Adaptive Ringtone Filtering for Audibility Without Speaker Distortion

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Solution Overview

Problem

Mobile communication devices face challenges in making incoming communication alerts audible over varying ambient noise levels, with traditional volume boosting methods causing distortion and potential component failure.

Innovation Solution

Adaptive ringtone technology that processes ambient noise characteristics to adjust volume and frequency response, using filtering processes to ensure the ringtone is heard over ambient noise, including ramping in low noise environments and modulating signal-to-noise ratios in high noise environments.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the volume of the ringtone is increased to overcome ambient noise, then the ringtone becomes more audible, but the speaker may be overdriven causing distortion and component failures

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaudibility of ringtoneVSAvoidspeaker distortion and component failure

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system dynamically adjusts ringtone parameters based on real-time ambient noise analysis. The ringtone generator modifies volume, frequency, and spectral content adaptively rather than using fixed high-volume output, allowing the speaker to operate within safe limits while maintaining audibility through intelligent parameter optimization.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes multiple parameters of the ringtone signal including volume level, frequency spectrum, and temporal characteristics based on ambient noise conditions. By analyzing the noise spectrum and adjusting the ringtone's spectral content to avoid masking frequencies, the system achieves audibility without requiring excessive volume that would overdrive the speaker.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Reliability

If the volume of the ringtone is increased to be audible over ambient noise, then the ringtone can be heard in noisy environments, but it may disturb people nearby in low noise environments

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaudibility of ringtoneVSAvoiddisturbance to others

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The system continuously monitors ambient noise levels and uses this feedback to adjust ringtone parameters in real-time. The noise analyzer captures environmental acoustic conditions, and the ringtone generator uses this information to optimize volume and spectral content, ensuring the ringtone is audible in noisy environments while minimizing disturbance in quiet settings.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies different ringtone parameter settings tailored to specific ambient noise conditions. Rather than using a uniform high-volume setting, the system adapts the ringtone's local characteristics (volume, frequency distribution, temporal pattern) to match the specific acoustic environment, achieving effective notification while reducing unnecessary disturbance.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Ease of manufacture

If simple volume boosting is used to overcome ambient noise, then the implementation is simple, but the speaker is overdriven causing distortion

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesimplicity of implementationVSAvoidspeaker distortion

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the simple mechanical approach of volume boosting with an intelligent signal processing system. Instead of uniformly increasing amplitude, the system uses digital signal processing to analyze ambient noise characteristics and dynamically adjust the ringtone's spectral and temporal properties, substituting brute-force volume increase with sophisticated algorithmic control.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary analysis of ambient noise conditions before generating the ringtone signal. The noise analyzer pre-processes environmental acoustic data to identify masking frequencies and optimal parameter settings, allowing the ringtone generator to create an optimized signal that avoids speaker overdrive while ensuring audibility from the outset.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS8995683B2Methods and devices for adaptive ringtone generation

Publication Date: 2015.03.31 GOOGLE TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS LLC

AI summary

Disclosed are methods and devices for adapting a ringtone in accordance with ambient noise. In one embodiment a method includes processing an ambient noise signal to determine an ambient noise volume. When there is an incoming communication and it is determined that the ambient noise has a low ambient noise volume, a method can include generating a ringtone having a ringtone volume that is initially a low volume and increasing the ringtone volume over a predetermined period of time. A method can include applying a filter to the ringtone signal to increase a signal-to-noise ratio, the filter configured to increase an amplitude of a frequency that is not one of the predominant frequencies of the ambient noise and that the transducer is configured to output according to the transducer frequency response. In another embodiment, a second transducer may generate a ringtone output in addition to the first transducer.