Apple Inc.

Andrew P Bright

Christopher R Wilk

Scott P Porter

Jonathan Sarjeant Aase

Yacine Azmi

Michael B Howes

Thomas M Jensen

Ruchir M Dave

Vladan Bajic

Jeffrey J Terlizzi

Aram M Lindahl

Wendell B Sander

David Tupman

Esge Brandt Andersen

Jonathan D Sheaffer

Justin Derry Crosby

Barry J Corlett

Sorin V Dusan

Joseph M Williams

Anup K Sharma

Alexander V Salvatti

Brian Sander

Vasu Iyengar

Yang Lu

Fatos Myftari

Mikael M Silvanto

Matthew D Hill

Martin E Johnson

Sawyer Isaac Cohen

Ron Alan Hopkinson

Samuel Bruce Weiss

William Francis Leggett

Nikolas T Vitt

Roderick Brian Hogan

Arvindh Krishnaswamy

Nathan Alan Johanningsmeier

Tom-Davy W Saux

Dana C Massie

Joss Nathan Giddings

Pablo Seoane Vieites

Jae Han Lee

Brian D Clark

Hanchi Chen

Matthew A Donarski

Ashrith Deshpande

Teemu P Sipila

Max Otto Rasmussen

Hannes Breitschaedel

Victoria Chiu

Ariel A Massias

Teemu Pekka Silipä

Ethan R Duni

Katherine S Shigeoka

Aspects of the subject technology provide for generation of a self-voice signal by an electronic device that is operating in an active noise cancellation mode. In this way, during a phone call, a video conference, or while listening to audio content, a user of the electronic device may benefit from active cancellation of ambient noise while still being able to hear their own voice when they speak. In various implementations described herein, the concurrent self-voice and automatic noise cancellation features are facilitated by accelerometer-based control of sidetone and/or active noise cancellation operations.

Adaptive noise cancellation and speech filtering for electronic devices

A method for providing navigation assistance using a head-worn device that has a camera, several microphones, and several speakers. The method captures sound in an environment as a plurality of microphone audio signals, captures, using the camera, a scene of the environment as a digital image, and processes the digital image to detect an object therein. The method selects, in response to the detection of the object, one of several navigation audio rendering modes. The several navigation audio rendering modes include a first mode that activates an acoustic transparency function to cause the speakers to reproduce the sound of the environment, a second mode that sonifies the object and activates the acoustic transparency function, and a third mode that sonifies the object, partially activates the acoustic transparency function, and an activates active noise cancellation function.

Navigation assistance using spatial audio

Aspects of the subject technology relate to electronic devices having speakers. An electronic device may include speaker control circuitry for a speaker. The speaker control circuitry may include multiple parallel prediction blocks that share a single look-ahead delay, and that feed, in parallel, a single controller. The single controller can generate a joint modification to an audio signal based on the parallel outputs of the prediction blocks. The joint modification can then be applied to the audio signal to generate a speaker-protection audio signal that can be output by the speaker. The speaker control circuitry may also include a system modeler that models the speaker system of the electronic device based on feedback measured physical characteristics. In this way, a reduced control safety margin can be achieved by more accurate model predictors, which can allow the controller to safely drive the speaker system to its full capability.

Speaker control

Disclosed are systems and methods for automatically transitioning between communication modes of wearable audio output devices based solely on acoustic analysis. The audio output devices may operate in one of three electroacoustic modes. In the transparency mode, an audio output device may pass through the speech signal of a nearby user. In the peer-to-peer mode, the audio output device may establish a direct low-latency radio frequency (RF) link to another audio output device. In the telephony mode, the audio output device may communicate with another audio output device using networked telephony. The disclosed methods and systems perform acoustic analysis of the near-field speech signal of a local wearer of the audio output device and the far-field speech signal of a remote talker to determine the best mode for the audio output device to use and to seamlessly transition between the modes as the acoustic environment between the wearers changes.

Automatic acoustic handoff

An earphone comprising: an earphone housing having a cap portion and a body portion that interlock with one another to enclose a driver, the driver having a front face that outputs sound waves and a back face opposite the front face, the cap portion defines a first chamber coupled to the front face of the driver and the body portion defines a second chamber coupled to the back face of the driver, a first opening formed through the cap portion; a first port and a second port formed through the body portion and open to a surrounding environment; and a mesh coupled to the first opening, the first port or the second port.

Earphone having a controlled acoustic leak port

An earphone comprising an earphone housing having a wall comprising (1) a front side that joins (2) an end portion in which a primary sound output opening is formed, which joins (3) a face portion in which a secondary output opening is formed, which joins (4) a back side which joins the front side and encloses a driver, wherein the primary output opening is dimensioned to output sound generated by a diaphragm of the driver contained within the earphone housing into the ear and the secondary output opening is dimensioned to vent the ear to a surrounding environment, and wherein the primary output opening and the secondary output opening face different directions.

A method for audio signal processing of microphone signals of a headphone. An audio signal from a first microphone of a headphone is filtered by an ANC system to produce a first filtered signal. Dynamic range control is performed upon the first filtered signal to produce a first dynamic range adjusted signal that drives a speaker of the headphone. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

Headphone acoustic noise cancellation and speaker protection or dynamic user experience processing

A method for mitigating noise caused by a loudspeaker in an audio device. The method obtains an audio signal for driving the loudspeaker. The method obtains a system model of the audio device that represents a modeled physical characteristic of the audio device, and determines whether a noise level of loudspeaker induced acoustic noise is greater than a desired sound level by analyzing the audio signal according to the system model, where the noise level and the desired sound level are characterized at the listener's position in an acoustic environment. The method, in response to determining that the noise level is greater than the sound level, processes the audio signal to cause a reduction of the noise level.

Loudspeaker-induced noise mitigation

A waterproof speaker module may include a membrane formed from at least one waterproof and elastic material and a supporting structure. The membrane may include an outer surface, an inner surface, and at least one concave region that is indented toward the inner surface. The supporting structure may be coupled to the membrane and include a support structure that mates with the concave region of the membrane when the speaker is subjected to a hydrostatic load. When the speaker is not subjected to a hydrostatic load, the support structure may contact the concave region. In this way, the membrane may be resistant to tearing or rupture due to hydrostatic load.

Waterproof speaker module

An earphone comprising an earphone housing having a wall comprising (1) a front side that joins (2) an end portion in which a primary sound output opening is formed, which joins (3) a face portion in which a secondary output opening is formed, which joins (4) a back side which joins the front side and encloses a driver, wherein the face portion and the front side form a tapered portion of the earphone housing that is dimensioned to be inserted into, and contact, an ear of a wearer, wherein the primary output opening is dimensioned to output sound generated by a diaphragm of the driver contained within the earphone housing into the ear, the secondary output opening is dimensioned to vent the ear to a surrounding environment, and wherein the primary output opening and the secondary output opening face different directions and are positioned over a sound output face of the driver.

A micro speaker having a capacitive sensor to sense a motion of a speaker diaphragm, is disclosed. More particularly, embodiments of the micro speaker include a conductive surface of a diaphragm facing conductive surfaces of several capacitive plate sections across a gap. The diaphragm may be configured to emit sound forward away from a magnet of the micro speaker, and the capacitive plate sections may be supported on the magnet behind the diaphragm. In an embodiment, the gap provides an available travel for the diaphragm, which may be only a few millimeters. A sensing circuit may sense capacitances of the conductive surfaces to limit displacement of the diaphragm to within the available travel.

Capacitive position sensing for transducers

A computer system having a loudspeaker mounted on a main logic board by a hermetic seal, is disclosed. More particularly, embodiments of the computer system include an acoustic cavity defined between the loudspeaker, the main logic board, and the hermetic seal. Embodiments of the computer system may include a compressible seal separated from the hermetic seal by the loudspeaker and/or the main logic board. The compressible seal may define an acoustic channel and the loudspeaker may emit sound in a high frequency range through the acoustic channel toward a system exit. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Main logic board with mounted speaker and integrated acoustic cavity

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Andrew P Bright