EP2613572A1 - Kopfverfolgungssystem - Google Patents

Kopfverfolgungssystem Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2613572A1
EP2613572A1 EP12150204.1A EP12150204A EP2613572A1 EP 2613572 A1 EP2613572 A1 EP 2613572A1 EP 12150204 A EP12150204 A EP 12150204A EP 2613572 A1 EP2613572 A1 EP 2613572A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
vehicle
occupant
head
reference signal
illumination device
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP12150204.1A
Other languages
English (en)
French (fr)
Inventor
Wolfgang Hess
Thorsten Mayer
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
Original Assignee
Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH filed Critical Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
Priority to EP12150204.1A priority Critical patent/EP2613572A1/de
Publication of EP2613572A1 publication Critical patent/EP2613572A1/de
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04S—STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS 
    • H04S7/00—Indicating arrangements; Control arrangements, e.g. balance control
    • H04S7/30—Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field
    • H04S7/302—Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation
    • H04S7/303—Tracking of listener position or orientation
    • H04S7/304—For headphones
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2499/00—Aspects covered by H04R or H04S not otherwise provided for in their subgroups
    • H04R2499/10—General applications
    • H04R2499/13—Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles

Definitions

  • the present application relates to a method for tracking ahead of an occupant of a vehicle, to a head tracking system for a vehicle, and to an audio reproduction system generating a virtual surround sound for a user using the head tracking system.
  • Head tracking systems are used to detect different types of movements of the head.
  • a gyroscope may be used to detect a turning of the head around the longitudinal axis of the head, i.e., in a horizontal plane of the head.
  • the gyroscope may detect an angular acceleration.
  • EP 2012170 A1 discloses a method for operating a head tracking system, in which a stationary reference point is detected and a position of a head equipped with the head tracking system is determined based on the detected reference point.
  • light is emitted from the reference point and the stationary reference point is detected by detecting the emitted light.
  • the stationary reference point based detection may be used to calibrate detecting means for detecting a position of the head or may be used exclusively for detecting the position of the head.
  • a stationary reference point is needed at an appropriate position for users sitting on front seats, as well as on back seats of the vehicle.
  • a power supply at the position of the stationary reference point is needed for emitting a signal or light from the reference point.
  • a method for tracking ahead of an occupant of a vehicle is provided.
  • a reference signal is sent from a predetermined location with respect to the vehicle, and the reference signal is received at a headphone worn by the occupant.
  • a receive direction of the received reference signal is determined with respect to the headphone, and a direction in which the head of the occupant is directed is determined based on the receive direction and the predetermined location.
  • the predetermined location, from where the reference signal is sent, is a passenger compartment illumination device of the vehicle.
  • the reference signal may be receive at headphones worn by occupants sitting on front or rear seats of the vehicle.
  • a power supply for the compartment illumination device is usually present which may be used to generate the reference signal. Therefore, no additional power supply and corresponding cables have to be provided for generating and sending the reference signal.
  • the sent reference signal may comprise an infrared signal, a radio frequency signal, or a magnetic field. These kinds of reference signal may be easily detectable by a corresponding unit arranged at the headphones worn by the occupant and will not disturb or annoy a driver of the vehicle.
  • the sent reference signal is an infrared signal emitted by an infrared diode mounted on the passenger compartment illumination device.
  • An infrared signal is not visible to occupants, and will therefore not be considered to be annoying.
  • an infrared diode is a small device which may be easily mounted on or be comprised in the passenger compartment illumination device.
  • a direction sensitive receiver receiving the reference signal at the headphone based on infrared light is for example known from EP 2102170 A1 .
  • the infrared diode may be powered with electrical energy provided at the passenger compartment illumination device of the vehicle. Therefore, no additional cabling for providing electrical energy to the infrared diode is needed.
  • the sender may be provided with electrical energy provided at the passenger compartment illumination device and no additional cabling for a synchronisation is necessary.
  • other methods utilising, e.g., radio frequency signals or a magnetic field may also be used and a corresponding sender may also be integrated in or may be mounted on the passenger compartment illumination device and may be powered by electrical energy provided to the passenger compartment illumination device.
  • a method for reproducing audio data via a headset to an occupant of a vehicle is provided.
  • a head of the occupant is tracked according to the above described method for tracking a head of an occupant of a vehicle.
  • the audio data to be reproduced is adapted based on the direction in which the head of the occupant is directed.
  • the adapted audio data is output via the headphones to the occupant.
  • Such a method for reproducing audio data via the headset allows to provide stereo or surround audio data to the occupant whereby the occupant gets the impression that the audio data, especially the stereo and surround effects, have a fixed special relation to the interior of the vehicle, even when the occupant is moving the head.
  • a head tracking system for a vehicle comprises a sender, a direction sensitive receiver, and a processing unit.
  • the sender is configured to send a reference signal from a predetermined location with respect to the vehicle to a headphone to be worn by an occupant of the vehicle.
  • the direction sensitive receiver is mounted on the headphone and configured to receive the reference signal and to determine a receive direction from which the reference signal is received.
  • the processing unit is configured to determine a direction in which the head of the occupant is directed with respect to the vehicle. The direction is determined based on the receive direction of the direction sensitive receiver and the predetermined location where the sender is located.
  • the sender is mounted on the passenger compartment illumination device of the vehicle.
  • the sender By mounting the sender on the passenger compartment illumination device, which is usually arranged at a ceiling of a vehicle, an appropriate coverage of the interior of the vehicle can be reached to send the reference signal to direction sensitive receivers of headphones worn by occupants sitting on rear and front seats of the vehicle. Furthermore, as at a passenger compartment illumination device a power supply is available, no additional wiring for providing electrical power to the sender is needed.
  • the sender comprises an infrared light emitter, a radio frequency sender or a magnetic field generator.
  • a corresponding sender may be selected and mounted on the passenger compartment illumination device.
  • the sender may comprise an infra-red light emitter diode which may be easily integrated into the passenger compartment illumination device due to its small form factor.
  • the infra-red light emitter diode may be coupled to a power supply of the passenger compartment illumination device and therefore no additional cabling for operating the infra-red light emitter diode is needed.
  • an audio reproduction system comprises a head tracking system as described above, an audio input for receiving audio date to be output to the occupant, and a processing unit configured to adapt the audio data based on the direction in which the head of the occupant is directed.
  • the audio data may comprise especially stereo or surround sound and may be adapted such that dependent from an orientation of the head of the occupant, the occupant gets the impression that the stereo or surround sound is reproduced by loudspeakers arranged at fixed positions in the vehicle.
  • a vehicle comprising a head tracking system and an audio reproduction system as defined above. Occupants of the vehicle may listen to audio data, especially stereo or surround audio data, in such a way that independent from a location where the occupant is sitting and the direction in which the occupants moves the head, the occupant gets the impression that the audio data is emitted from a plurality of loudspeakers which are arranged at fixed locations with respect to the vehicle.
  • Figure 1 shows schematically a head tracking system comprising one or more reference signal senders, e.g., light sources 10, emitting light to a direction sensitive receiver 100 mounted on headphones 20.
  • the sender 10 can be a light emitting diode LED, emitting light in a predetermined frequency range, e.g., infrared light.
  • a predetermined frequency range e.g., infrared light.
  • the sender will be assumed as a light source.
  • the present application is not restricted to senders based on light, and the methods and systems described herein may also utilise instead of a light source a radio frequency sender or a magnetic field generator and corresponding direction sensitive receivers.
  • the infrared frequency range of the light source 10 may be used in order not to disturbed a user wearing the headphones 20.
  • the light emitted by the LED 10 generates a light spot on the direction sensitive receiver 100.
  • the position of the light spot on the direction sensitive receiver 100 is used to determine the head position of the user wearing the headphones 20.
  • the LED 10 may be mounted on a passenger compartment illumination device of the vehicle as will be shown in connection with figure 5 , and may transmit the light in direction of the user wearing the headphones 20.
  • the system shown in figure 1 may be part of a rear seat vehicle entertainment system in which a user sitting on the back seat of a vehicle hears music or watches a film, the audio signals of which are consumed using the headphones 20. With the present disclosure, it is possible to generate virtual surround sound for the user wearing the headphones as will be explained with reference to figure 2 .
  • Determination of the head position is necessary for generation of a virtual surround sound.
  • a listening impression is generated as if the user used a five or seven loudspeaker sound system as shown in figure 2 showing a system of five loudspeakers 50.
  • the virtual surround sound field gives the listener the impression as if the sound source is stable localised in a virtual room, even if the user is turning the head. This phenomenon is known as acoustical room-constancy allows the user using headphones to stable determine the direction from where the sound is coming.
  • the user also experiences an interactive listening process with the system when turning the head, corresponding to the real world situation, since it is possible to localise the sound source stable outside of the head with correct front and back position.
  • a room-constant localisation of audio data when listening through a standard headphone 20 becomes possible by tracking the position of the head and by determining filters for the determined head position which are used for adapting the audio signal, e.g., by convolution of the audio signal with the filters.
  • These filters can be generated in the following way using a dummy head with microphones in each ear and measuring binaural room impulse responses.
  • the dummy head is positioned in the location, e.g., in the vehicle, where the system should be used. Different positions of the dummy head, e.g. different rotations, are used and for each head position the loudspeakers 50 as shown in figure 2 output the sound that is detected by the microphones in the dummy head. This may be repeated for different head rotations.
  • the audio signals are detected for each of the loudspeakers 50 and for the different head positions generating a plurality of impulse responses. Based on the impulse responses a filter element is determined for each head position.
  • the virtual surround sound can be obtained in which the user using the headphones has the impression as if the audio signal came from a sound system as shown in figure 2 .
  • Figure 3 shows a direction sensitive receiver 100 as it is known from EP 2012170 A1 .
  • Light emitted by a light source, such as the LED 10 is focused on the direction sensitive receiver 100 using a lens (not shown).
  • the direction sensitive receiver which is positioned in the focal plane of the lens receives the light emitted by the light source 10 and a light spot is generated on the direction sensitive receiver 100.
  • the light spot is located at an X-Y-position as shown in figure 3 .
  • An implementation of the direction sensitive receiver 100 will be explained in more detail with reference to figure 4 .
  • the receiver 100 comprises a PIN structure, P indicating a P-doped semiconductor layer, I designating a nominally undoped or low-doped (insulating) semiconductor layer, and N designating an N-doped semiconductor layer.
  • a back contact ko is coupled with the N-doped layer of the structure approximately in the middle thereof.
  • contacts k 1 and k 2 contact the P-doped layer.
  • additional contacts are provided in a direction perpendicular to the contacts shown.
  • Such a receiver uses the so-called lateral photo effect for position sensing.
  • a total current is supplied via contact ko.
  • An arrow label ⁇ indicates a position where light falls on the receiver 100.
  • the device becomes conducting in a traverse direction (up-down-direction in figure 4 ). In the p-axis in the middle of figure 4 , this location is designated p 1 .
  • the resistance from k 0 to k 1 are determined by the position p 1 where light falls on the sensor.
  • Currents I 1 , I 2 detected at k 1 , k 2 , respectively, are indicative of the position.
  • the dimension shown in the position p 1 relative to the middle of the sensor is proportional to (I 1 -I 2 ) / (I 1 +I 2 ).
  • a light spot in the active area of the receiver 100 having a length L describes the head rotation alone (in a one-dimensional case) or the head rotation and the "nodding position" of the head in case of a two-dimensional receiver.
  • the head tracking system needs a lightsource 10 arranged apart from the headset at a fixed location with respect to the vehicle. Furthermore, the light source 10 should be arranged such that light from the light source can be reliably received by the direction sensitive receiver 100 mounted at a headphone worn by an occupant of the vehicle.
  • Figure 5 shows such an arrangement of the light source 10.
  • the light source 10 is mounted on or comprises in a passenger compartment illumination device of a vehicle 40.
  • a power supply comprising, e.g. a 12 volt DC current is usually provided at the compartment illumination device and may be used to power the light source.
  • the light source can be easily integrated in an illumination device or mounted near the illumination device, e.g. in a console carrying the illumination device.
  • the light source may be installed near a video monitor arranged on a dashboard or in headrests of the vehicle 40.
  • FIG 5 furthermore shows schematically components of an audio reproduction system 42 of the vehicle 40.
  • the audio reproduction system 42 comprises a head tracking system comprising the light sender 10, the direction sensitive receiver 100 and a processing unit 44.
  • the light sender 10 is arranged at a passenger compartment illumination device at the ceiling of the vehicle 40 and configured to send a reference signal 46 to a headphone 20 worn by an occupant 41 of the vehicle 40.
  • the direction sensitive receiver 100 is mounted on the headphone 20 and is configured to receive the reference signal 46 and to determine the receive direction of the reference signal 46 as described above in connection to figures 1 , 3 and 4 .
  • the processing unit 44 is configured to determine a direction in which the head of the occupant 41 is directed based on the receive direction and the known location of the light sender 10.
  • the audio reproduction system 42 comprises an audio input for receiving audio data to be output to the occupant 41.
  • the audio input may comprise, e.g., a multi-media player or a CD player 45 providing e.g. music or speech to be output to the occupant 41.
  • the audio re-production system 42 comprises furthermore a processing unit 43 configured to adapt the audio data based on the direction in which the head of the occupant 41 is directed. Adapting the audio data has been described above in connection with figure 2 .
  • a reference signal 46 is sent from a predetermined location of the vehicle 40.
  • the predetermined location is the passenger compartment illumination device comprising, e.g. a light source emitting the reference signal.
  • the reference signal 46 is received at the direction sensitive receiver 100 mounted on the headphone 20 worn by the occupant 41.
  • a receive direction of the reference signal 46 is determined by the direction sensitive receiver 100 with respect to the headphone 20 and thus with respect to the head of the occupant 41.
  • a direction in which the head of the occupant 41 is directed is determined based on the receive direction and the predetermined location of the light source 10.
  • audio data to be output to the occupant 41 is adapted based on the determined head direction.
  • the audio data is output in step 66 via the headset 20 to the occupant 41.
  • the light source 10 may be arranged in a compartment illumination device which is arranged above front seats of the vehicle or above backseats of the vehicle.
  • the compartment illumination device may be arranged centred with respect to a lateral direction of the vehicle or may be arranged near doors of the vehicle.
  • a plurality of light sources 10 may be arranged at a plurality of passenger compartment illumination devices. The plurality of light sources may emit light at different wave lengths to be distinguishable by the direction sensitive receivers.
  • the plurality of light sources may emit pulsed reference signals with different pulse patterns.

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  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Stereophonic System (AREA)
EP12150204.1A 2012-01-04 2012-01-04 Kopfverfolgungssystem Withdrawn EP2613572A1 (de)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP12150204.1A EP2613572A1 (de) 2012-01-04 2012-01-04 Kopfverfolgungssystem

Applications Claiming Priority (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP12150204.1A EP2613572A1 (de) 2012-01-04 2012-01-04 Kopfverfolgungssystem

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2613572A1 true EP2613572A1 (de) 2013-07-10

Family

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Family Applications (1)

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EP12150204.1A Withdrawn EP2613572A1 (de) 2012-01-04 2012-01-04 Kopfverfolgungssystem

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EP (1) EP2613572A1 (de)

Cited By (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9522676B2 (en) 2014-04-30 2016-12-20 Denso International America, Inc. Situation awareness assistant for vehicle control
EP3354045A4 (de) * 2015-09-25 2019-09-04 Nokia Technologies Oy Differentielle kopfverfolgungsvorrichtung
US10419655B2 (en) 2015-04-27 2019-09-17 Snap-Aid Patents Ltd. Estimating and using relative head pose and camera field-of-view

Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE20209916U1 (de) * 2002-06-26 2002-08-29 Daimler Chrysler Ag Beleuchtungsvorrichtung für den Innenraum von Kraftfahrzeugen
EP2012170A1 (de) 2007-07-06 2009-01-07 Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH Kopfverfolgungssystem und Betriebsverfahren dafür
US20090072996A1 (en) * 2007-08-08 2009-03-19 Harman Becker Automotive Systems Gmbh Vehicle illumination system
EP2102170A2 (de) 2006-12-06 2009-09-23 Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH Glucocorticoid-mimetika, verfahren zur herstellung davon, pharmazeutische zusammensetzungen und deren verwendung

Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE20209916U1 (de) * 2002-06-26 2002-08-29 Daimler Chrysler Ag Beleuchtungsvorrichtung für den Innenraum von Kraftfahrzeugen
EP2102170A2 (de) 2006-12-06 2009-09-23 Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH Glucocorticoid-mimetika, verfahren zur herstellung davon, pharmazeutische zusammensetzungen und deren verwendung
EP2012170A1 (de) 2007-07-06 2009-01-07 Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH Kopfverfolgungssystem und Betriebsverfahren dafür
US20090072996A1 (en) * 2007-08-08 2009-03-19 Harman Becker Automotive Systems Gmbh Vehicle illumination system

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US9522676B2 (en) 2014-04-30 2016-12-20 Denso International America, Inc. Situation awareness assistant for vehicle control
US10419655B2 (en) 2015-04-27 2019-09-17 Snap-Aid Patents Ltd. Estimating and using relative head pose and camera field-of-view
US10594916B2 (en) 2015-04-27 2020-03-17 Snap-Aid Patents Ltd. Estimating and using relative head pose and camera field-of-view
US11019246B2 (en) 2015-04-27 2021-05-25 Snap-Aid Patents Ltd. Estimating and using relative head pose and camera field-of-view
EP3354045A4 (de) * 2015-09-25 2019-09-04 Nokia Technologies Oy Differentielle kopfverfolgungsvorrichtung

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