Voice control system with a microphone array
US6868045B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 12, 2000 |
| Grant date | Mar 15, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Aug 15, 2021 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04R2201/401
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Voice control systems are used in diverse technical fields. In this case, the spoken words are detected by one or more microphones and then fed to a speech recognition system. In order to enable voice control even from a relatively great distance, the voice signal must be separated from interfering background signals. This can be effected by spatial separation using microphone arrays comprising two or more microphones. In this case, it is advantageous for the individual microphones of the microphone array to be distributed spatially over the greatest possible distance. In an individual consumer electronics appliance, however, the distances between the individual microphones are limited on account of the dimensions of the appliance. Therefore, the voice control system according to the invention comprises a microphone array having a plurality of microphones which are distributed between different appliances, in which case the signals generated by the microphones can be transmitted to the central speech recognition unit, advantageously via a bidirectional network based on an IEEE 1394 bus.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.