Generation of individual sound zones within a listening room

1. A sound reproduction system providing at least four separate sound zones in one coherent listening room, the system comprising:

an audio source having at least four output channels and providing an audio source signal for each output channel, each audio channel being associated with one sound zone;

at least four planar loudspeakers having a directional characteristic, wherein each audio channel is associated with one loudspeaker and each loudspeaker is associated with one sound zone, and each loudspeaker is supplied with a respective loudspeaker signal and radiates a corresponding acoustic signal;

a first multi-channel digital filter that receives the audio source signals of audio channels associated with sound zones in a front portion of a car cabin and provides the respective loudspeaker signals for the loudspeakers associated with the sound zones in the front portion of the car cabin, a transfer characteristic of the first digital filter being characterized by a first transfer matrix,

a second multi-channel digital filter that receives the audio source signals of audio channels associated with sound zones in a rear portion of a car cabin and provides the respective loudspeaker signals for the loudspeakers associated with the sound zones in the rear portion of the car cabin, a transfer characteristic of the second digital filter being characterized by a second transfer matrix;

wherein the acoustic signals radiated by the planar loudspeakers superpose to a resulting acoustic signal in each sound zone, and

wherein each transfer matrix represents the inverse of a room impulse response (RIR) matrix that includes transfer functions representing the RIR, causing, in each of the at least four separate sound zones, the resulting acoustic signal to substantially correspond to the audio source signal associated with the same sound zone, and causing contributions of audio source signals associated with a different sound zone to the resulting acoustic signal to be reduced.

2. The sound reproduction system of claim 1 wherein each one of the loudspeakers exhibits a directional characteristic such that an acoustic signal level generated by the loudspeaker is at least 20 dB lower in sound zones not associated with the loudspeaker than in sound zone associated with the loudspeaker.

3. The sound reproduction system of claim 1 wherein each loudspeaker associated with a sound zone in the front portion of the car cabin has a directional characteristic such that an acoustic signal level generated by this loudspeaker is at least 20 dB lower in sound zones in the rear portion of the car cabin than in the sound zone associated with the loudspeaker in the front portion of the car cabin.

4. The sound reproduction system of claim 1 wherein the transfer matrices represent the inverse of respective room impulse response matrices including transfer functions representing the room impulse responses defined by the at least two loudspeakers and the at least two sound zones in the front portion of the car cabin and the rear portion of the car cabin, respectively.

5. The sound system of claim 1 wherein the audio source provides at least one binaural audio signal for each sound zone.

6. The sound system of claim 5 wherein a pair of loudspeakers is associated with each audio channel and each sound zone, and each pair of loudspeakers is supplied with a respective binaural loudspeaker signal and radiates a corresponding acoustic stereo signal.

7. The sound system of claim 1 wherein the loudspeaker(s) associated with one particular sound zone are arranged vertically above the sound zone.

8. A method for providing at least four separate sound zones in one coherent listening room, the method comprising:

providing, for each sound zone, an audio source signal associated with the sound zone;

radiating acoustic signals using at least four planar loudspeakers having a directional characteristic, wherein each audio source signal is associated with one loudspeaker, each loudspeaker is associated with a sound zone, and each loudspeaker is supplied with a respective loudspeaker signal;

filtering the audio source signals and providing, as filtered signals, the loudspeaker signals using two multi-channel digital filters, wherein a first multi-channel digital filter receives the audio source signals of audio channels associated with sound zones in a front portion of a car cabin and provides the respective loudspeaker signals for the loudspeakers associated with the sound zones in the front portion of a car cabin and a second multi-channel digital filter that receives the audio source signals of audio channels associated with sound zones in a rear portion of a car cabin and provides the respective loudspeaker signals for the loudspeakers associated with the sound zones in the rear portion of the car cabin, a transfer characteristic of each being characterized by a corresponding transfer matrix,

wherein the acoustic signals radiated by the planar loudspeakers superpose to a resulting acoustic signal in each sound zone, and

wherein each transfer matrix represents the inverse of a room impulse response (RIR) matrix that includes transfer functions representing the RIR, causing, in each of the at least four separate sound zones, the resulting acoustic, signal to substantially correspond to the audio source signal associated with the same sound zone, and causing contributions of audio source signals associated with a different sound zone to the resulting acoustic signal to be reduced.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein

a binaural audio source signal is provided for each sound zone, and wherein

a pair of loudspeakers is used to radiate binaural acoustic signals, each pair of loudspeakers being associated with each sound zone.