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AppleGranted patentAudio & voiceInterest 6/10

Apple patents headset system that mixes audio from multiple devices

Apple describes a system where an audio device receives sound from multiple sources, such as a phone and a laptop, and calculates where each device is located. It then sends a mixed audio signal to a headset, allowing the user to hear sounds from different directions or focus on one source while others become background noise.

Why it mattersThis could make listening to multiple devices at once feel more natural, like hearing a conversation in a room rather than a flat mix.

In the filing’s own words

A headset that includes several speaker drivers, a processor, and memory having stored therein instructions which when executed by the processor causes the headset to receive, from an electronic device and via a first wireless communication link, an audio signal, determine a location of the electronic device with respect to the headset within an environment in which the headset is located, produce a set of spatially rendered audio signals by spatially rendering the audio signal based on the location, and use the set of spatially rendered audio signals to drive the speaker drivers to produce a virtual sound source for the audio signal at the location.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method performed by a programmed processor of an audio playback device, the method comprising: receiving, from a first electronic device and via a first wireless communication link, a first audio signal; receiving, from a second electronic device and via a second wireless communication link, a second audio signal; producing a set of spatially rendered audio signals by spatially rendering the first audio signal according to a first location of the first electronic device and the second audio signal according to a second location of the second electronic device; transmitting, via a third wireless communication link with a headset, the set of spatially rendered audio signals to the headset that is being worn by a user of the audio playback device; determining that sound of the first audio signal is of interest to the user; producing an ambient sound signal by applying reverberation to the second audio signal; and transmitting, via the third wireless communication link, a mix that includes the first audio signal and the ambient sound signal in lieu of the set of spatially rendered audio signals to the headset.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
System and method for managing multi-device connections with a headset using spatial audio
Patent number
US12772001B1
Application number
18470307
Filed
Sep 19, 2023
Granted
Oct 20, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

H04R 5/04 Electricity & electronicsH04R 5/033 Electricity & electronicsH04R 2420/07 Electricity & electronicsH04R 2430/01 Electricity & electronicsH04R 2460/07 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.