Patent · US Active

Method for wall detection and localization

US12072413B1 · kind B1 · utility

0Cited by
3References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMar 31, 2021
Grant dateAug 27, 2024
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 10, 2042

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04R2430/23
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A system that performs wall detection and localization to determine a position of a device relative to acoustically reflective surfaces. The device emits an audible sound including a frequency modulated signal and captures reflections of the audible sound. The frequency modulated signal enables the device to determine an amplitude of the reflections at different time-of-arrivals, which corresponds to a direction of the reflection. The device then performs beamforming to generate a 2D intensity map that represents an intensity of the reflections at each spatial location around the device. The device detects wall(s) in proximity to the device by identifying peak intensities represented in the 2D intensity map. In some examples, instead of performing beamforming, the device can perform directional wall detection by physically rotating the device and emitting the audible sound in multiple directions. The device may perform ultrasonic wall detection using ultrasonic sound frequencies.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.