Patent ID: 7936887

Claim:
An audio system for personalized virtualization of a set of loudspeakers in a pair of headphones, the system comprising: an audio input interface for receiving a loudspeaker input signal; a speaker output interface for driving each of a set of loudspeakers with an audio signal; a headphone output interface for driving a pair of headphones with an audio signal; a microphone input interface for receiving response signals from one or more microphones positionable near each ear of a listener; a head tracking system for detecting an orientation of a listener's head; an excitation signal generator coupled to the speaker output interface, wherein when the audio system is in a personalized measurement mode, the excitation signal generator is configured to provide excitation signals to the speaker output interface for driving one or more of the loudspeakers to generate audio responses at a location near each of a listener's ears; a measurement module coupled to the microphone input interface to receive signals from the microphone input interface for the audio responses, the measurement module configured to generate personalized response functions for the audio responses for a plurality of head orientations, and associate each personalized response function with a particular loudspeaker, a particular ear, and a particular head orientation of the listener; and a virtualizer coupled to the headphone output interface, wherein when the audio system is in a normal mode, the virtualizer is configured to transform the loudspeaker input signal using a set of response functions that is based on one or more sets of the plurality of personalized response functions, and provide the transformed loudspeaker input signal to the headphone output interface.