The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 24, 1998
Filed:
Apr. 02, 1997
William Clayton Scofield, Birmingham, AL (US);
Stevan Otha Saunders, Chelsea, AL (US);
Sonics Associates, Inc., Birmingham, AL (US);
Abstract
A sound system has a receiver (204) for receiving individual decoded speaker signals comprised of three independent speaker signals (226) for driving associated speakers (208-214) disposed in predetermined relative positions about the listener. Head mounted speakers (58, 50) are fixed in position relative to the head (26) of the listener. A virtual positioning system (264) receives and then positions the three individual decoded signals (226) from the receiver (204) relative to the listener as virtually positioned speaker signals (266) representative of the predetermined relative positions of the associated speakers. The virtually positioned speaker signals (266) are transmitted proximate to the right and left ears (66, 68) of the listener through the right and left head mounted speakers (58, 60), but are actually perceived by the listener as being at the predetermined relative positions of the three independent speaker signals and their associated speakers (208-214). A combiner (268) receives the virtually positioned speaker signals (266) from the virtual positioning system (264), and combines the virtually positioned speaker signals (266) such that all of the virtually positioned speaker signals (266) drive the right and left head mounted speakers (58, 60). A cross-over (274) extracts a predetermined portion of the speaker signals, and then a summation circuit (290) sums together the extracted portions of the speaker signals as a composite signal for output to an external speaker (296).