Vehicle Speaker Array Sound Localization for Hands-Free Safety
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
During hands-free calling in vehicles, existing systems do not effectively maintain the rider's focus on the road by providing directional information through sound, which can compromise safety and user-friendliness.
Innovation Solution
A vehicle equipped with a wireless communication section, voice calling section, and a speaker array that calculates the relative speed of the other calling party and performs sound image localization processing to direct the sound image and adjust sound volume based on distance and movement, ensuring the rider is aware of the other party's position and distance without needing to look away.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If hands-free calling is used during driving, then the rider's hands are freed for operation, but the rider may turn eyes away from the traveling direction reducing safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces sound image as an intermediary to convey spatial information about the other vehicle. Instead of requiring visual contact with the other vehicle or manual operation, the system uses directional audio output to mediate the communication between the rider and the external environment, allowing the rider to maintain visual attention on the road while receiving spatial awareness through sound
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical/visual system of directly seeing and manually operating with an acoustic system. The speaker array creates sound images that substitute for visual confirmation of the other vehicle's position, and voice communication substitutes for manual signaling, thereby freeing the rider's hands and eyes while maintaining situational awareness
2Adaptability or versatility
If the range of information provided to the rider is expanded, then user-friendliness improves, but the complexity of the system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the audio output function into multiple speakers arranged in an array, where each speaker can be independently controlled to create directional sound images. This segmentation allows the system to convey spatial information through sound without requiring a single complex omnidirectional speaker, breaking down the complex function of spatial audio into manageable individual speaker units
Solution Approach 2:
The sound image localization system serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides directional information about the other vehicle, conveys distance through sound volume, and maintains rider awareness of the communication context. This multi-functionality allows the system to expand information provision without proportionally increasing complexity, as a single acoustic system handles multiple information delivery tasks
Data Source
AI summary
An own vehicle includes a wireless communication section, an application control section, and a speaker array. The application control section makes a voice call by wireless communication and the speaker array includes a plurality of speakers to output voice based on a voice signal in the voice call. The position information of the other calling party in the voice call is received by the wireless communication section and the relative speed as the moving speed of the other calling party with respect to the vehicle is calculated on the basis of the received position information. On the basis of the calculated relative speed, sound image localization processing is performed so that the sound image of the voice based on the voice signal to be output by the speaker array is in the direction in which the other calling party is positioned after the elapse of a prescribed time.