REWARD ON POWER

oio •31 I1•

simultaneously provides two positive reinforcers (such as a mint and a "thank you" message).-DWM

4,091,762

43.50.Yw AUDIBLE VIBRATORY REED ASSEMBLY

William E. Ruehi, assignor to Illinois Tool Works, Incorporated 30 May 1978 (Class 116/70); filed 20 September 1976

This patent presents the acoustical problems within a device such as a clothes drier, in which it is desired to detect acoustically the clogging of a lint filter before it is completely clogged.-RWC

4,098,370

43.50.Yw VIBRATION MASKING NOISE SYSTEM

Howard Norman McGregor, Littleton, Colorado and Robert Charles Chanaud, Boulder, Colorado

4 July 1978 (Class 181/150); fred 19 April 1976

The ambiguous title is a little disconcerting, but the invention turns out to be a noise masking system that generates the required masking sound by vibrating the building structure itself. One can imagine situations where this approach might make sense. However, the inventors do not like inertia transducers... instead they employ a conventional loudspeaker coupled to the structure either mechani- cally or pneumatically. Why? Because '•Fhe use of conventional diaphragm speakers, as the vibration exciting transducer, results in a lower cost system exhibiting greater wear capabilities." From this point on, the remaining 75 % of the patent seems less and less con- vincing.-GLA

4,094,304

43.60.Gk METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURE-

MENT OF ACOUSTIC IMPEDANCE TRANSITIONS IN

MEDIA SUCH AS HUMAN BODIES

Hubert A. Wright, Jr., assignor to Bolt Beranek and Newman, Incorporated

13 June 1978 (Class 128/2 V); filed 5 August 1974

This method employs deconvolution of outgoing with returned pulse signals to develop information on the specific acoustic imped- ances as a function of round-trip travel time of the acoustic signal, thus permitting construction of impedance-versus-distance profiles. -EEU

4,094,308

43.60.Gk METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RAPID NON- INVASIVE DETERMINATION OF THE SYSTOLIC TIME INTERVALS

Denny Charles Cormier, assignor to Cormier Cardiac Systems, Incorporated

13 June 1978 (Class 128/2.05 R); filed 19 August 1976

This method is based on applying the "deconvolution" technique to transduced heart sounds for the purpose of extracting informa- tion on particular cardiac events. The method also uses micro- computers to separate these events, measure them precisely, and effect digital readouts.-EEU

4,131,760

43.60.Gk MULTIPLE MICROPHONE DEREVERBERA- TION SYSTEM

Susan W. Christensen and Cecil H. Coker, assignors to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated

26 December 1978 (Class 179/1 P); filed 7 December 1977

"A circuit for reducing reverberative interference utilizes a pair of spatially separated microphones to obtain speech signals from a common sound source. Each speech signal is transformed into an envelope representative signal having rapid increases responsive to direct path and echo energy bursts from the sound source and ex- ponential decaying portions between energy bursts. A first pulse corresponding to a sound source direct path energy burst is gener- ated responsive to the first speech signal exceeding its envelope representative signal, and further first pulses corresponding to echo bursts are inhibited for a predetermined time. A second pulse

• •3 105

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•[ DEIECIOR [• DELAY r--I GE NE RAIOR I-]'"] GE NE R AIOR [•L)-i

I j,32 (,34 I ..... ' R•-iI[IER ; .• INI[DIER•L•RETRIGGERABLEU PULSE l• JPULSE • -IDEI[CIOR I I'] DELAY •AI•'-' l GENERATOR u_F,? •_•s 1 , ,• __

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corresponding to said sound source direct path energy burst is generated responsive to the second speech signal exceeding its envelope representative signal, and further second pulses corre- sponding to echo bursts are inhibited for a predetermined time. The first and second speech signals are aligned in phase responsive to the time difference between said first and second pulses. Three embodiments are disclosed: phase alignment by electronic delay adjustment using a pair of microphones or using vertical arrays of microphones, and phase alignment by feedback servo control of a rotable microphone array."-DWM

4,116,108

43.75.-z MUSICAL TUBE

Jeffrey M. Hyman, Newton Centre, Massachusetts 26 September 1978 (Class 84/330); filed 3 January 1977

The musical tube is primarily a toy noisemaker, but is said also to be useful as a musical instrument when equipped with a reed. It

1088 J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 65(4), Apr. 1979; 0001-4966/79/041088-02500.80; ¸ 1979 Acoust. Soc. Am.; Patent Reviews 1088

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