1. A sound field control apparatus comprising:
a storage unit that stores position information of a plurality of speakers disposed in a three-dimensional space and position information of a sound receiving point of sounds generated from the plurality of the speakers;
an input unit that inputs an audio signal and position information of a virtual audio source at which the audio signal is to be localized; and
a localization controller that localizes the audio signal at a position of the virtual audio source, wherein
the localization controller defines a virtual solid that is approximately polyhedral and that has vertices at respective positions of the plurality of the speakers,
selects a face of the virtual solid through which a directional line directed from the sound receiving point to the virtual audio source passes,
selects speakers located at vertices of the selected face as speakers to which the audio signal is output, and
determines ratios of levels of the audio signal to be provided to the speakers located at the vertices of the selected face based on ratios of respective angles between the directional line and straight lines directed from the sound receiving point to the vertices of the selected face.
2. The sound field control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the storage unit stores position information of 8 speakers located respectively at vertices S1, S2, S3, S4, . . . of an approximately rectangular solid having six rectangles, and
wherein the localization controller defines a first plane determined by the sound receiving point and a side S1-S2 of a rectangle S1, S2, S3, S4 corresponding to the selected face and a second plane determined by the sound receiving point and an opposite side S3-S4 of the rectangle S1, S2, S3, S4.
defines a third plane determined by the position of the virtual audio source and a line of intersection between the first and second planes,
defines an angle between the first plane and the third plane as a first decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S1 and S2, and defines an angle between the second plane and the third plane as a first decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S3 and S4,
defines a fourth plane determined by the sound receiving point and a side S2-S3 of the rectangle S1, S2, S3, S4 and a fifth plane determined by the sound receiving point and a side S4-S1 of the rectangle opposite the side S2-S3,
defines a sixth plane determined by the position of the virtual audio source and a line of intersection between the fourth and fifth planes,
defines an angle between the fourth plane and the sixth plane as a second decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S2 and S3, and defines an angle between the fifth plane and the sixth plane as a second decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S4 and S1, and
uses respective products of cosines of the first decomposed angles and cosines of the second decomposed angles of the vertices S1, S2, S3, and S4 as the ratios of the angles between the directional line and the straight lines connecting the sound receiving point and the respective vertices S1, S2, S3, and S4.
3. A sound field control apparatus comprising:
a storage unit that stores position information of a sound receiving point and respective position information of speakers FLh and FRh mounted at front upper left and right sides of the sound receiving point, speakers FL1 and FR1 mounted at front lower left and right sides of the sound receiving point, speakers BLh and BRh mounted at rear upper left and right sides of the sound receiving point, and speakers BL1 and BR1 mounted at rear lower left and right sides of the sound receiving point;
an input unit that inputs an audio signal and position information of a virtual audio source at which the audio signal is to be localized; and
a localization controller that localizes the audio signal at a position of the virtual audio source, wherein
the localization controller virtually defines a directional region \u201cUP\u201d bordered by a plane p1 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers FLh and FRh, a plane p2 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers FRh and BRh, a plane p3 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers BRh and BLh, and a plane p4 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers BLh and FLh,
a directional region \u201cDOWN\u201d bordered by a plane p5 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers FL1 and FR1, a plane p6 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers FR1 and BR1, a plane p7 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers BR1 and BL1, and a plane p8 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers BL1 and FL1,
a directional region \u201cFRONT\u201d bordered by a plane p9 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers FLh and FL1, the plane p1, a plane p10 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers FRh and FR1, and the plane p5,
a directional region \u201cREAR\u201d bordered by a plane p11 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers BRh and BR1, the plane p7, a plane p12 determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers BLh and BL1, and the plane p3,
a directional region \u201cLEFT\u201d bordered by the plane p4, the plane p9, the plane p8, and the plane p12,
a directional region \u201cRIGHT\u201d bordered by the plane p2, the plane p10, the plane p6, and the plane p11,
selects one of directional regions through which a directional line directed from the sound receiving point to the virtual audio source passes,
selects speakers located at vertices of a pyramid defined by a plurality of the planes bordering the selected directional region as speakers to which the audio signal is output, and
determines ratios of levels of the audio signal to be provided to the speakers based on ratios of respective angles between the directional line and straight lines connecting the sound receiving point and the selected speakers.
4. The sound field control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the localization controller defines a first plane determined by the sound receiving point and two speakers at vertices S1 and S2 among four speakers provided at vertices S1, S2, S3 and S4 of the pyramid defined by the plurality of the planes bordering the selected directional region, and a second plane determined by the sound receiving point and the other two speakers at vertices S3 and S4,
defines a third plane determined by the position of the virtual audio source and a line of intersection between the first and second planes,
defines an angle between the first plane and the third plane as a first decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S1 and S2, and defines an angle between the second plane and the third plane as a first decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S3 and S4,
defines a fourth plane determined by the sound receiving point and the speakers at vertices S2 and S3 among the four speakers and a fifth plane determined by the sound receiving point and the other two speakers at vertices S4 and S1,
defines a sixth plane determined by the position of the virtual audio source and a line of intersection between the fourth and fifth planes,
defines an angle between the fourth plane and the sixth plane as a second decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S2 and S3, and defines an angle between the fifth plane and the sixth plane as a second decomposed angle of the directional line with respect to the vertices S4 and S1, and
uses respective products of cosines of the first decomposed angles and cosines of the second decomposed angles of the vertices S1, S2, S3, and S4 as the ratios of the angles between the directional line and the straight lines connecting the sound receiving point and the respective vertices S1, S2, S3 and S4.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A marine device comprising:
a body, wherein the marine device is configured such that a portion of the body rests above a surface level of water when the marine device floats in the water;
a mechanical energy transmission system configured to convert mechanical energy resulting from a change in the water surface level to mechanical energy regulated by the mechanical energy transmission system; and
an electroactive polymer transducer operably coupled to a portion of the mechanical energy transmission system and configured to produce electrical energy using the regulated mechanical energy in the mechanical energy transmission system, the electroactive polymer transducer including an electroactive polymer and at least two electrodes coupled to the electroactive polymer.
2. The marine device of claim 1 wherein the mechanical energy transmission system includes an energy storage mass that is configured to move relative to the body in response to a water surface level change that causes movement of the body relative to the water surface level.
3. The marine device of claim 2 wherein the energy storage mass is slideably coupled to a linear axis and the electroactive polymer transducer is configured to produce electrical energy using kinetic energy of the energy storage mass along the linear axis.
4. The marine device of claim 2 further comprising a spring mechanically coupled to the energy storage mass and mechanically coupled to the body.
5. The marine device of claim 4 wherein the spring includes a tunable stiffness.
6. The marine device of claim 5 wherein the electroactive polymer transducer is configured to contribute to the tunable stiffness.
7. The marine device of claim 5 wherein the spring includes a stiffness that provides a resonant frequency for the mechanical energy transmission system within about 1 Hertz of a resonant frequency for the marine device.
8. The marine device of claim 1 further comprising a second electroactive polymer transducer operably coupled to a) the portion of the mechanical energy transmission system and configured to produce electrical energy using the regulated mechanical energy in the mechanical energy transmission system or b) a frame included with the first electroactive polymer transducer, the second electroactive polymer transducer including a second electroactive polymer and at least two electrodes coupled to the second electroactive polymer.
9. The marine device of claim 1 further comprising conditioning electronics in electrical communication with the at least two electrodes and designed or configured to add or remove electrical energy from the electroactive polymer transducer.
10. The marine device of claim 4 wherein the electroactive polymer is a dielectric elastomer.
11. The marine device of claim 4 wherein the polymer has an elastic modulus below about 100 MPa.
12. A buoy comprising:
a body, wherein the buoy is configured such that a portion of the body rests above a surface level of water when the buoy floats in the water;
a mechanical energy transmission system configured to convert mechanical energy resulting from a change in the water surface level to mechanical energy regulated by the mechanical energy transmission system;
an electroactive polymer transducer operably coupled to a portion of the mechanical energy transmission system and configured to produce electrical energy using the regulated mechanical energy in the mechanical energy transmission system, the electroactive polymer transducer including an electroactive polymer and at least two electrodes coupled to the electroactive polymer; and
a light adapted to use electrical energy produced by the electroactive polymer transducer.
13. The buoy of claim 12 wherein the mechanical energy transmission system and the electroactive polymer transducer are contained in an internal cavity that is configured to be added to the buoy after deployment of the buoy.
14. The buoy of claim 12 wherein the mechanical energy transmission system includes an energy storage mass that is configured to move relative to the body in response to a water surface level change that causes movement of the body relative to the water surface level.
15. The buoy of claim 12 further comprising conditioning electronics in electrical communication with the at least two electrodes and designed or configured to add or remove electrical energy from the electroactive polymer transducer.
16. The buoy of claim 15 wherein the conditioning electronics include an inductive circuit including at least one inductor and configured to harvest electrical energy from the electroactive polymer for each stroke of the electroactive polymer.
17. The buoy of claim 15 wherein the conditioning electronics include a capacitive circuit including at least one capacitor and configured to harvest electrical energy from the electroactive polymer for each stroke of the electroactive polymer.
18. The buoy of claim 15 wherein the conditioning electronics are configured to control stiffness of the electroactive polymer transducer.
19. A marine device comprising:
a body, wherein the marine device is configured such that a portion of the body rests above a surface level of water when the marine device floats in the water;
a mechanical energy transmission system configured to convert mechanical energy resulting from a change in the water surface level to mechanical energy regulated by the mechanical energy transmission system;
an electroactive polymer transducer operably coupled to a portion of the mechanical energy transmission system and configured to produce electrical energy using the regulated mechanical energy in the mechanical energy transmission system, the electroactive polymer transducer including an electroactive polymer and at least two electrodes coupled to the electroactive polymer; and
conditioning electronics in electrical communication with the at least two electrodes and designed or configured to add or remove electrical energy from the electroactive polymer transducer.
20. The marine device of claim 19 wherein the conditioning electronics are designed or configured to perform one of the following functions: voltage step-up, voltage step-down and charge control.
21. The marine device of claim 19 wherein the conditioning electronics include an inductive circuit including at least one inductor and configured to harvest electrical energy from the electroactive polymer for each stroke of the electroactive polymer.
22. The marine device of claim 21 further comprising one or more switches that are each configured to indicate a stroke position of the electroactive polymer transducer.
23. The marine device of claim 22 wherein one of the switches is configured to indicate an extreme stroke position of the electroactive polymer transducer.
24. The marine device of claim 19 wherein the conditioning electronics include a capacitive circuit including at least one capacitor and configured to harvest electrical energy from the electroactive polymer for each stroke of the electroactive polymer.
25. The marine device of claim 19 wherein the mechanical energy transmission system includes an energy storage mass that is configured to move relative to the body in response to a water surface level change that causes movement of the body relative to the water surface level.
26. A method of generating electrical energy in a marine device including a body, the method comprising:
floating the marine device, wherein the marine device is configured such that a portion of the body rests above a water surface level when the marine device floats on the water;
transmitting mechanical energy from a water surface level change to an electroactive polymer transducer; and
generating electrical energy using the electroactive polymer transducer, wherein the electroactive polymer transducer includes an electroactive polymer and at least two electrodes coupled to the electroactive polymer.
27. The method of claim 26 wherein transmitting the mechanical energy from the water surface level change to the electroactive polymer transducer includes moving an energy storage mass relative to the marine device body in response to the water surface level change.
28. The method of claim 27 wherein the electroactive polymer transducer is configured to contribute a stiffness to the energy storage mass.
29. The method of claim 28 further comprising changing stiffness for the electroactive polymer transducer to provide a resonant frequency for the energy storage mass and spring within about 1 Hertz of a resonant frequency for the marine device.
30. The method of claim 26 wherein the energy storage mass moves in a direction opposite to a direction of displacement for the body when the water surface level changes.
31. The method of claim 26 further comprising deflecting the electroactive polymer transducer using the transmitted mechanical energy.
32. The method of claim 31 further comprising adding electrical energy to the electroactive polymer transducer before the deflection.
33. The method of claim 32 wherein generating electrical energy using the electroactive polymer transducer includes removing electrical energy from the electroactive polymer transducer as the electroactive polymer transducer contracts.
34. The method of claim 33 wherein the total electrical energy removed from the electroactive polymer transducer is greater than the total electrical energy added to the electroactive polymer transducer in a cycle and wherein a net amount of electrical energy is output from the electroactive polymer transducer.
35. The method of claim 26 further comprising sensing position of the electroactive polymer transducer.