Use of an earpiece acoustic opening as a microphone port for beamforming applications
First Claim
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1. A mobile device, comprisinga mobile multi-function handset device housing that contains:
- a speaker to produce sound for an audio application that is to execute in the mobile device;
first, second, and third microphones for capturing audio proximate to the mobile multi-function handset device housing;
a programmed processor configured to execute an application selected from the group consisting of a telephony application, a multimedia video call application, a voice dictation application, a voice activation application, and a video recording application; and
a beamformer processor for performing directional signal reception of audio using at least two of the first, second, and third microphones during performance of the application;
wherein the housing has a first acoustic opening located on a front face and at a top end of the housing, and that is designed to be held to an ear of a user when the device is being used like a telephone handset during a phone call, the first acoustic opening being shared by i) an acoustic input path to the first microphone and ii) an acoustic output path from the speaker,wherein the housing further includes a second acoustic opening located on a rear face and at the top end of the housing that is used by the second microphone as an input acoustic port,wherein the housing further includes a third acoustic opening located on a bottom side of the housing that is near the mouth of the user when the device is being used like a telephone handset during the phone call, wherein the third acoustic opening is used by the third microphone as an input acoustic port.
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Abstract
A mobile multi-function device that includes a speaker, two or more microphones, and a beamformer processor is described. The beamformer processor uses the microphones to perform beamforming operations. One of the microphones shares a receiver acoustic opening with the speaker while the other microphone uses a separate acoustic opening. The receiver acoustic opening may be an earpiece opening that is held to the ear of a user while conducting a phone call with the device and provides acoustic input and output paths for the microphone and the speaker, respectively.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A mobile device, comprising
a mobile multi-function handset device housing that contains: -
a speaker to produce sound for an audio application that is to execute in the mobile device; first, second, and third microphones for capturing audio proximate to the mobile multi-function handset device housing; a programmed processor configured to execute an application selected from the group consisting of a telephony application, a multimedia video call application, a voice dictation application, a voice activation application, and a video recording application; and a beamformer processor for performing directional signal reception of audio using at least two of the first, second, and third microphones during performance of the application; wherein the housing has a first acoustic opening located on a front face and at a top end of the housing, and that is designed to be held to an ear of a user when the device is being used like a telephone handset during a phone call, the first acoustic opening being shared by i) an acoustic input path to the first microphone and ii) an acoustic output path from the speaker, wherein the housing further includes a second acoustic opening located on a rear face and at the top end of the housing that is used by the second microphone as an input acoustic port, wherein the housing further includes a third acoustic opening located on a bottom side of the housing that is near the mouth of the user when the device is being used like a telephone handset during the phone call, wherein the third acoustic opening is used by the third microphone as an input acoustic port. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for operating a mobile multi-function device, comprising:
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running an application on the mobile multi-function device, wherein the application is one of the group consisting of a telephony application, a multimedia video call application, a voice dictation application, a voice activation application, and a video recording application, wherein the mobile multi-function device includes a first microphone and a speaker located in a first acoustic opening on a front face and top end of the mobile multi-function device, a second microphone located in a second acoustic opening on a rear face and the top end of the mobile multi-function device, and a third microphone located in a third acoustic opening on a bottom side of the mobile multi-function device; and performing beamforming operations while the application is running, using at least two of the first microphone in the first acoustic opening, the second microphone in the second acoustic opening, and the third microphone in the third acoustic opening. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification