Automatic microphone switching

• US 10,051,396 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2012
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Virolainen, Jussi, Ylikoski, Arto
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhu, Qin
• Application Number:
  US14/425,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20150312691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,164 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/16 Methods or devices for protecting against, or for damping, noise or other acoustic waves in general G10K11/36 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/03 Constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. telephone hand-sets
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/03 Reduction of intrinsic noise in microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/005 Microphone arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 5/04 Circuit arrangements, e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/00 Indicating arrangements; Control arrangements, e.g. balance control

Abstract

A method and apparatus are provided that are configured to initiate a sound capture event within an apparatus and to receive at least two audio signals during the sound capture event. The at least two audio signals are provided by at least two microphones associated with the apparatus. The method and apparatus are also configured to determine at least one microphone operational parameter based on the received at least two audio signals; and to control the sound capture event such that at least one of the at least two audio signals is processed based on the at least one microphone operational parameter.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating a sound capture event;

receiving at least two audio signals during the sound capture event, wherein the at least two audio signals are provided by at least two microphones including first and second microphones associated with first and second microphone ports, respectively, of an electronic device;

determining at least one microphone operational parameter indicative of at least the first microphone being at least partially blocked, shadowed or faulty based upon determining information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port; and

controlling the sound capture event by selecting the audio signals received by the second microphone via the second microphone port of the electronic device to be processed while eliminating reliance upon audio signals received by the first microphone via the first microphone port of the electronic device with respect to the sound capture event based on the at least one microphone operational parameter.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining at least one microphone operational parameter based on the received at least two audio signals comprises at least one of:

determining at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked;

determining at least one of the at least two microphones are faulty;

determining at least one of the at least two microphones are shadowed;

determining an orientation of the electronic device comprising the at least two microphones;

or

determining a capture mode for the at least two audio signals from the at least two microphones.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein determining at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked or determining at least one of the at least two microphones are shadowed comprises:

determining at least one object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones;

or

defining the at least one microphone as at least partially blocked or shadowed.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein determining at least one object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones comprises at least one of:

determining at least one touch position is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones;

or

determining an at least partially enveloping object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones.

5. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein determining at least one object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones comprises:

defining at least two regions from the at least one of the at least two microphones; and

determining the at least one object is within at least one of the at least two regions.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein controlling the sound capture event comprises:

determining at least one processing parameter where the at least one object is located within a farther of the at least two regions; and

applying the at least one processing parameter to process the at least one of the at least two audio signals where the at least one object is located within a nearer of the at least two regions.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining at least one microphone operational parameter comprises determining whether at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked by:

determining the at least one microphone operational parameter using a first determining method performed at a first frequency in an instance in which at least one object is located within a farther of at least two regions from the electronic device; and

determining the at least one microphone operational parameter using a second determining method performed at a second frequency, the second frequency being greater than the first frequency, in an instance in which the at least one object is located within a nearer of the at least two regions.

8. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein determining the capture mode for the at least two audio signals from the at least two microphones comprises determining an output audio signal format comprising at least one channel audio signal.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein controlling the sound capture event comprises at least one of:

controlling switching an additional microphone on;

controlling switching the first microphone associated with the audio signal off;

or

controlling splitting an audio signal received by the second microphone into at least two channels.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprising processing the at least one of the at least two audio signals based on the at least one parameter, wherein processing the at least one of the at least two audio signals based on the at least one parameter comprises at least one of:

switching an additional microphone on;

switching the first microphone associated with the audio signal off;

or

splitting an audio signal received by the second microphone into at least two channels.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising determining a processing parameter associated with the processing of the at least two audio signals based on the at least one microphone operational parameter, wherein the processing parameter comprises at least one of:

at least one position of the second microphone associated with the processed at least one audio signal;

at least one orientation of the second microphone associated with the processed at least one audio signal;

or

at least one distance between the second microphone associated with the processed at least one audio signal and a datum defined on the electronic device wherein the datum comprises the location of at least one further selected microphone.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising displaying the at least one microphone operational parameter on a display of the electronic device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein displaying the at least one microphone operation parameter on a display of the electronic device comprises:

generating a graphical representation associated with the microphone operational parameter; and

determining a location associated with at least one of the first or second microphones on the display to display the graphical representation.

14. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein generating the graphical representation associated with the microphone operational parameter comprises at least one of:

generating a graphical representation of a functioning microphone for a fully functional microphone;

generating a graphical representation of a faulty microphone for a faulty microphone;

generating a graphical representation of a blocked microphone for a partially blocked microphone;

or

generating a graphical representation of a shadowed microphone for a shadowed microphone.

15. The method as claimed in claim 13, wherein determining the location associated with at least one of the first or second microphones on the display to display the graphical representation comprises determining a display location adjacent to at least one of the first or second microphones of the microphone operational parameter.

23. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein controlling the sound capture event comprises switching off the first microphone.

24. The method as claimed in claim 23 wherein controlling the sound capture event comprises activating an additional microphone to receive audio signals.

27. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein determining information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port comprises determining information from a touch sensor indicative of the object that blocks or is proximate to the first microphone port.

28. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein initiating the sound capture event comprises activating and relying upon a microphone that was previously passive with the microphone that is activated being chosen based upon its similarity in position, orientation or spectral characteristics relative to the first microphone upon which reliance has been eliminated.

29. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein determining information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port comprises determining information regarding a size of the object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port, and wherein controlling the sound capture event comprises differently controlling the sound capture event dependent upon both proximity and size of the object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port.

30. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein initiating the sound capture event comprises activating and relying upon a microphone that was previously passive with the microphone that is activated being chosen based upon an orientation of the apparatus.

31. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein controlling the sound capture event comprises switching from stereo to mono mode in which left and right channel signals are identical.

33. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port comprises receiving information from a sensor that is utilized to determine that at least one object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a controller configured to initiate a sound capture event;

at least two microphones including first and second microphones configured to capture at least two audio signals for the sound capture event via first and second microphone ports, respectively, of an electronic device;

a detector configured to determine at least one microphone operational parameter indicative of at least the first microphone being at least partially blocked, shadowed or faulty based upon determining information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port; and

an audio capture processor configured to process at least one of the at least two audio signals;

wherein the controller is configured to control the sound capture event by selecting the audio signals received by the second microphone via the second microphone port of the electronic device to be processed while eliminating reliance upon audio signals received by the first microphone via the second microphone port of the electronic device with respect to the sound capture event based on the at least one microphone operational parameter.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein the detector is configured to determine at least one of:

at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked;

at least one of the at least two microphones are faulty;

at least one of the at least two microphones are shadowed;

an orientation of the apparatus comprising the at least two microphones;

or

a capture mode for the at least two audio signals from the at least two microphones.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the detector configured to determine at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked or at least one of the at least two microphones are shadowed comprises:

a sensor configured to determine at least one object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones.

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16 wherein the controller is configured to control the sound capture event by switching off the first microphone.

26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 25 wherein the controller is configured to control the sound capture event by activating an additional microphone to receive audio signals.

32. The apparatus as claimed in claim 18, wherein the detector configured to determine at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked or at least one of the at least two microphones are shadowed further comprises a microphone identifier configured to define the at least one microphone as at least partially blocked or shadowed.

19. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus at least to:

initiate a sound capture event;

receive at least two audio signals during the sound capture event, wherein the at least two audio signals are provided by at least two microphones including first and second microphones associated with first and second microphone ports, respectively, of an electronic device;

determine at least one microphone operational parameter indicative of at least the first microphone being at least partially blocked, shadowed or faulty based upon determining information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port; and

control the sound capture event by selecting the audio signals received by the second microphone via the second microphone port of the electronic device to be processed while eliminating reliance upon audio signals received by the first microphone via the second microphone port of the electronic device with respect to the sound capture event based on the at least one microphone operational parameter.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the determined at least one microphone operational parameter causes the apparatus to at least one of:

determine at least one of the at least two microphones are at least partially blocked;

determine at least one of the at least two microphones are faulty;

determine at least one of the at least two microphones are shadowed;

determine an orientation of the apparatus comprising the at least two microphones;

or

determine a capture mode for the at least two audio signals from the at least two microphones.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19 wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus to control the sound capture event by switching off the first microphone.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 21 wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus to control the sound capture event by activating an additional microphone to receive audio signals.

34. The apparatus as claimed in claim 19, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to with the at least one processor cause the apparatus to determine information indicative of an object that blocks or is proximate to at least the first microphone port by receiving information from a sensor that is utilized to determine at least one object is proximate to the at least one of the at least two microphones.