Today the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office officially granted Apple a patent that relates to acoustic devices, including, for example, occupant-based audio control for enclosed environments like a conference room, an airplane, train, autonomous vehicle, helicopter and more.

Occupant-Based Audio Control for Enclosed Environments

Implementations of the subject technology provide occupant-based audio for enclosed environments. For example, an apparatus having an enclosure and one or more speakers may determine a location and/or an identity of an occupant within an enclosed environment defined by the enclosure, and operate the one or more speakers to provide audio output to the location of the occupant. The apparatus may also operate the one or more speakers to reduce the audio output to one or more other locations within the enclosure, such as to one or more non-occupant locations and/or to one or more locations of one or more other occupants. The audio output may be occupant-specific audio output, such as a personalized notifications, in one or more implementations.

In various implementations, the apparatus 100 may be implemented as a stationary apparatus (e.g., a conference room or other room within a building) or a moveable apparatus (e.g., a vehicle such as an autonomous or semiautonomous vehicle, a train car, an airplane, a boat, a ship, a helicopter, etc.) that can be temporarily occupied by one or more human occupants.

In one or more implementations, the top housing structure #138 and the sidewall housing structure #140 on one side of the structural support member #104 in FIG. 1 may be formed from a single (e.g., monolithic) structure having a bend or a curve between a top portion (e.g., corresponding to a top housing structure and a side portion. For example, in one or more implementations, the top housing structure and the sidewall housing structure on each side of the structural support member  may be formed from a curved glass structure.

In one or more implementations, cameras and/or sensors may be used to identify an occupant within the enclosed environment and/or to determine the location of an occupant within the enclosed environment.

For example, one or more cameras may capture images of the enclosed environment and the processor may use the images to determine whether each seat within the enclosed environment is occupied by an occupant. In various implementations, the processor may use the images to make a binary determination of whether a seat is occupied or unoccupied, or may determine whether a seat is occupied by a particular occupant.

In one or more implementations, the occupant can be actively identified by information provided by the occupant upon entry into the enclosed environment (e.g., by scanning an identity card or a mobile device acting as an identity card with a sensor, or by facial recognition or other identity verification using the cameras and/or the sensors or passively (e.g., by determining that a seat is occupied and that that seat has been previously reserved for a particular occupant during a particular time period, such as by identifying an occupant of a seat as a ticketholder for that seat).

RF circuitry includes circuitry for communicating with electronic devices, networks, such as the Internet, intranets, and/or a wireless network, such as cellular networks and wireless local area networks (LANs). The RF circuitry optionally includes circuitry for communicating using near-field communication and/or short-range communication, such as Bluetooth®.

This a very detailed patent with many speaker configurations. To review this invention, check out granted patent 12289574.   

Apple’s Listed Inventors

• Christopher Wilk: Senior Technical Leader specializing in Audio Transducers
• Dan Maier: Audio Media Tuning Engineer
• Onur Ilkorur: Senior Acoustic Hardware Engineer
• Daniel Boothe: Audio and Acoustics Technology Incubation
• Marty Johnson: Distinguished Engineer; Audio Technology Development
• Andrea Baldioceda: Audio Engineer