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  Method and apparatus for spatially enhancing the stereo image in sound reproduction and reinforcement systemsRelated Patent Categories: Electrical Audio Signal Processing Systems And Devices, Sound Or Noise MaskingMethod and apparatus for spatially enhancing the stereo image in sound reproduction and reinforcement systems description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070165874, Method and apparatus for spatially enhancing the stereo image in sound reproduction and reinforcement systems. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for enhancing the performance of sound reproduction and reinforcement systems and more particularly for enhancing the performance of these systems over broad listener areas. [0003] 2. Description of the Related Art [0004] Since the advent of sound recording near the end of the nineteenth century, an effective methodology has been sought to make the reproduction of sound, especially music, approach as closely as possible the sound field created by the original live source. Challenges remain including increasing the audience listening area in which sound is faithfully reproduced. Sound reproduction system engineering implementations have focused on "electrostatic emitters" which are extremely directional in their radiation response and offer only a single listening location and electrodynamic emitters which have been designed for the uniform distribution of sound energy over a wide area. [0005] Despite occasional announcements that the ultimate perfection has been reached and despite the increased number of separate emitters being utilized to create a theater or high-end home sound reproduction system, fidelity problems remain. Relatively accurate reproduction tends to exist. Unfortunately, it is restricted to central on axis listening positions, which are locations that are equidistant from primary emitters. For other listening positions spatial anomalies distort the associated sound field. With conventional approaches, for listening locations that are off the central axis of the emitters the "stereo image" degenerates. Consequently, for a group of original sound sources, such as instruments being played together, in a live performance the spatial orientation of the reproduced sound sources would not be the same as the spatial orientation of the live performance. Instead, the spatial orientation of the reproduction is compressed, expanded or otherwise changes relative to the spatial orientation of the original performance based upon listening position. In live performance sound reinforcement installations where emitters are used to reinforce the sound produced by instruments being played and singers' voices, performance frequently declines to the point where the emitters being used become the only acoustic image realized. [0006] Since sound obeys an inverse square law relative to distance, as the distance between emitters and listener increases, the sound intensity decreases. As a result, the sound images that are created by two or more emitters at any listening position not equidistant from both emitters will have a geometry distortion introduced. In these off-axis listener positions, the instruments become crowded together and the instrument closest to the off axis listener becomes louder and the "stereo image" of central instruments rapidly degenerates. The incorporation of a third "center channel" has been tried, but this can add significantly to the system's complexity, and offers limited results. [0007] A number of other devices have been proposed to increase the area in which the audience will experience faithful sound reproduction. Some have proposed the use of frequency sensitive elements to selectively phase shift and redirect the electrical energy to various emitter means. The proposed devices tend to add complexity and degrade the final reproduced sound. Others have proposed devices that attempt to stimulate the listening room utilizing radiation from the emitter without regard to room dependant anomalies such as wave cancellations that occur from reflective walls to produce an improvement. [0008] Further, the industry has expended a great deal of effort measuring the effect of interaural time difference (ITD). This involves the time difference created by the physical path length difference created by the human head and the time differences created by the path lengths from sound source to listener. Various methods have been proposed to compensate for geometric anomalies. In modern recording studios it is common practice to use many microphones and recorder channels to capture a performance. Results can be disappointing since time and phase information that relate one instrument to another can be lost prior to recording distribution and is usually unavailable to sound reinforcement systems. As a result a less than ideal situation occurs in which differences in loudness of emitters are relied upon as the cues for spatial location to recreate sound image files. The challenge of increasing the audience listening area in which sound is faithfully reproduced remains by in large elusive. BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0009] Aspects of the invention include a system for an audience area, the audience area having a near field compensation border, the audience area being adjacent a second area along the near field compensation border, the second area having a first reference location. The system includes a plurality of sound emitters configured to be placed in a first configuration in the second area. Furthermore, aspects include an emitter energy apportioner configured to be coupled to the plurality of sound emitters to send signals to the sound emitters having energy distributed amongst the signals such that the sound emitters being in the first configuration in the second area collectively emit a first sound pattern, the first sound pattern configured to be received having a first sound energy amplitude for at least a first sound frequency by a sound receiver at a first location in the audience area a first distance from the near field compensation border and a second distance from the first reference location with the sound receiver facing the first reference location in the second area, the first sound pattern configured to be received having a second sound energy amplitude for at least the first sound frequency by the sound receiver at a second location in the audience area a third distance from the near field compensation border and a fourth distance from the first reference location with the sound receiver facing the first reference location in the second area, the first distance approximating the third second distance, the second distance being different from the fourth distance, and the first sound energy amplitude approximating the second sound energy amplitude. [0010] Further aspects include a system for an audience area, the audience area having a near field compensation border, the audience area containing a sound receiver having a left channel sound receiver and a right channel sound receiver, the audience area being adjacent a second area along the near field compensation border, the second area having a first reference location. The system includes a plurality of sound emitters configured to be placed in a first configuration in the second area. Further aspects include an emitter energy apportioner configured to be coupled to the plurality of sound emitters to send signals to the sound emitters having energy distributed amongst the signals such that the sound emitters being in the first configuration in the second area collectively emit a first sound pattern, the first sound pattern configured to be received having a first audible sound information content with a first left channel frequency-amplitude distribution to be received by the left channel receiver of the sound receiver and a first right channel frequency-amplitude distribution to be received by the right channel receiver of the sound receiver at a first location in the audience area a first distance from the near field compensation border and a second distance from the first reference location with the sound receiver facing the first reference location in the second area, the first sound pattern configured to be received having a second audible sound information content with a second left channel frequency-amplitude distribution to be received by the left channel receiver of the sound receiver and a second right channel frequency-amplitude distribution to be received by the right channel receiver of the sound receiver by the sound receiver at a second location in the audience area a third distance from the near field compensation border and a fourth distance from the first reference location with the sound receiver facing the first reference location in the second area, the first distance approximating the third distance, the second distance being different from the fourth distance, and the differences between the first left. Other features and advantages will become apparent from the accompanying detailed description and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) [0011] FIG. 1 is schematic of a sound image of a sound image system and associated audience zones. [0012] FIG. 2 is a schematic of an emitter driving system of FIG. 1. [0013] FIG. 3 is a schematic showing the generalized presentation of how emitter elements relate to the listener. [0014] FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a calibration method for the sound image system of FIG. 1. [0015] FIG. 5 is an exemplary schematic nonuniform sound amplitude emitted by the sound image system of FIG. 1. It illustrates the nonuniform sound amplitude emitted by each of two spaced-apart emitters with the sound amplitude as a function of angle represented by the distance of the arcs from the respective emitters. [0016] FIG. 6 is an exemplary schematic of the geometric relationship of two spaced-apart first implementations of the emitted assemblies and the listener audience relationships. [0017] FIG. 7A is a side elevational schematic of a first implementation of the emitter assembly of the sound image system. [0018] FIG. 7B is a front elevational schematic of a first implementation of the emitter assembly of the sound image system. [0019] FIG. 8 is a schematic of a first electrical implementation of the first electrical implementation of the emitter assembly shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B. [0020] FIG. 9 is a schematic of the emitter driving assembly shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B utilizing resistive elements. [0021] FIG. 10 is a front view of an implementation of the omnidirectional emitter array of the sound image system for small venues showing a plurality of emitters forming an array and with the high and mid frequency emitters divided into three bands Continue reading about Method and apparatus for spatially enhancing the stereo image in sound reproduction and reinforcement systems... Full patent description for Method and apparatus for spatially enhancing the stereo image in sound reproduction and reinforcement systems Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Method and apparatus for spatially enhancing the stereo image in sound reproduction and reinforcement systems patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. 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