阅读说明：本技术 声学阵列系统 (Acoustic array system ) 是由 林总一郎 持丸彰 M·潘扎内拉 于 2018-04-27 设计创作，主要内容包括：一种声学阵列系统包括声场控制器和声换能器阵列。声场控制器提供第一处理信号和第二处理信号。第一处理信号与第一声辐射图案相关联,并且第二处理信号与第二声辐射图案相关联。换能器阵列从声场控制器接收第一处理信号和第二处理信号,并且产生用于换能器中的每一个换能器的第一驱动信号和第二驱动信号。第一驱动信号基于第一处理信号,并且第二驱动信号基于第二处理信号。换能器阵列将换能器中的每一个换能器的第一驱动信号和第二驱动信号组合,以产生多个组合的驱动信号,针对换能器中的每一个换能器有一个组合的驱动信号,并且将组合的驱动信号提供给换能器。(An acoustic array system includes a sound field controller and an acoustic transducer array. The sound field controller provides a first processed signal and a second processed signal. The first processed signal is associated with a first acoustic radiation pattern and the second processed signal is associated with a second acoustic radiation pattern. The transducer array receives the first and second processed signals from the acoustic field controller and generates first and second drive signals for each of the transducers. The first drive signal is based on the first processed signal and the second drive signal is based on the second processed signal. The transducer array combines the first drive signal and the second drive signal for each of the transducers to produce a plurality of combined drive signals, one for each of the transducers, and provides the combined drive signals to the transducers.)

1. An acoustic array system, comprising:

a sound field controller comprising at least one signal processor configured to: processing the audio signal to provide a first processed signal associated with the first acoustic radiation pattern and to provide a second processed signal associated with the second acoustic radiation pattern; and

an acoustic transducer array comprising a plurality of acoustic transducers and at least one signal processor, the acoustic transducer array configured to: receiving the first and second processed signals from the sound field controller, generating a first drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers based on the first processed signal, generating a second drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers based on the second processed signal, and combining the first and second drive signals for each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to generate a plurality of combined drive signals, one combined drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers, and providing at least one combined drive signal to each of the acoustic transducers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the acoustic transducer array is configured to: generating the first drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers based at least in part on a parameter associated with the first acoustic radiation pattern.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the parameter is at least one of gain, amplitude, time delay, phase delay, finite impulse response, and equalization.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the sound field controller is configured to: storing the parameters and providing the parameters to the acoustic transducer array.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the sound field controller is configured to: selecting an amplitude and a delay for each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to cause the acoustic transducer array to generate the first acoustic radiation pattern.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the sound field controller is configured to: providing the amplitude and the delay of each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to the acoustic transducer array, and the acoustic transducer array is configured to: applying the amplitude and the delay to each of the plurality of acoustic transducers.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the acoustic transducer array is a first acoustic transducer array and further comprising a second acoustic transducer array configured to receive the first processed signal and the second processed signal from the first acoustic transducer array.

8. An acoustic array system, comprising:

a first signal processor configured to: processing the audio signal to provide a first acoustic beam signal associated with the first acoustic radiation pattern and a second acoustic beam signal associated with the second acoustic radiation pattern;

a first plurality of signal processor channels configured to: receiving the first acoustic beam signal and processing the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals;

a second plurality of signal processor channels configured to: receiving the second beam signal and processing the second beam signal to provide a second plurality of transducer signals;

a plurality of combiners, each of the plurality of combiners configured to: combining one of the first plurality of transducer signals with one of the second plurality of transducer signals to provide a combined transducer signal; and

a plurality of acoustic transducers, each acoustic transducer of the plurality of acoustic transducers configured to: receiving one of the plurality of combined transducer signals and converting the one of the plurality of combined transducer signals into an acoustic wave.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first plurality of signal processor channels are configured to: providing the first plurality of transducer signals based at least in part on a parameter associated with the first acoustic radiation pattern.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the parameter is at least one of gain, amplitude, time delay, phase delay, finite impulse response, and equalization.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a memory for storing and providing the parameters to the first plurality of signal processor channels.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising a controller configured to: selecting an amplitude and a delay for each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to cause the acoustic transducer array to generate the first acoustic radiation pattern.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to: providing the amplitude and the delay of each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to the first plurality of signal processor channels, and the first plurality of signal processor channels are configured to: applying the amplitude and the delay to the first acoustic beam signal to provide the first plurality of transducer signals.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the plurality of acoustic transducers is a first plurality of acoustic transducers and further comprising a second plurality of acoustic transducers configured to receive the first processed signal and the second processed signal.

15. A method of producing an acoustic sound field, the method comprising:

receiving an audio signal;

processing the audio signal according to a first radiation pattern to provide a first sound beam signal;

processing the audio signal according to a second radiation pattern to provide a second beam signal;

processing the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals;

processing the second beam signal to provide a second plurality of transducer signals;

combining each respective transducer signal of the first plurality of transducer signals with a respective transducer signal of the second plurality of transducer signals to provide a plurality of combined transducer signals; and

the plurality of combined transducer signals are provided to a plurality of transducers.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein processing the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals is based at least in part on a parameter associated with the first radiation pattern.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the parameter is at least one of gain, amplitude, time delay, phase delay, finite impulse response, and equalization.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising: storing the parameters and providing the parameters to a first signal processor that performs the processing of the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising: for each transducer signal of the first plurality of transducer signals, a set of amplitude and delay parameters applied to process the first acoustic beam signal is selected to cause the plurality of transducers to generate the first radiation pattern.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: communicating the set of amplitude and delay parameters to a signal processor that performs the processing of the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals.

Technical Field

Aspects and examples of the present disclosure relate generally to audio systems, and in some examples, more particularly to audio systems for providing sound beam steering audio to a listener.

Background

The beam steering audio array system includes a plurality of speaker drivers and controls the gain and delay of the signals sent to the drivers so that their combined effect is to direct the acoustic energy so that it is biased in a particular direction, such as toward the center portion of the listener, and so that it provides some desired coverage so that, for example, all viewers receive an acceptable audio experience. Conventional array systems may generate two beams by subdividing the drivers in the array, using some drivers to form the first beam and other drivers to form the second beam, such that each beam is less efficient than using the entire set of drivers. In addition, conventional array systems may include complex or user-unfriendly methods of changing or adapting the acoustic beam steering or other acoustic characteristics of the array, and may include drivers of different sizes, handling different portions of the spectrum at additional cost and complexity that reduces reliability.

Disclosure of Invention

Aspects and examples relate to array systems and methods and signal processing systems and methods that provide improved acoustic properties, including beam steering and coverage, at a lower cost than conventional array systems, and allow for the creation of multiple steered beams, each generated by a full set of drivers in the array, allowing for more accurate beam shaping.

According to one aspect, an acoustic array system includes a sound field controller having at least one signal processor configured to process audio signals to provide a first processed signal associated with a first acoustic radiation pattern and to provide a second processed signal associated with a second acoustic radiation pattern, and an acoustic transducer array including at least one signal processor and a plurality of acoustic transducers configured to receive the first processed signal and the second processed signal from the sound field controller and to generate a first drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers based on the first processed signal, to generate a second drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers based on the second processed signal, and to combine the first drive signal and the second drive signal for each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to generate a plurality of combined drive signals, there is one combined drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers and at least one combined drive signal is provided to each of the acoustic transducers.

In some examples, the acoustic transducer array is configured to generate a first drive signal for each of the acoustic transducers based at least in part on a parameter associated with the first acoustic radiation pattern. The parameters may include gain, amplitude, time delay, phase delay, finite impulse response, and/or equalization. The sound field controller may store the parameters and provide the parameters to the acoustic transducer array.

In some examples, the sound field controller is configured to select an amplitude and a delay of each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to cause the acoustic transducer array to generate the first acoustic radiation pattern. The sound field controller may provide an amplitude and a delay of each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to the acoustic transducer array, and the acoustic transducer array may apply the amplitude and the delay to each of the plurality of acoustic transducers.

In some examples, the array system includes a second acoustic transducer array configured to receive the first processed signal and the second processed signal from the first acoustic transducer array.

According to another aspect, an acoustic array system includes a first signal processor configured to process audio signals to provide a first acoustic beam signal associated with a first acoustic radiation pattern and a second acoustic beam signal associated with a second acoustic radiation pattern, a first plurality of signal processing channels configured to receive the first acoustic beam signal and process the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals, a second plurality of signal processor channels configured to receive the second acoustic beam signal and process the second acoustic beam signal to provide a second plurality of transducer signals, a plurality of combiners, each combiner configured to combine one transducer signal of the first plurality of transducer signals with one transducer signal of the second plurality of transducer signals to provide a combined transducer signal, and a plurality of acoustic transducers, each of the acoustic transducers configured to receive one combined transducer signal of the plurality of combined transducer signals and to combine the combined transducer signal The transducer signal is converted into an acoustic wave.

In some examples, the first plurality of signal processor channels is configured to provide the first plurality of transducer signals based at least in part on a parameter associated with the first acoustic radiation pattern. The parameters may include gain, amplitude, time delay, phase delay, finite impulse response, and/or equalization. The array system may include a memory to store and provide parameters to the first plurality of signal processor channels.

Some examples include a controller configured to select an amplitude and a delay of each of a plurality of acoustic transducers to cause an acoustic transducer array to generate a first acoustic radiation pattern. The controller may provide the amplitude and delay of each of the plurality of acoustic transducers to the first plurality of signal processor channels, and the first plurality of signal processor channels may apply the amplitude and delay to the first acoustic beam signal to provide the first plurality of transducer signals.

In some examples, the array system includes a second plurality of acoustic transducers configured to receive the first processed signal and the second processed signal.

According to another aspect, there is provided a method of generating an acoustic sound field, the method comprising receiving an audio signal, processing the audio signal according to a first radiation pattern to provide a first beam signal, processing the audio signal according to a second radiation pattern to provide a second beam signal, processing the first beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals, processing the second beam signal to provide a second plurality of transducer signals, combining each respective transducer signal of the first plurality of transducer signals with a respective transducer signal of the second plurality of transducer signals to provide a plurality of combined transducer signals, and providing the plurality of combined transducer signals to a plurality of transducers.

In some examples, processing the first acoustic beam signal to provide the first plurality of transducer signals is based at least in part on a parameter related to the first radiation pattern. The parameters may include gain, amplitude, time delay, phase delay, finite impulse response, and/or equalization. The method may include storing the parameters and providing the parameters to a signal processor that performs processing of the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals.

Some examples include selecting, for each transducer signal of the first plurality of transducer signals, a set of amplitude and delay parameters to apply to processing the first acoustic beam signal to cause the plurality of transducers to generate the first radiation pattern. Further examples include communicating the set of amplitude and delay parameters to a signal processor that performs processing of the first acoustic beam signal to provide a first plurality of transducer signals.

Still other aspects, examples, and advantages of these exemplary aspects and examples are discussed in detail below. Examples disclosed herein may be combined with other examples in any manner consistent with at least one of the principles disclosed herein, and references to "an example," "some examples," "an alternative example," "various examples," "one example," etc. are not necessarily mutually exclusive and are intended to indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described may be included in at least one example. The appearances of such terms herein are not necessarily all referring to the same example.

Drawings

Various aspects of at least one example are discussed below with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are not intended to be drawn to scale. The accompanying drawings are included to provide illustration and a further understanding of the various aspects and examples, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, but are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention. In the drawings, like or nearly like components illustrated in various figures may be represented by like numerals. For purposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in every drawing. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example of an array system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of a speaker array;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of a stacked array;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of another example of an array system; and is

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another example of an array system.

Detailed Description

Aspects of the present disclosure relate to acoustic array systems and methods that produce a complex sound field including multiple acoustic radiation patterns, such as two or more acoustic beams, by processing each acoustic beam signal of each driver separately and superimposing (e.g., adding) the acoustic beam signals before providing a combined amplified signal to each driver. In most cases, the acoustic array generates a particular radiation pattern by providing a single signal to each driver in the array, where the single signal varies in one or more of delay, amplitude, phase offset, etc. Traditionally, calculating and applying the individual signal processing of each driver to form multiple beams requires array parameters (delay, amplitude, etc.) for each driver that combine all beams, making it difficult to make adjustments to one beam without affecting the other beams, or requiring recalculation and retransmission of a wide set of array coefficients, or otherwise requiring a first beam formed by a set of drivers and a second beam formed by a second set of drivers, and so on, thereby reducing the total number of drivers used to generate each beam compared to when only one beam is generated using an array.

In some examples, the acoustic array systems disclosed herein may include a speaker array coupled to a sound field controller to produce an acoustic sound field having a plurality of sound beams. The sound field controller may include and apply common signal processing to all drivers for the two beams, and may also apply dedicated beam processing common to all drivers on a per beam basis, for example, through two channels (one for each beam). The loudspeaker array may receive two signals from the sound field controller, one signal for each beam, and may process each received signal separately for each driver to generate a plurality of beam signals for each driver, i.e. for two beams there are a total of 2N signals, where N is the number of drivers in the loudspeaker array. Thus, for each driver, there is at least one pair of acoustic beam signals. The speaker array further processes the signals to combine all of the beam signals for each driver and provides each combined signal to a corresponding driver.

Examples disclosed herein may be combined with other examples in any manner consistent with at least one of the principles disclosed herein, and references to "an example," "some examples," "an alternative example," "various examples," "one example," etc. are not necessarily mutually exclusive and are intended to indicate that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described may be included in at least one example. The appearances of such terms herein are not necessarily all referring to the same example.

It is to be understood that the examples of the methods and apparatus discussed herein are not limited in their application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. These methods and apparatus can be implemented in other examples and can be operated or performed in various ways. Examples of specific implementations are provided herein for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to be limiting. Also, the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. The use of "including," "comprising," "having," "containing," "involving," and variations thereof herein, is meant to encompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional items. References to "or" may be understood to be inclusive such that any term described using "or" may indicate any single one, more than one, or all of the stated terms. Any reference to front and back, left and right, top and bottom, upper and lower, and vertical and horizontal is for convenience of description, and is not intended to limit the present systems and methods or their components to any one positional or spatial orientation.

Fig. 1 shows one example of an audio system 100 comprising three speaker arrays 110 interconnected in a daisy chain arrangement, a sound field controller 120 in communication with the speaker arrays 110 via a network 130, and a user interface 140 through which a user 142 can operate and control various settings and parameters of the speaker arrays 110 to determine characteristics of an acoustic sound field produced by the speaker arrays 110. Although three speaker arrays 110 are shown, any number of speaker arrays 110 may be supported, including additional speaker arrays 110 or a single speaker array 110. The sound field controller 120 may communicate with the speaker array 110 through any suitable communication network 130, which may include a direct interface via a wireless or wired interconnection or a network infrastructure including one or more routers, switches, etc. In a certain example, the sound field controller 120 interfaces through a digital audio network (such as those of Audinate, Inc.)

) The speaker array 110 is communicated with using Internet Protocol (IP) over any suitable physical layer (e.g., optical, twisted pair, wireless, etc.).

The speaker arrays 110 each include a plurality of drivers, which are electro-acoustic transducers that convert electrical audio signals into acoustic signals, e.g., acoustic pressure waves. The sound pressure waves of each driver are synchronized with the sound pressure waves of the other drivers to constructively and destructively interfere at different distances and angles from the speaker array 110 to form a certain acoustic response at each location within the room and to be of particular interest at each audience location within the room. The intensity of sound at each location in a room, as well as the intensity variation of different frequencies (e.g., the pitch or balance of the sound), is referred to herein comprehensively as a sound field, soundstage, or acoustic sound field.

The soundfield controller 120 may receive audio signals 152 from the audio source 150 that the soundfield controller 120 processes and passes to the speaker array 110. The sound field controller stores system parameters, such as system gain, system equalizer, and system delay settings, for processing the audio signals 152, and stores beam settings, such as gain and delay parameters, for each of the drivers in the speaker array 110. The sound field controller 120 communicates the delay and gain parameters to the speaker array 110 via one or more control messages over the communication network 130. For each driver in the speaker array 110, the delay and gain applied to the audio signal causes the driver to generate sound pressure at the correct time and at the correct intensity to cause the correct interaction between the sound pressure waves to form the intended sound field.

In addition, the sound field controller 120 may store Finite Impulse Response (FIR) parameters for each driver. The FIR parameters may be stored in the form of a finite impulse response waveform or may be in the form of FIR filter coefficients that, when applied to a FIR filter, produce a correlation response to the filtered audio signal. The finite impulse response parameter may provide a desired phase delay for different frequencies, such that a typical time delay (equally applied to all frequencies) cannot be provided, but is not necessary in all cases. In addition, the finite impulse response parameters may incorporate each of the time delays common to all frequencies, the gains common to all frequencies, and the equalization, as desired. However, in some examples, the delay, gain, and equalization of each driver in the speaker array 110 are governed by separate parameters, and FIR parameters are used to fine tune the acoustic beam steering and propagation, and to frequency-specifically adjust it. In some examples, the FIR parameters are optional or not included.

In addition, the sound field controller 120 may store the equalization parameters of each driver. The equalization parameters for each driver may include an equalization parameter that compensates for the local frequency response of each driver based on component testing, or the frequency response of each driver in combination with the mounting of the driver and the housing in the speaker array 110, or the frequency response of all driver groups in each speaker array 110 again in combination with the mounting of the driver and the housing in the speaker array 110. In the latter case, the equalization parameters stored by the sound field controller 120 may be the same for each of the drivers within a single speaker array 110 or for all of the drivers in all of the speaker arrays 110.

In some examples, the speaker array 110 may receive the array parameters and/or equalization in a different manner. For example, in some examples, sound field controller 120 may not store parameters, or speaker array 110 may not use parameters or equalization stored by sound field controller 120, and may use parameters and/or equalization received from other locations, such as from a configuration tool, or used as previously preloaded equalization and/or array parameters stored in a memory associated with speaker array 110.

The sound field controller 120 has or may be in communication with a user interface 140, which may include, for example, one or more user input devices such as a keyboard, mouse, touch sensitive screen, etc., and may include one or more user output devices such as a screen, monitor, lights, buzzers and other indicators, etc. The user interface 140 may be integrated with the sound field controller 120, or may be remote from the sound field controller 120 via a direct connection 144 or via a network connection 146 through the network 130 or other suitable communication interface. For example, the user interface 140 may comprise a proprietary or non-proprietary remote computer, workstation or device, such as a laptop, desktop computer, tablet, smart phone, etc., and such computer, workstation or device may have dedicated software that displays user information and options and communicates with the sound field controller 120, or may have general purpose software (such as a web browser) that communicates with the sound field controller 120 (via, for example, a web server hosted by the sound field controller 120).

The user interface 140 may allow the user 142 to select a sound field from a plurality of pre-loaded sound fields. Additionally, the sound field controller 120 coupled with the user interface 140 may allow for the creation of a new sound field by calculating new array parameters. In general, the signal processing channels of the sound field controller 120 and the loudspeaker array 110, each discussed in more detail below, process signals using array parameters, which may include amplitude, gain, time delay, phase delay, equalization, finite impulse response, and other parameters suitable for a certain desired sound field, to create a desired sound field. In a certain example, the applied array parameters include amplitude and time delay. In another example, the applied array parameters also include FIR coefficients.

Such array parameters may be necessary for a system (e.g., audio system 100), but are generally not "user-friendly" because they are not easily selected or modified by user 142. Thus, it is desirable for the user 142 to be able to work with user-friendly parameters that define desired sound field or beam characteristics (such as beam direction, propagation, hue balance, etc.). Thus, a sound field tool may be incorporated into the sound field controller 120 to allow the array parameters to be calculated from the user-specified sound field parameters. Alternatively, the sound field tool may exist separately from the sound field controller 120 and the audio system 100, and may provide one or more sets of array parameters that may be loaded, programmed, stored, or otherwise used with the audio system 100. In some examples, the sound field controller 120 may include memory or other storage capability for storing such array parameters.

The audio signal 152 is described above as coming from the audio source 150 and being processed by the sound field controller 120. Additionally or alternatively, the sound field controller 120 may store one or more portions or all of the audio signals 152 to be provided to the speaker array 110. In other examples, the audio signals 152 may be provided to the speaker array 110 by a different mechanism (such as directly to an audio input associated with one of the speaker arrays 110).

Fig. 2 shows an example of a speaker array 110 comprising a plurality of drivers 210 having an array of amplifiers 210 and a set of Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) 230. The signal router 240 routes an audio signal 250 received at one of the digital interface 242 or the analog interface 244 to the DSP bank 230, which processes the audio signal 250 for each driver 210 and provides a processed signal 252 (one for each driver) to the amplifier 220, respectively. Amplifier 220 provides an amplified processed signal 222 to each of drivers 210. The speaker array 110 may have any number of drivers 210, amplifiers 220, and DSPs 230.

In one particular example, the speaker array 110 has twelve drivers 210, twelve amplifiers 220, and three DSPs 230, each DSP having four DSP channels, for a total of twelve DSP channels. Thus, each driver 210 has at least one DSP channel and at least one amplifier channel such that each driver 210 may receive a unique amplified processed signal 222 generated from a received audio signal. Each DSP 230 channel applies a delay to the received audio signal 250 in accordance with the delay parameters communicated from the sound field controller 120 to provide a processed signal 252. Each DSP 230 channel may also apply equalization according to equalization parameters received from the sound field controller 120, and may additionally or alternatively apply pre-stored equalization according to pre-stored equalization parameters. Each DSP 230 channel may also apply a gain according to gain parameters received from the sound field controller 120 and may apply a FIR filter according to FIR parameters received from the sound field controller 120. In some examples, the gain parameters received from the sound field controller 120 are applied by the amplifier 220 instead of or in addition to the DSP 230 channel.

In some examples, equalization applied by DSP 230 channels compensates for the frequency response of the speaker array 110, as described above. In certain examples, the sound field controller 120 may apply equalization to the audio signals 152 associated with various frequency responses, such as, for example, to compensate for the frequency response in the room in which the speaker array 110 is operating, to compensate for hue balance or frequency coloration expected or produced by the sound beamforming process (e.g., gain, delay, FIR filter), and/or to apply user desired equalization, color adjustments, or colors.

Still referring to fig. 2, the speaker array 110 may include a controller 260 that communicates with and controls various components of the speaker array 110. For example, controller 260 may be a processor that communicates with sound field controller 120 (e.g., via digital interface 242) to receive various array parameters. The controller 260 may load or establish parameters (e.g., gain, delay, FIR) into the DSP 230 channels and the amplifier 220. The controller 260 may also control the signal router 240 to select an interface on which to receive the audio signal 250 (e.g., digital 242 or analog 244), and may receive the audio signal 250 from another (e.g., upstream) speaker array 110 and/or provide the audio signal 250 to another (e.g., downstream) speaker array 110 via the daisy-chain input/output interface 270.

Further, controller 260 may detect the presence of upstream or downstream speaker array 110, may receive beamforming from upstream or downstream speaker array 110, or provide array parameters to upstream or downstream speaker array 110, may communicate with sound field controller 120 regarding the presence of upstream or downstream speaker array 110, may receive array parameters or other communications of upstream or downstream speaker array 110 and communicate the parameters to upstream or downstream speaker array 110, and may receive communications from upstream or downstream speaker array 110 of sound field controller 120 and communicate them to sound field controller 120. In some examples, the controller 260 may be an integrated component that includes the signal router 240 and/or the interfaces 242, 244, 270 and may be included or incorporated in one or more of the DSPs 230. Any suitable processor or suitable logic (such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), or a programmable gate array) with suitable programming may be used, for example, as or as part of the controller 260.

Fig. 3 shows a stacked array 300, which is a daisy-chained set of speaker arrays 110. A single speaker array 110 may be used alone, but certain examples of speaker array systems as disclosed herein allow two or more speaker arrays 110 to be daisy chained to provide a larger array with more drivers 210, which allows the sound field produced by the stacked array 300 to have more extensive control and customization than can be achieved by a single speaker array 110. It should be noted that in all applications or in all cases, it may not be necessary to form stacked array 300. The ability to form stacked arrays 300 may provide increased flexibility to accommodate changing requirements or specific applications. For example, certain room sizes or shapes may benefit from stacking the arrays 300 to provide more detailed beamforming, while for smaller rooms or different shapes, a single speaker array 110 may be sufficient.

The stacked array 300 in fig. 3 includes a first speaker array 110a, a second speaker array 110b, and a third speaker array 110 c. Further examples of stacked arrays may include only two speaker arrays 110 or may include four or more speaker arrays 110. In the example shown in fig. 3, the first speaker array 110a receives audio and control signals 350, such as may be received from the sound field controller 120 (see fig. 1) as described above. The first speaker array 110a communicates with the second speaker array 110b via a daisy chain connection 352 to pass the relevant portions of the audio and control signals 350 to the second speaker array 110 b. Likewise, the second speaker array 110b communicates with the third speaker array 110c via the daisy chain connection 354 to pass the relevant portions of the audio and control signals 350 to the third speaker array 110 c.

Each of the speaker arrays 110 can communicate with each other via daisy chain connections 352, 354, and the first speaker array 110a can communicate with an audio source (e.g., fig. 1, audio source 150) or a controller (e.g., fig. 1, sound field controller 120). In some examples, each of the speaker arrays 110 may have twelve drivers 210, and the stacked array 300 may thus include 36 drivers. The sound field controller 120 may store and transmit array parameters, such as delay, gain, FIR, equalization, etc., for each driver 210 in the stacked array 300 to produce a selected acoustic sound field (e.g., by the user 142).

Any one of the speaker arrays 110 may be in direct communication with the sound field controller 120 or the audio source 150, and the terms first, second, and third are used arbitrarily for the speaker arrays 110. For example, the second speaker array 110b may communicate with the sound field controller 120 and receive array parameters, such as delay, gain, FIR, equalization, etc., for each driver 210 in the stacked array 300 and pass the relevant parameters to the first speaker array 110a and the third speaker array 110c as needed. Similarly, the stacked array 300 may be configured such that any one of the three speaker arrays 110 may receive audio signals and pass the audio signals to the other speaker arrays 110, or each of the speaker arrays 110 may receive audio signals directly from an audio source. In some examples, the physical configuration and communication connections of the stacked array 300 may be selected by the user 142 at the user interface 140, or may be automatically discovered by various systems (e.g., the speaker array 110 and the sound field controller 120), or any combination thereof.

Fig. 4 shows an example of an audio system 400 that includes at least one speaker array 110 in communication with a sound field controller 120 via a communication channel, such as may be provided over a network 130. The sound field controller 120 stores array parameters 410 for the speaker array 110 and communicates them to the speaker array 110 via one or more control messages 412. The array parameters 410 may include gain, delay, FIR, equalization, and other parameters for each of the drivers 210 that are part of the speaker array 110. It should be noted that the array parameters 410 may include parameters of drivers 210 associated with additional speaker arrays 110 that are part of a stacked array (e.g., the stacked array 300 of fig. 3), and that one or more of the speaker arrays 110 may communicate the array parameters 410 through daisy chain communication as described above.

The array parameters 410 may include parameters for sound beam control (e.g., steering, direction, propagation, etc.) as part of a sound field selected by a user, and may be generally referred to as sound beam parameters, although such parameters may enable other aspects of sound field creation in addition to sound beams. Additionally, the array parameters 410 may include other parameters unrelated to the particular sound beam configuration, such as equalization parameters that compensate for the frequency response of the drivers 210 installed in the speaker array 110.

In some examples, the sound field controller 120 communicates a set of equalization parameters that the speaker array 110 applies to all drivers 210, such as a fixed speaker equalization that compensates for the frequency response of the speaker array 110, which may depend on the model or type of the speaker array 110. In other examples, the sound field controller 120 may communicate different equalization parameters for different drivers 210. For example, drivers 210 at different locations in the speaker array 110 may exhibit different frequency responses and may benefit from different equalization than other drivers 210 in the speaker array 110. In addition, different user-selected acoustic sound fields may benefit from different equalization in the speaker array 110. Equalization parameters may also be associated with beam control, as beam patterns may produce coloration of the acoustic sound field, i.e., shifts in frequency response, which may be at least partially compensated for by equalization.

The sound field controller 120 may apply processing to the audio signals 152 to generate processed audio signals 452, which the sound field controller 120 passes to one or more speaker arrays 110 (e.g., directly or via a daisy chain). For example, the sound field controller 120 may provide system processing 420, which may include affecting the gain, delay, equalization, etc., of all sounds produced by the audio system 400. For example, system gain and delay may facilitate adjusting overall sound level and timing to match other speakers in a room. For example, the audio system 400 may process and generate a sound field for a rear channel in a set of speakers in a room, and may need to adjust timing and level to match a front channel, or vice versa, or for a left-right channel pair, and so on.

The array parameters (such as individual gain, delay, FIR and equalization parameters) for each of the drivers 210 may be selected by a sound field design tool incorporating room characteristics such as shape, size, material, listener orientation, and the like. Such room characteristics may color, i.e., change the frequency response of, a sound field produced by an acoustic array system (e.g., audio system 400). The sound field controller 120 may apply the process 430 to adjust room characteristics, beam characteristics, or array characteristics of the audio signals 152, which may be at least partially compensated by the common process 430, without regard to the individual drivers 210. For example, the frequency response that changes due to room characteristics may be compensated at least in part by the room equalization applied in process 430. Additional coloring of the sound field may be a byproduct of the array configuration, e.g., as a model or desired beam characteristics of one or more speaker arrays 100 or configurations of the stacked array 300, and this may be compensated for at least in part by array and/or beam equalization or other adjustments in process 430. Additionally, based on user preferences, the sound field controller 120 may provide user-selectable options or adjustments to the audio signal, such as equalization, pitch, balance, delay, gain, etc., and such adjustments may be applied to the audio signal 152 in process 430. It should be understood that any characteristic, adjustment, or processing of audio signal 152 that does not require separate adjustment at one driver 210 from another driver 210 may be applied in sound field controller 120 at either of process 430 or system process 420. Such processes that are typically applied to all of the drives 210 may be collectively referred to as a common process or system process.

Fig. 5 shows an example of an audio system 500 comprising at least one speaker array 110 in communication with a sound field controller 120 configured to produce an acoustic sound field having two sound beams. Conventional array systems supporting two acoustic beams divide the number of drivers into two groups and generate one acoustic beam from each group. In some conventional systems that include more than one speaker array, the drivers in the various speaker arrays are also divided into two groups, with each group being used to provide one beam. This conventional method uses half the number of drivers to produce each beam, thereby producing beams with less desirable characteristics, such as less accuracy in the desired or expected beam pattern (e.g., direction, propagation, side sidebands, etc.), than if only one beam were produced. An alternative conventional approach involves calculating a more accurate response for each driver in the array to allow extensive control over the generated sound field. Such approaches are computationally challenging, require a large amount of computational resources, and may require a speaker array with significantly increased processing power to achieve the precise response required for each driver. However, the audio system 500 includes a solution that produces two beams, each with the precision of using all of the drivers in the array, while being cheaper, simpler, and easier to adjust than conventional, computationally extensive methods.

In the audio system 500, the sound field controller 120 processes the audio signal 152 by two beam processors 430a430b to provide two processed audio signals 452a, 452b, one for each beam. The speaker array 110 includes two signal processor channels 230a, 230b per driver 210, one for each beam, which further process the processed audio signals 452a, 452b to provide dedicated beam drive signals 254a, 254 b. Each dedicated beam drive signal 254a, 254b is added together for each driver by a set of combiners 232 to provide a combined processed signal 252 to amplifier 220, which amplifier 220 then provides a single amplified signal 222 to each of drivers 210. It should be understood that the addition of the dedicated beam drive signals 254a, 254b by the combiner 232 may be performed within one or more DSPs implementing any of the processor channels 230.

Depending on the situation, each beam has its own set of dedicated beam parameters, such as gain, delay, FIR, equalization, etc., for each driver 210 as the case may require. Each of the beam processors 230 associated with the speaker array 110 processes one of the beams by applying a respective dedicated beam parameter for each driver 210. Thus, the sound field controller 120 provides two sets of array parameters 410 to the speaker array 110, one set for the first sound beam (which is applied to the first set of processor channels 230a) and the other set for the second sound beam (which is applied to the second set of processor channels 230 b). It will be appreciated from the above discussion that the loudspeaker array 110 according to this example has two DSP channels per driver 210, or in other words, two DSP channels per driver 210, the driver 210 will contribute one DSP channel for each sound beam. A pair of signals generated by the two DSP channels are combined together and the combined signal is amplified before being provided to the driver 210.

In this way, each of the drivers 210 of the speaker array 110 will produce sound waves that combine with the sound waves of all of the other drivers 210 to produce an acoustic sound field having two sound beams. Each beam will have an accuracy or quality that is produced by all of the drivers 210 of the array, rather than only a subset of the drivers 210.

One benefit of the example audio system 500 is that each beam can be individually adjusted within the sound field controller 120 (by the processors 430a, 430b) or the speaker array 110 (by the processors 230a, 230 b). For example, if the user 142 wants to adjust the equalization or gain of one of the sound beams without affecting the other sound beam, this may be applied in one of the processors 430 of the sound field controller 120. In conventional systems, individual adjustment of individual beams requires either that each beam be generated by only a subset of the drivers or that complex recalculation of the array parameters for each driver be required. For example, in conventional systems that generate multiple beams using all available drivers, the information required to generate each beam is mixed within the dedicated driver array parameters and is not separable, so when changes need to be made to only one beam, the parameters need to be recalculated to generate all beams. This requires the loudspeaker array to have increased resources to perform extensive calculations or to calculate and transmit parameters elsewhere, which requires a large amount of data transmission to apply the newly calculated parameters.

It should be understood that the example audio system 500 processes signals and produces two sound beams for two sound beams, but may be extended to accommodate any number of sound beams as desired by varying operational requirements or applications. For example, the sound field controller 120 may include additional processing 430 channels, e.g., beam 1 processing 430a, beam 2 processing 430b, beam 3 processing, etc., until beam M processing to provide M number of processed audio signals 452, one for each beam. The speaker array 110 may include MxN DSP 230 channels to process the M beam signals for each of the N drivers 210 and M combiners 232 to sum the M dedicated beam drive signals 254 together to provide N combined signals 252, one for each driver 210.

In the various examples discussed above, reference is sometimes made to one or more signal processing channels. It will be appreciated that the various signal processing channels may be digital or analog in nature, and that particular examples of digital signal processing channels may therefore have analog counterparts substituted, and analog signal processing may therefore have digital counterparts substituted. It is to be understood that the conversion of signals from digital to analog, and vice versa, is well known in the art, and that such conversion may include one or more digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and/or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), respectively. In the examples discussed above, such a conversion may be included, although the conversion may not be discussed or shown. Those skilled in the art will understand how to make such conversions as necessary to implement the discussed examples. In particular, it should be understood that the processing in the sound field controller 120 and one or more DSP 230 channels of the speaker array 110 may occur in the digital domain, while the signals provided to the amplifiers or drivers (processed, combined, amplified, etc.) may be analog. Accordingly, a DAC may be provided, for example, between DSP 230 and amplifier 220 to convert the processed digital signal to an analog signal to be amplified.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one example, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications, and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure, and are intended to be within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings are by way of example only, and the scope of the invention should be determined from appropriate construction of the appended claims, and equivalents thereof.