1. An edge-lit lighting product comprising:
a light guide made of a single, transparent material that demonstrates properties of total internal reflection (TIR) with respect to a surrounding environment, the light guide having a thickness and comprising:
a proximal edge for receiving light from a light source;
a distal edge spaced apart from the proximal edge and configured to emit at least a portion of the light from the light source to illuminate an area in close proximity to the edge-lit lighting product, the distal edge spanning across a first distance and having a substantially axial symmetric surface, wherein the first distance is greater than the thickness of the light guide; and
a boundary surface extending between the proximal edge and the distal edge and defining a boundary between the single, transparent material of the light guide and the surrounding environment of the light guide, wherein at least a portion of the boundary surface is curved; and
wherein the proximal edge spans across a second distance, the second distance being greater than the thickness of the material of the light guide, but less than the first distance of the distal edge.
2. The edge-lit lighting product of claim 1, wherein the single, transparent material of the light guide includes a refractive index greater than a refractive index of the surrounding environment and at least a portion of the light traveling through the light guide strikes the boundary at an angle of incidence that is greater than a critical angle of incidence so that the portion of light traveling through the light guide reflects back into the light guide at the boundary.
3. The edge-lit lighting product of claim 1, wherein the axial symmetric surface of the distal edge comprises a radius of curvature of r, wherein the thickness of the light guide is twice the thickness of r and the first distance is greater than twice the thickness of r.
4. The edge-lit lighting product of claim 1, wherein the boundary surface comprises a first curve having a first radius of curvature and a second curve having a second radius of curvature.
5. The edge-lit lighting product of claim 4, wherein the first radius of curvature of the first curve is substantially equal to about 2.25 inches and wherein the second radius of curvature of the second curve is substantially equal to about 1.25 inches.
6. The edge-lit lighting product of claim 1, further comprising at least one decal affixed to the boundary surface of the light guide and located between the proximal edge and the distal edge, the at least one decal configured to visually enhance a loss of light in the light guide.
7. The edge-lit lighting product of claim 1, further comprising screen printing at least a portion of the boundary surface of the light guide between the proximal edge and the distal edge, the screen printing configured to visually enhance a loss of light in the light guide.
8. A luminaire comprising:
a substrate made of a single, transparent material and having a boundary surface that defines a boundary between the single, transparent material of the substrate and a surrounding environment of the substrate, the substrate having a thickness and comprising:
a base section including a base end that extends along a plane and receives light from a light source;
an elongated section including a free end configured to emit at least a portion of the light from the light source, the free end spanning across a first distance and having a substantially axial symmetric surface, wherein the first distance is greater than the thickness of the substrate; and
a curved section coupling the elongated section to the base section and having a first curve including a first radius of curvature and a second curve including a second radius of curvature, wherein the first curve and the second curve bend the substrate so that the free end of the elongated section emits the light from the light source in a direction that intersects with the plane that the base end of the base section extends along;
wherein the base section, the curved section and the elongated section guide the light received from the light source at the base end to the free end using properties of total internal reflection (TIR) with respect to the surrounding environment.
9. The luminaire of claim 8, wherein the base end spans across a second distance, the second distance being greater than the thickness of the single, transparent of the substrate, but less than the first distance of the free end.
10. The luminaire of claim 9, wherein the first distance of the free end comprises a circumferential dimension, the first distance being greater than the thickness of the substrate.
11. The luminaire of claim 10, wherein the second distance of the base end comprises a circumferential dimension, the second distance being less than the first distance.
12. The luminaire of claim 8, further comprising at least one decal affixed to the boundary surface of the substrate, the at least one decal configured to visually enhance a loss of light in the substrate.
13. The luminaire of claim 8, further comprising screen printing on at least a portion of the boundary surface of the substrate, the screen printing configured to visually enhance a loss of light in the substrate.
14. The luminaire of claim 8, wherein the single, transparent material of the substrate is selected from the group consisting of acrylic and glass.
15. A method of illuminating a space, the method comprising:
projecting light from a light source through a proximal edge of a substrate made of a single, transparent material and having a thickness, the substrate including a boundary surface defining a boundary between the single, transparent material and an environment surrounding the single, transparent material;
guiding the light through the substrate using properties of total internal reflection (TIR), wherein at least a portion of the boundary surface is curved; and
emitting at least a portion of the light traveling through the substrate at a distal edge of the substrate, the distal edge being located remotely from the proximal edge and spanning across a first distance, wherein the first distance is greater than the thickness of the substrate; and
wherein the proximal edge spans across a second distance, the second distance being greater than the thickness of the single, transparent material of the substrate, but less than the first distance of the free edge.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein guiding the light through the substrate using properties of TIR comprises guiding the light through a first curve and a second curve in the substrate, the first curve having a first radius of curvature and the second curve having a second radius of curvature.
17. The method of claim 15, further comprising affixing at least one decal to at least a portion of the boundary surface of the substrate between the proximal edge and the distal edge or screen printing to at least a portion of the boundary surface of the substrate between the proximal edge and the distal edge to visually enhance a loss of light in the substrate.
18. The method of claim 15, further comprising rounding the distal edge so as to create a substantially axial symmetric surface, the substantially axial symmetric surface having a radius r, the thickness of the substrate being 2r and the first distance being at least 4r.
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. An audio system, comprising:
a plurality of acoustic output sources disposed in or around a bounded or semi-bounded listening area; and
a sound allocation processor receiving an audio source signal, said sound allocation processor including a plurality of audio modifying elements, one for each acoustic output source, operable to modify the audio source signal for each acoustic output source by applying at least a non-minimum phase shift adjustment tailored for each acoustic output source to create a sound field with reduced variability or a desired sound pattern over a prescribed frequency range within the listening area or defined zones within the listening area.
2. The audio system of claim 1, wherein each audio modifying element comprises one or more filters.
3. The audio system of claim 1, wherein each audio modifying element comprises a customized delay for the acoustic output source.
4. The audio system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the audio modifying elements comprises a customized gain for the acoustic output source.
5. The audio system of claim 4, further comprising a global equalization adjustment for the audio source signal.
6. The audio system of claim 2, wherein the sound allocation processor mitigates power losses caused by destructive interference of sound waves output from the acoustic output sources.
7. The audio system of claim 1, wherein said acoustic output sources include low frequency drive units.
8. The audio system of claim 1, wherein the audio modifying elements are configured to operate primarily over a low frequency range of the audio source signal.
9. The audio system of claim 1, wherein the sound allocation processor creates at least one relatively quiet zone within the listening area.
10. The audio system of claim 9, wherein the relatively quiet zone has a specified volume reduction relative to a sound volume in other parts of the listening area.
11. The audio system of claim 1, wherein the sound allocation processor creates a plurality of relatively quiet zones within the listening area.
12. The audio system of claim 1, wherein the sound allocation processor creates a zone within the listening area having a specified volume increase relative to a sound volume in other parts of the listening area.
13. A method for sound allocation in an audio system, comprising:
receiving an audio source signal;
for each of a plurality of acoustic output sources, independently modifying the audio source signal over a prescribed frequency range by applying at least a non-minimum phase shift adjustment tailored for each acoustic output source to create a sound field with reduced variability or desired sound pattern over a prescribed frequency range within the listening area or defined zones within the listening area; and
conveying the modified audio source signal to each respective acoustic output source.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the audio source signal is modified using one or more filters customized for each acoustic output source.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the audio source signal is modified using a delay tailored for each acoustic output source.
16. The method of claim 14, wherein the audio source signal is subject to a customized gain level for one or more of the acoustic output sources.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising applying a global equalization adjustment to the audio source signal for all of the acoustic output sources.
18. The method of claim 13, wherein the independent modification of gain andor phase of the audio source signal for each of the acoustic output sources mitigates power losses caused by destructive interference of sound waves output from the acoustic output sources.
19. The method of claim 13, wherein said acoustic output sources include low frequency drive units.
20. The method of claim 13, wherein the modification of gain andor phase of the audio source signal is performed primarily over low frequencies of the audio source signal.
21. The method of claim 13, wherein the independent modification of gain andor phase of the audio source signal for each of the acoustic output sources results in creation of at least one relatively quiet zone within the listening area.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the relatively quiet zone has a specified volume reduction relative to a sound volume in other parts of the listening area.
23. The method of claim 13, wherein the independent modification of gain andor phase of the audio source signal for each of the acoustic output sources results in creation of a plurality of relatively quiet zones within the listening area.
24. The method of claim 13, wherein the independent modification of gain andor phase of the audio source signal for each of the acoustic output sources results in creation of a zone within the listening area having a specified volume increase relative to a sound volume in other parts of the listening area.
25. A method for sound modification in an audio system having a plurality of acoustic output sources in or around a prescribed listening area, comprising:
characterizing a sound transfer function for each of the acoustic output sources;
employing an annealing algorithm to identify parameters providing a specified sound level variance at defined listening positions within the listening area over a prescribed frequency range; and
durably storing the identified parameters in the audio system for future use.
26. The method of claim 25, further comprising utilizing the identified parameters in the audio system to modify an audio source signal and achieve the specified sound level variance within the listening area.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the identified parameters are applied to adjust a gain andor a phase of the audio source signal independently for each of the acoustic output sources.
28. The method of claim 27, further comprising using one or more custom filters for each acoustic output source to independently modify the audio source signal for that acoustic output source.
29. The method of claim 25, wherein the annealing algorithm includes:
selecting candidate sound modification parameters for each acoustic output sources;
applying the sound modification parameters to determine a sound output level at the defined listening positions within the listening area; and
determining a variance in sound output level between the different listening positions.
30. The method of claim 29, further comprising determining whether the variance in sound output is within a specified tolerance.
31. The method of claim 29, wherein the sound modification parameters include a custom gain associated with each acoustic output source.
32. The method of claim 29, wherein the sound modification parameters include a custom delay and non-minimum phase shift associated with each acoustic output source.
33. An audio system, comprising:
a plurality of acoustic output sources disposed in or around a listening area; and
a sound allocation processor receiving an audio source signal, said sound allocation processor including a plurality of audio modifying elements, one for each acoustic output source, applying at least a non-minimum phase shift of the audio source signal for each acoustic output source over a prescribed frequency range to create zones of substantially uniform frequency response within the listening area while mitigating power losses due to destructive interference of sound waves output from the acoustic output sources.
34. The audio system of claim 33, wherein each audio modifying element comprises one or more infinite impulse response (IIR) filters.
35. The audio system of claim 34, wherein each audio modifying element comprises a delay tailored for the acoustic output source over the prescribed frequency range.
36. The audio system of claim 34, wherein one or more of the audio modifying elements comprises a dedicated gain stage tailored to the acoustic output source.
37. The audio system of claim 36, further comprising a global equalization adjustment applied to the audio source signal for all of the acoustic output sources.