Patent ID: 8483413

Claim:
An audio system for a vehicle having a plurality of seat positions, wherein a forward direction is toward a forward end of the vehicle, a rearward direction is toward a rearward end of the vehicle, and side directions are transverse to the forward and rearward directions, and wherein for each of a plurality of first said seat positions there is a second said seat position that is proximate to the first seat position in a said side direction, said audio system comprising: at each said first seat position, a first directional loudspeaker array disposed at a seat at the first seat position at a position that is offset in a first said side direction from a first line extending in the forward and rearward directions and passing through an expected position of the head of a listener in the seat at the first seat position, wherein the second seat position is proximate to the first seat position in the first side direction; and a second directional loudspeaker array disposed at the seat at a position that is offset in a second said side direction from the first line so that the first line is between the second array and the second seat position, wherein each of the first directional loudspeaker array and the second directional loudspeaker array is driven by audio signals through audio signal processing circuitry to thereby radiate greater acoustic energy corresponding to the audio signals to the expected position of the head of a listener in the seat at the first seat position than to an expected position of the head of a listener at the second seat position, wherein the first directional loudspeaker array comprises at least two acoustic drivers, wherein the second directional loudspeaker array comprises at least three acoustic drivers, wherein the first directional loudspeaker array and the second directional loudspeaker array each comprises a number of acoustic drivers that is different from the other, wherein the second directional loudspeaker array is disposed adjacent a vehicle surface that is a near reflective surface with respect to the second directional loudspeaker array and the listener in the seat at the first seat position, and wherein the second directional loudspeaker array includes an acoustic driver directed toward the near reflective surface.