ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 26 -- United States Patent no. 12,401,960, issued on Aug. 26, was assigned to Nokia Technologies Oy (Espoo, Finland).

"Apparatus for mapping sound source direction" was invented by Miikka Tapani Vilermo (Siuro, Finland) and Hannu Juhani Pulakka (Pirkkala, Finland).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An apparatus for assisting spatial audio signal processing, the apparatus including circuitry configured to: capture, at least using at least three microphones in the apparatus, sensor data including microphone audio signals; analyse the sensor data to determine at least one three-dimension direction of a sound source; and process the sensor data to map the at least one three-dimen...