Methods and systems for concentrating and allowing for separation of nanoparticles from fluids use acoustically driven nanoparticle concentrators which have an aerogel as the reflecting material and include tuning capabilities to alter the location at which the particles are being concentrated.

The invention relates to a method for rendering ultrasonic signals audible that is characterized in that the temporal dynamic range of the ultrasonic signal is maintained. The amplitude profile of the ultrasonic signal picked up in the time domain remains unaltered. The frequency shift from the ultrasonic range to the audible range is possible up to a factor of 32 using the present invention.

A force generating device includes: a support unit; a link unit rotatably coupled to one side of the support unit; a transfer unit that is coupled to the link unit and transfers wave energy to the outside; and a drive unit that operates the link unit. In particular, the transfer unit is moved on an imaginary sphere by a motion of the link unit, and the transfer unit transfers the wave energy to a center of the imaginary sphere.

Provided is an information processing apparatus including: a speaker array that includes a plurality of speakers, and performs wavefront synthesis by using an output of the plurality of speakers; and a presentation unit that presents visual information indicating a state of waves on a wavefront formed in the wavefront synthesis, or presents visual information based on positional information of a virtual sound image that has been formed in a position that is different from a vicinity of the speaker array in the wavefront synthesis.

An acoustic levitation apparatus and method for adaptively adjusting a resonance distance. The apparatus includes an acoustic receiver, an acoustic transmitter, a motor, a slide, and a signal feedback control module. The acoustic receiver and the acoustic transmitter are installed on the slide of which movement is controlled by the motor. The acoustic receiver is connected to the signal feedback control module. The signal feedback control module performs determination by detecting the magnitude of a signal outputted by the acoustic receiver and automatically controls the motor to adjust a spacing between the acoustic transmitter and the acoustic receiver to satisfy a resonance condition to form stable standing wave levitation. The acoustic transmitter is connected to an ultrasonic generator.

An acoustic levitation apparatus and method for adaptively adjusting a resonance distance. The apparatus includes an acoustic receiver, an acoustic transmitter, a motor, a slide, and a signal feedback control module. The acoustic receiver and the acoustic transmitter are installed on the slide of which movement is controlled by the motor. The acoustic receiver is connected to the signal feedback control module. The signal feedback control module performs determination by detecting the magnitude of a signal outputted by the acoustic receiver and automatically controls the motor to adjust a spacing between the acoustic transmitter and the acoustic receiver to satisfy a resonance condition to form stable standing wave levitation. The acoustic transmitter is connected to an ultrasonic generator.

An information processing device 10 according to an embodiment includes an acquiring unit 111 that acquires information concerning sound propagating in a space separated from an outside world by a support member that separates the space including an eardrum of a user and the outside world, a measuring unit 1121 that measures a sealing degree of the space by the support member based on the information concerning the sound acquired by the acquiring unit 111, and a determining unit 1122 that determines, based on sealing degrees measured by the measuring unit 1121 for a respective different plurality of support members, an optimum support member for the user out of a plurality of support members.

The present teachings relate to an electronic device comprising: a first module for generating an audio signal; a second module for generating an ultrasonic signal; a mixer for generating a combined signal; a transmitter for outputting an acoustic signal dependent upon the combined signal; and, a processing means for controlling the ultrasonic signal; wherein, in response to receiving a first instruction signal for initiating the ultrasonic signal, the processing means is configured to increase the amount of the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal from an essentially zero value to a predetermined value over a predetermined enable time-period. The present teachings also relate to an electronic device configured to decrease the amount of the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal from an essentially zero value to a predetermined value over a predetermined disable time-period, and to an electronic device configured to remove the audio signal from the combined signal whilst preventing pop-noise, and to an electronic device capable of replacing the ultrasonic signal whilst minimizing the processing time. The present teachings further relate to a method for reducing the occurrence of pop noise in an acoustic signal associated with: initiating the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal, terminating the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal, terminating the audio signal in the combined signal, and replacing the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal. The present teachings also relate to a computer software product for implementing any of the method steps disclosed herein, and to a computer storage medium storing the computer software herein disclosed.

The present teachings relate to an electronic device comprising: a first module for generating an audio signal; a second module for generating an ultrasonic signal; a mixer for generating a combined signal; a transmitter for outputting an acoustic signal dependent upon the combined signal; and, a processing means for controlling the ultrasonic signal; wherein, in response to receiving a first instruction signal for initiating the ultrasonic signal, the processing means is configured to increase the amount of the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal from an essentially zero value to a predetermined value over a predetermined enable time-period. The present teachings also relate to an electronic device configured to decrease the amount of the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal from an essentially zero value to a predetermined value over a predetermined disable time-period, and to an electronic device configured to remove the audio signal from the combined signal whilst preventing pop-noise, and to an electronic device capable of replacing the ultrasonic signal whilst minimizing the processing time. The present teachings further relate to a method for reducing the occurrence of pop noise in an acoustic signal associated with: initiating the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal, terminating the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal, terminating the audio signal in the combined signal, and replacing the ultrasonic signal in the combined signal. The present teachings also relate to a computer software product for implementing any of the method steps disclosed herein, and to a computer storage medium storing the computer software herein disclosed.

The transfer function estimation device includes: a correlation matrix computing unit 43 computing a correlation matrix of N frequency domain signals y(f,l); a signal space basis vector computing unit 44 obtaining M vectors v.sub.1(f), . . . , v.sub.M(f) from eigenvectors of the correlation matrix from highest in the order of corresponding eigenvalues; and a plural RTF estimation unit 45 determining t.sub.i(f), . . . , t.sub.M(f) that satisfy the relationship of Expression (1), determining a matrix D(f) that is not a zero matrix and that makes u.sub.i(f), . . . , u.sub.M(f) defined by Expression (2) sparse in a time direction, determining c.sub.i,1(f), . . . , c.sub.M,N(f) that satisfy the relationship of Expression (3), and outputting c.sub.1(f)/c.sub.1,j(f), . . . , c.sub.M(f)/c.sub.M,j(f) as a relative transfer function, where j is an integer of 1 or more and not more than N.