The Johns Hopkins University

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Lucent Technologies Inc.

At&t Bell Laboratories

American Telephone and Telegraph, Co.

At&t Corp.

Avaya Inc.

Postech Academy-industry Foundation

Radon Testing Corporation of America

At&t Company, At&t Bell Laboratories

James Edward West

Ilene J Busch-Vishniac

Gary Wayne Elko

Robert A Kubli

Robert L Wallace, Jr

Michael S Yu

Dawnielle Farrar

Dennis Raymond Morgan

Ingrid Birgitta Carlbom

Adebayo Eisape

Kailiang Ren

Ugur Erturun

Martin Sessler

Eric John Diethorn

Alan Dean Michel

Jeffrey Phillip McAteer

John C Baumhauer, Jr

Biing-Hwang Juang

James L Flanagan

Sung Hoon Kang

Jonathan B Allen

Man Mohan Sondhi

David A Brown

Thomas A Funkhouser

Sarma Vgk Pingali

Tommy L Poteat

Agata Opalach

Harold Schonhorn

Wayne Allen Weise

Won Kyu Moon

Man M Sondhi

Yub Je

Dimitra Emmanouilidou

Mounya Elhilali

Gerhard Sessler

David A Berkley

W Stewart Lindenberger

Tsuey T Wang

Heinz Von Seggern

Kum Jae Shin

Gerhard M Sessler

Kurt Dorfi

Michael M Goodwin

Wonkyu Moon

Sangkyu Lee

Ian Mclane

Gerhard Martin Sessler

Donald John MacLean, Jr

Harvey D Keith

Kailang Ren

Joshua David Atkins

Min Sung

Disclosed are device implementations for a hybrid energy harvesting device and methods for harvesting mechanical energy from the ambient. The various device implementations utilize a combination of electrostatic energy conversion and piezoelectric energy conversion elements. The method simultaneously converts mechanical energy into electrical charge by electrostatic and piezoelectric energy harvesting. The devices include a piezoelectric harvester including a pair of electrodes and piezoelectric nanocomposite polymer, an electrostatic harvester including an electret film and a pair of electrostatic electrodes.

Flexible and hybrid energy harvesting device combining piezoelectric and electrostatic conversions

Provided is an energy harvesting system, including: a first electrode; a second electrode; a non-metalized mono-charged electret diaphragm disposed between the first and second electrodes; a base; a spring extending between the base and the electret diaphragm; and a rod in communication with the electret diaphragm and for manipulating a position of the electret diaphragm relative to the first and second electrodes.

Push-pull electret transducer with controlled restoring force for low frequency microphones and energy harvesting

A digital electronic stethoscope includes an acoustic sensor assembly that includes a body sensor portion and an ambient sensor portion, the body sensor portion being configured to make acoustically coupled contact with a subject while the ambient sensor portion is configured to face away from the body sensor portion so as to capture environmental noise proximate the body sensor portion; a signal processor and data storage system configured to communicate with the acoustic sensor assembly so as to receive detection signals therefrom, the detection signals including an auscultation signal comprising body target sound and a noise signal; and an output device configured to communicate with the signal processor and data storage system to provide at least one of an output signal or information derived from the output signal. The signal processor and data storage system includes a noise reduction system that removes both stationary noise and non-stationary noise from the detection signal to provide a clean auscultation signal substantially free of distortions. The signal processor and data storage system further includes an auscultation sound classification system configured to receive the clean auscultation signal and provide a classification thereof as at least one of a normal breath sound or an abnormal breath sound.

Programmable electronic stethoscope devices, algorithms, systems, and methods

A piezoelectric, poly (&#x3b3;-benzyl-&#x3b1;,L-glutamate) ('PBLG') planar microphone, and method for construction thereof, are disclosed. The microphone includes at least a polyester film, a piezoelectric, hot pressed poly (&#x3b3;-benzyl-&#x3b1;,L-glutamate) ('HPPBLG') layer, and an aluminum coating for the HPPBLG layer. The coated HPPBLG layer is coupled to the polyester film.

PBLG based planar microphones

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention provides a system and method for binaural rendering of complex acoustic scenes. The system includes a computing device configured to process a sound recording of the acoustic scene to produce a binaurally rendered scene for the listener. The system also includes a position sensor configured to collect motion and position data for a head of the user and also configured to transmit said motion and position data to the computing device. A sound delivery device is configured to receive the binaurally rendered acoustic scene from the computing device and to transmit the acoustic scene to the ears of the listener. In the system, the computing device is further configured to utilize the motion and position data from the inertial motion sensor to process the sound recording of the acoustic scene with respect to the motion and position of the user's head.

System and method for fast binaural rendering of complex acoustic scenes

The present invention relates to a sensor that uses a sensing mechanism having a combined static charge and a field effect transistor, the sensor including: a substrate; source and drain units formed on the substrate and separated from each other; a channel unit interposed between the source and drain units; a membrane separated from the channel unit, disposed on a top portion and displaced in response to an external signal; and a static charge member formed on a bottom surface of the membrane separately from the channel unit and generating an electric field. Accordingly, since the sensor using a sensing mechanism having a combined static charge and a field effect transistor according to an embodiment of the present invention can measure the displacement or movement of the sensor by measuring a change of the electric field of the channel unit of the field effect transistor by using a static member, the electric field can be formed so as to be proportional to an amount of charge and inversely proportional to a squared distance regardless of the intensity and distribution of an external electric field. Therefore, sensitivity is improved without being affected by an external electric field.

Sensor using sensing mechanism having combined static charge and field effect transistor

Piezoelectric compositions are provided wherein mechanical and piezoelectric properties can be separately modulated. Preferred compositions include resin blends that comprise: (a) a piezoelectrically active polymer and (b) a matrix polymer, methods of making, and use of such resin blends. Advantages of preferred resin blends of the invention can include high piezoelectricity, mechanical strength and flexibility, convenient fabrication process, and high sensitivity at high temperatures.

Piezoelectric compositions

A continuous piezoelectric film can include a plurality of fibers, each fiber including a polypeptide, wherein molecules of the polypeptide have electric dipole moments that are aligned such that the piezoelectric fiber provides a piezoelectric effect. The continuous piezoelectric film has at least one piezoelectric constant dor dthat is at least 1 pC/N. The continuous piezoelectric film can be prepared hot pressing a mat of aligned piezoelectric fibers.

Continuous piezoelectric film including polar polymer fibers

Piezoelectric fibers include a polypeptide wherein molecules of the polypeptide have electric dipole moments that are aligned such that the piezoelectric fiber provides a piezoelectric effect at an operating temperature. A piezoelectric component provides a plurality of piezoelectric fibers, each comprising an organic polymer. A method of producing piezoelectric fibers includes electrospinning a polymer solution to form a fiber and winding the fiber onto a rotating target in which the rotating target is electrically grounded. An acoustic sensor includes a plurality acoustic transducers, wherein the plurality of acoustic transducers are structured and arranged to detect a corresponding plurality of vector components of an acoustic signal, and at least one of the plurality of acoustic transducers comprises a piezoelectric fiber.

Piezoelectric polymer fibers

The present invention is a desktop speakerphone having a base-station and a detachable microphone pod. The base-station includes standard telephone components, as well as a wireless receiver and a housing for a detachable microphone pod. The detachable pod contains at least one microphone and a wireless transmitter. When the pod is attached to the base-station, and the conference mode of operation is activated, the pod microphone's audio signal goes directly to base-station audio circuitry via a wired connection. When the pod is detached and the conference mode activated, the pod microphone's audio signal now goes via the pod's wireless transmitter to the base-station's wireless receiver. This detached, wireless mode allows the microphone to be positioned anywhere in the room, thereby improving the quality of transmitted speech by increasing the speech-signal-to-room-noise ratio, and lessening the potential for room echo by reducing the acoustic coupling between base-station loudspeaker and pod microphone.

Method and apparatus for combined wired/wireless pop-out speakerphone microphone

A method and apparatus for tracking an object using one or more video cameras together with a plurality of microphones and/or geophones, whereby accurate tracking of the object can be obtained even when the object changes directions as a result of an impact. A tennis ball may be tracked during a tennis match. Prior to and after an impact, the ball is tracked with the use of video cameras, illustratively in accordance with the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,007. Then, the position of the ball at racket or ground impact is accurately determined by measuring the acoustical waves generated by the ball hitting the racket and/or either the acoustic waves or the elastic (Rayleigh) waves generated by the ball hitting the ground, respectively. Tracking then advantageously continues with use of the video cameras.

Real-time method and apparatus for tracking a moving object experiencing a change in direction

A system and method for acoustic modeling partitions an input 3D spatial model into convex cells, and constructs a cell adjacency data structure representing the neighbor relationships between adjacent cells. For each sound source located in the spatial environment, convex pyramidal beams are traced through the input spatial model via recursive depth-first traversal of the cell-adjacency graph. During beam tracing, a beam tree data structure is constructed to encode propagation paths, which may include specular reflection, transmission, diffuse reflection, and diffraction events, from the source location to regions of the input spatial model. The beam tree data structure is then accessed for real-time computation and auralization of propagation paths to an arbitrary receiver location.

Acoustic modeling system and method using pre-computed data structures for beam tracing and path generation

A monolithic second order gradient (SOG) microphone structure employs acoustic transmission lines wherein the acoustic phase delay along each of the acoustic transmission lines is in direct proportion to the length of each of the acoustic transmission lines and, where this is effected by the use of an acoustic impedance element placed within each acoustic transmission line that has an acoustic impedance related to the acoustic impedance of the associated acoustic transmission line. In one embodiment, the acoustic impedance element has a specific acoustic impedance substantially matched to the specific acoustic characteristic resistance of the acoustic transmission line. Various embodiments may utilize acoustic or electrical subtraction of the signals in the acoustic transmission lines to realize the desired directional sound pickup.

Directional microphone

In an embodiment of the invention, a speaker/microphone peripheral includes a digital-signal-processor (DSP) based acoustic echo canceler and supports a plurality of modes of operation. One mode is a video/telecommunications mode. In this mode, when headphones are inserted or removed, the acoustic echo canceler is reset.

Intelligent acoustic systems peripheral

Growing community of inventors

Plainfield, NJ, United States of America

James Edward West