US 11,950,067 B2
Communication system for multiple acoustic zones
Tobias Herbig, Ulm (DE); Markus Buck, Ulm (DE); and Meik Pfeffinger, Ulm (DE)
Assigned to Cerence Operating Company, Burlington, MA (US)
Filed by Cerence Operating Company, Burlington, MA (US)
Filed on Feb. 6, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/105,979.
Application 18/105,979 is a continuation of application No. 15/583,189, filed on May 1, 2017, granted, now 11,575,990, issued on Feb. 7, 2023.
Application 15/583,189 is a continuation of application No. 13/346,854, filed on Jan. 10, 2012, granted, now 9,641,934, issued on May 2, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0209260 A1, Jun. 29, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04R 3/12 (2006.01); G10L 21/0208 (2013.01); G10L 25/84 (2013.01); H04M 9/08 (2006.01); H04R 1/40 (2006.01); H04R 3/00 (2006.01); H04R 3/02 (2006.01); H04R 27/00 (2006.01); H04R 5/02 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 3/12 (2013.01) [G10L 21/0208 (2013.01); G10L 25/84 (2013.01); H04M 9/082 (2013.01); H04R 1/406 (2013.01); H04R 3/005 (2013.01); H04R 3/02 (2013.01); H04R 27/00 (2013.01); G10L 2021/02082 (2013.01); H04R 5/02 (2013.01); H04R 2201/403 (2013.01); H04R 2227/001 (2013.01); H04R 2227/009 (2013.01); H04R 2410/05 (2013.01); H04R 2420/01 (2013.01); H04R 2499/13 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising
microphone instances to receive audio signals from corresponding microphones,
loudspeaker instances to generate signals for corresponding loudspeakers, and
a routing matrix to provide signal paths from at least one of the microphone instances to at least two of the loudspeaker instances,
wherein each of said microphones is configured to receive sound from a corresponding acoustic zone from a plurality of acoustic zones,
wherein each of said loudspeakers is configured to transmit sound into a corresponding one of said acoustic zones; and
wherein said routing matrix is configured to inactivate a loudspeaker instance for an acoustic zone that corresponds to an active microphone instance and, for each path from an active microphone to an active loudspeaker, to determine an equalizer setting for said path,
wherein the number of equalizer settings is one less than the number of loudspeakers.