Systems and methods for removing vehicle geometry noise in hands-free audio

• US 10,134,415 B1
• Filed: 10/18/2017
• Issued: 11/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Rangarajan, Ranjani, Busch, Leah, Wheeler, Joshua, Amman, Scott Andrew, Huber, John Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Thang
• Application Number:
  US15/786,749
• Time in Patent Office: 398 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02166 Microphone arrays; Beamforming
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0264 characterised by the type of parameter measurement, e.g. correlation techniques, zero crossing techniques or predictive techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles

Abstract

Method and apparatus are disclosed for determining and accounting for distortions to an audio signal due to the geometric properties of the interior cabin of a vehicle. An example vehicle includes a microphone, a seat having a plurality of seat positions, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine a first seat position corresponding to a point in time at which an audio signal is received, determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position, and determine a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

Claims

1. A vehicle comprising:

a microphone;

an adjustable seat comprising sensors;

memory to store a plurality of cabin impulse responses (CIR);

a processor configured to;

determine, via the sensors, a first adjustment of the adjustable seat when an audio signal is received by the microphone;

select one of plurality of CIRs based on the first adjustment of the adjustable seat; and

filter the received audio signal based on the selected CIR.

2. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of CIRs corresponds to an adjustment of the adjustable seat.

3. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the plurality of CIRs are predetermined.

4. The vehicle of claim 1, comprising:

a cabin floor, the adjustable seat mounted on the cabin floor,

wherein the adjustable seat comprises;

a base; and

a back support connected to the base, and

wherein the adjustable seat is adjustable to a plurality of adjustments, each of the plurality of adjustments defined in terms of (i) a horizontal position of the adjustable seat relative to the cabin floor, (ii) a vertical position of the adjustable seat relative to the cabin floor, and (iii) a rotational position of the back support relative to the base.

5. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the adjustable seat is a first adjustable seat and the sensors are first sensors, wherein the vehicle further comprises a second adjustable seat comprising second sensors, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine, via the second sensors, a first adjustment of the second adjustable seat when the audio signal is received; and

select one of the plurality of CIRs based on the first adjustment of the first adjustable seat and the first adjustment of the second adjustable seat.

6. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of CIRs comprises a transfer function between a position proximate a head of an occupant of the adjustable seat and the microphone.

7. The vehicle of claim 6, wherein the transfer function corresponds to a geometry of an interior of the vehicle.

8. The vehicle of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to filter the received audio signal by performing a deconvolution operation on the received audio signal with the selected CIR.

9. The vehicle of claim 1, comprising an input device, wherein the processor is further configured to receive, via the input device, an occupant height corresponding to the adjustable seat, and wherein the processor is further configured to select one of the plurality of CIRs based on the first adjustment of the adjustable seat and the occupant height.

10. A method comprising

receiving, by a microphone of a vehicle, an audio signal;

responsive to receiving the audio signal by the microphone, determining, by a processor and sensors, a first adjustment of an adjustable seat in the vehicle;

selecting, by the processor, one of a plurality of cabin impulse responses (CIR) stored in a memory based on the first adjustment of the adjustable seat; and

filtering, by the processor, the received audio signal based on the selected CIR.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the adjustable seat is adjustable to a plurality of adjustments, and wherein each of the plurality of CIRs corresponds to each of the plurality of adjustments.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the plurality of CIRs are predetermined.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of adjustments are defined in terms of (i) a horizontal position of the adjustable seat relative to a cabin floor of the vehicle, (ii) a vertical position of the adjustable seat relative to the cabin floor, and (iii) a rotational position of a back support of the adjustable seat relative to a base of the adjustable seat.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the adjustable seat is a first adjustable seat and the sensors are first sensors, the method further comprising:

determining, via second sensors, a first adjustment of a second adjustable seat in the vehicle when the audio signal is received;

selecting one of the plurality of CIRs based on the first adjustment of the first adjustment of the first adjustable seat and the first adjustment of the second adjustable seat.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the plurality of CIRs comprises a transfer function between a position proximate a head of an occupant of the adjustable seat and the microphone.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the transfer function corresponds to a geometry of an interior of the vehicle.

17. The method of claim 10, further comprising filtering the received audio signal by performing a deconvolution operation on the received audio signal with the selected CIR.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, via an input device, an occupant height corresponding to the adjustable seat; and

selecting one of the plurality of CIRs based on the first adjustment of the adjustable seat and the occupant height.