Systems and methods for steering speaker array and microphone array with encoded light rays

Abstract

Described is a way to steer speaker array or microphone array based on direction outputs of tiny light sensors attached to TV viewers, noisy-environment workers, or AR/VR system users. More specifically, a light projector is disposed on a ceiling, which sends out different sequential on/off signals for each pixel. Two light sensors are attached to each speaker array or microphone array, and one or more light sensors are attached to each user. Because each projector pixel corresponds to a specific direction, when a light sensor receives sequential signal from the projector, the light sensor can determine its direction corresponding to the projector and report that to the central station. With the speaker/microphone array direction and user direction known, the system can generate proper phase shifts for different speaker signals and generate directional sound for each individual. Similarly, the central station can determine phase shifts for combining audios from different microphones.