Various implementations include a personal sonar system sized to be worn on a body of a user. In some cases, the system includes: at least one acoustic transmitter for transmitting ultrasonic signals into an environment proximate the user; at least two acoustic receivers for receiving return ultrasonic signals from the environment proximate the user; a directional indication system for providing a directional output to the user; and a controller coupled with the at least one transmitter, the at least two acoustic receivers, and the directional indication system, the controller configured to: identify a physical object within the environment proximate the user based on the return ultrasonic signals; and initiate the directional output at the directional indication system based on the identified physical object within the environment.

A method and a device examine an environment of a vehicle by analyzing echo signals generated by reflection of transmitted ultrasonic signals at an object. Two different ultrasonic burst signals are transmitted in a same direction and into a same area of the environment. Timely offset echo signals are created at an object by reflection of the two ultrasonic burst signals. The two echo signals are evaluated to determine different parameters of an object. The distance of the object is calculated based on the echo signal of the ultrasonic burst signal with the lower number of ultrasonic pulses. Based on the echo signal of the ultrasonic burst signal with the higher number of ultrasonic pulses, the velocity can be calculated at which the vehicle and the object move relative to each other in the direction of transmission of both ultrasonic burst signals or opposite thereto.

An in-air sonar system is provided for determining location and velocity information of objects in an environment. The in-air sonar system includes at least two emitters configured to emit respective sound signals into the environment; at least two receivers configured to receive sound signals from the environment; and a processing unit configured to perform: obtaining, from the receivers, respective received sound signals comprising the emitted sound signal reflected from objects in the environment; calculating, from the respective received sound signals, respective velocity-dependent range maps; deriving, from the calculated velocity-dependent range maps and the spatial diversity of the receivers, a velocity-dependent range-direction map comprising range information as a function of a received direction; determining therefrom a location of the respective objects; and extracting, from the velocity-dependent range maps and the spatial diversity of the receivers, a velocity of the respective objects based on the determined location.

Circuitry comprising excitation circuitry for supplying a transducer with an excitation signal to generate a detection signal and current monitor circuitry for monitoring current through the transducer.

Sound signals that are not audible are generated by one or more speakers disposed in the vehicle. Reflected sound signals from a driver or a passenger of the vehicle that are not audible are received by one or more microphones disposed in the vehicle. A behavior-induced acoustic pattern is detected based on the reflected ultrasound signals. The behavior-induced acoustic pattern is analyzed to recognize a behavior of the driver or the passenger of the vehicle. A response or an alert is generated according to the recognized behavior of the driver or the passenger in the vehicle.

A living object detection system may detect the interaction between an observer and a target object. The system may include an object sensor device, an object classification data unit, and an object detection module. The object sensor device may be attachable to the observer and include an ultrasonic sensor for sensing distance and a passive infrared sensor for sensing temperature. The object classification data unit may store predetermined object classifiers that identifies an object as a living object or non-living object. The object detection module may determine the target object as a living object or a non-living object based on the object classifiers stored in the object classification data unit and on a physical feature set of the target object, where the physical feature set may include distance and temperature parameters.

An object detection apparatus detects an object in a vicinity of a moving body to which it is mounted. In the object detection apparatus, first drive signal and second drive signals for driving a transmitting unit are generated and outputted to the transmitting unit. The first drive signal corresponds to a first transmission wave included in a plurality of transmission waves that are continuously transmitted from a start to an end of a transmission process of the transmission wave, and respectively encoded based on waveform patterns. The second drive signal corresponds to a second transmission wave included in the plurality of transmission waves and transmitted after the first transmission wave. Reception determination regarding the reflected wave is performed based on a frequency signal, corresponding to a waveform pattern of the reception signal, and a reference signal that corresponds to a waveform pattern of the first drive signal.

Methods and devices for detecting movement of an object includes: receiving a first set of output signal values and a second set of output signal values from a sound wave receiver, each output signal value in the first set and the second set being representative of amplitude of an acoustic signal reflected from the object; determining, based on the received first set and second set, a difference set including one or more difference values, each of the one or more difference values being representative of a difference between a first output signal value in the first set and a second output signal value in the second set; determining whether the difference set satisfies a predetermined condition based on whether each difference value of the difference set has a magnitude exceeding a predetermined threshold; and outputting a motion detection signal if the difference set satisfies the predetermined condition.

To provide a mechanism for selectively taking an external sound from an appropriate sound source into an internal space of a moving object. An information processing apparatus including an acquisition unit configured to acquire an audio signal from a sound source existing outside a moving object, a generation unit configured to generate an audio signal from a target sound source at a distance from the moving object, the distance being a distance according to a speed of the moving object, of the sound sources, on the basis of the audio signal acquired by the acquisition unit, and an output control unit configured to output the audio signal generated by the generation unit toward an internal space of the moving object.

A method for recognizing a noise represented in a receive signal of an ultrasonic sensor. A characteristic spectrum of the noise is compared with a noise spectrum of the receive signal, the noise spectrum including at least two noise levels determined in different frequency bands of the receive signal.