Flexible spatial audio capture apparatus

• US 10,148,903 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2012
• Issued: 12/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Arrasvuori, Juha Henrik, Jarvinen, Kari Juhani, Jarvinen, Roope Olavi, Vilermo, Miikka Tapani
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Yogeshkumar
• Application Number:
  US14/386,333
• Publication Number:
  US 20150124167A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,434 Days
• Field of Search: 348485, 348169, 348462, 345173, 455566, 381 92, 381122, 381 26, 367103, 367138
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0206 Portable telephones comprising a plurality of mechanically joined movable body parts, e.g. hinged housings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/035 Improving the acoustic characteristics by means of constructional features of the housing, e.g. ribs, walls, resonating chambers or cavities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/607 for more than one sound signal, e.g. stereo, multilanguages H04N5/602 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/406 microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/405 Non-uniform arrays of transducers or a plurality of uniform arrays with different transducer spacing
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/20 Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic H04R2203/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/07 Use of position data from wide-area or local-area positioning systems in hearing devices, e.g. program or information selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/005 Microphone arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/01 Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/30 Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field

Abstract

An apparatus comprising: at least one determiner configured to determine at least one characteristic associated with a flexible part of a further apparatus; a signal processor configured to process at least one signal dependent on the at least one characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus, wherein the signal is at least one of an audio and a video signal; and an user interface generator configured to generate at least one user interface indication dependent on the characteristic associated with a flexible part of the further apparatus.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining at least a bend characteristic associated with a flexible part of an apparatus, the bend characteristic comprising at least one of;

a bend angle and a bend direction;

processing audio signals generated from a microphone array located within the apparatus dependent at least on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus, wherein the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus physically defines an audio capture field of the microphone array for audio sources exterior to the apparatus such that;

a normal audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is not bent;

a narrowed audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is bent inwards; and

a broadened audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is bent outwards; and

generating at least one user interface indication dependent on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein processing the audio signals comprises compressing the audio signals dependent on at least the bend characteristic indicating the flexible part is bent inwards.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein processing the audio signals comprises generating audio signals with the audio capture field dependent on at least the bend characteristic.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3, wherein processing the audio signals comprises generating audio signals with the audio capture field dependent on at least one directional parameter.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein generating the at least one user interface indication comprises at least one of:

an audible indication; and

a visual indication.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein when the at least one user interface indication comprises the audible indication, the audible indication comprises at least one of:

at least one first audio signal defining the normal audio capture field; and

at least one second audio signal defining the audio capture field dependent on at least the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the audio signals are spatially located audio signals.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, when the at least one user interface indication comprises the visual indication, the visual indication comprises at least one of:

a visual representation of the normal audio capture field;

a visual representation of the audio capture field dependent on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus;

an augmented reality representation of the audio capture field dependent on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus;

an indication of the estimated audio capture field;

an indication representing the bend angle;

an indication of the number of audio sources within the audio capture field defined by the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus; and

an indication of the total number of audio sources within a full audio capture field.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein determining the bend characteristic comprises at least one of:

sensing the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus; and

receiving at a further apparatus the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus.

10. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory 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 to at least:

determine at least one bend characteristic associated with a flexible part of a further apparatus, the at least one bend characteristic comprising at least one of;

a bend angle and a bend direction;

process audio signals generated from a microphone array located within the further apparatus dependent on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus, wherein the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus physically defines an audio capture field of the microphone array for audio sources exterior to the further apparatus such that;

a normal audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is not bent;

a narrowed audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is bent inwards; and

a broadened audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is bent outwards; and

generate at least one user interface indication dependent on the at least one characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus.

11. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the apparatus is caused to process the audio signals at least by generating audio signals with the audio capture field dependent on at least the bend characteristic.

14. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the processing of the audio signals comprises compressing the audio signals dependent on at least the bend characteristic indicating the flexible part is bent inwards.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein the processing of the audio signals comprises generating audio signals with the audio capture field dependent on at least one directional parameter.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein generation of the at least one user interface indication comprises at least one of:

an audible indication; and

a visual indication.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, wherein when the at least one user interface indication comprises the audible indication, the audible indication comprises at least one of:

at least one first audio signal defining the normal audio capture field; and

at least one second audio signal defining the audio capture field dependent on at least the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the audio signals are spatially located audio signals.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 16, when the at least one user interface indication comprises the visual indication, the visual indication comprises at least one of:

a visual representation of the normal audio capture field;

a visual representation of the audio capture field dependent on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus;

an augmented reality representation of the audio capture field dependent on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus;

an indication of the estimated audio capture field;

an indication representing the bend angle;

an indication of the number of audio sources within the audio capture field defined by the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus; and

an indication of the total number of audio sources within a full audio capture field.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 10, wherein the determination of the bend characteristic comprises at least one of:

sensing the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus; and

receiving at the apparatus the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the further apparatus.

21. A chipset comprising the apparatus as claimed in claim 10.

22. An electronic device comprising the apparatus as claimed in claim 10 and the further apparatus.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform:

determining at least a bend characteristic associated with a flexible part of an apparatus the bend characteristic comprising at least one of;

a bend angle and a bend direction;

processing of audio signals generated from a microphone array located within the apparatus dependent at least on the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus, wherein the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus physically defines an audio capture field of the microphone array for audio sources exterior to the further apparatus such that;

a normal audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is not bent;

a narrowed audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is bent inwards; and

a broadened audio capture field is defined when the bend characteristic indicates the flexible part is bent outwards; and

generating at least one user interface indication dependent on at least the bend characteristic associated with the flexible part of the apparatus.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable of claim 12, wherein processing the audio signals comprises generating audio signal with the audio capture field dependent on at least the bend characteristic.