signals shall not be reproduced in at least one of the two more sound zones. Moreover, the apparatus comprises a filter configured to generate the plurality of loudspeaker signals depending on the two or more preprocessed audio signals. The audio preprocessor is configured to modify each initial audio signal of the two or more initial audio signals depending on a signal power or a loudness of another initial audio signal of the two or more initial audio signals. The filter is configured to generate the plurality of loudspeaker signals depending on in which of the two or more sound zones the two or more audio source signals shall be reproduced and depending on in which of the two or more sound zones the two or more audio source signals shall not be reproduced. US 2020/083856 A1 discloses an audio control system which can classify sounds and respective levels at different zones in an area such as a room, hall or vehicle passenger compartment. The system can use Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) to reduce unwanted sound and Automatic Loudness Control (ALC) to adjust levels of audio output such as music. US 2017/053636 Al discloses an audio system in which speakers and filters are arranged to provide first and second listening zones in a listening area such that audio from the first listening zone is cancelled in the second listening zone and vice versa. US 2021/266691 A1 discloses an apparatus for providing a contrast mode and a front optimized mode for audio in a vehicle is provided. An audio controller is programmed to transmit first audio content in a first zone seating area and to transmit second audio content in a second zone seating area. US 2018/190307 A1 discloses a system and method that enhances spoken utterances and provides entertainment by capturing one or more microphone signals containing echo and decomposing the one or more microphone signals into a plurality of signal paths through a synthesizer that adds or makes non-linear modifications to some of the captured one or more microphone signals. US 2021/380055 Al discloses an in-car personalized sound field forming device which communicates with a device for providing a sound source. A control unit is configured to update a filtering coefficient according to the vehicle driving state information received from the communication unit and control a volume adjustment range of the sound source so that the sound is reproduced in the focusing area. The following drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit the scope of the claims. FIG. 1 shows a schematic of an example multizone acoustic system that includes a multizone acoustic processor.FIG. 2 shows an example method that may be performed by a multizone acoustic system, according to one embodiment.FIG. 3 shows another example method that may be performed by a multizone acoustic system, according to one embodiment.FIG. 4 shows another example method that may be performed by a multizone acoustic system, according to one embodiment.FIG. 5 shows another example method that may be performed by a multizone acoustic system, according to one embodiment. These and other features will now be described with reference to the drawings summarized above. The drawings and the associated descriptions are provided to illustrate embodiments and not to limit the scope of any claim. Throughout the drawings, reference numbers may be reused to indicate correspondence between referenced elements. Acoustic systems generally control acoustic signals for single acoustic zones. These systems allow a user to adjust various characteristics (e.g., master volume, bass, treble, etc.). A user may select the desired or target characteristic and adjust an acoustic processor setting that increases or decreases, for example, the gain on one or more speakers in the acoustic zone. A high-pass and/or low-pass filter may be applied to the gain, which may mod