Patent ID: 7630501
Filing Date: 2009-12-08
Classification: H04R,H04S

Abstract:
1. A calibration system for automatically calibrating an acoustic system, the acoustic system including a source A/V device, calibration computing device and at least one rendering device, the calibration system comprising: calibration components attached to at least one selected rendering device, wherein the calibration components each comprise a microphone with an alignment relative to each other, and wherein the at least one selected rendering component includes an audio speaker that is a member of a surround sound system; a sound source positioned in a preferred listening position with respect to the surround sound system, wherein the sound source is configured provide a single test signal at a precise time, wherein the test signal is broadcast as a flat frequency response band with sharp central correlation peak that is comparatively large in magnitude to a balance of the test signal; and a source calibration module operable from the calibration computing device, the source calibration module including calculation tools for automatically determining a position of the at least one selected rendering device, wherein determining the position comprises: (a) initially guessing an overall speaker configuration, wherein the overall speaker configuration represents an arrangement of the at least one selected rendering device with respect to the at least one rendering device; (b) recording a reception time at which each of the calibration components attached to at least one selected rendering device received the test signal; (c) determining a distance and an angle between the at least one selected rendering device and the sound source at the preferred listening position, wherein the determined distance is based, in part, upon the precise time and the reception time, wherein the angle is based, in part, on the alignment of the calibration components; (d) determining the x and y coordinates of the at least one selected rendering device with respect to the at least one rendering device, utilizing the angle and the distance, upon receiving information from the calibration components; (e) revising the initial guess of the overall speaker configuration to align with the determined x and y coordinates of the at least one selected rendering device; and (f) utilizing the overall speaker configuration to determine the x, y, and z coordinates of the preferred listening position.