Tracking talkers using virtual broadside scan and directed beams
US7970150B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 11, 2006 |
| Grant date | Jun 28, 2011 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 5, 2029 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04R2430/23
- WIPO fieldAudio-visual technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A communication system (e.g., a speakerphone) includes an array of microphones, a speaker, memory and a processor. The processor may be configured to perform acoustic echo cancellation, to track multiple talkers with highly directed beams, to design beams with nulls pointed at noise sources, to generate a 3D model of the physical environment, to compensate for the proximity effect, and to perform dereverberation of a talker's voice signal. The processor may also be configured to use a standard codec in non-standard ways. The processor may perform a virtual broadside scan on the microphone array, analyze the resulting amplitude envelope for acoustic source angles, examine each of the source angles with a directed beam, combine the beam outputs that show the characteristics of intelligence or speech.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.