Pairwise audio capture device selection

• US 10,372,407 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2013
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Oestlund, Nils
• Primary Examiner(s): Monikang, George C
• Application Number:
  US13/970,178
• Publication Number:
  US 20150049885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,178 Days
• Field of Search: 381 92, 381122
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and methods for pairwise audio capture device selection. In a particular embodiment, a method provides capturing audio information via a plurality of audio capture device pairs, wherein each audio capture device pair comprises a first audio capture device and a second audio capture device. Based on the audio information, the method provides determining a difference in audio energy between audio captured by the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs. The method further provides selecting an audio capture device pair of the plurality of audio capture device pairs based on the audio capture device pair having the largest difference in audio energy.

Claims

1. A method of operating a microphone selection system, comprising:

capturing audio information via a plurality of audio capture device pairs, wherein each audio capture device pair comprises a first audio capture device and a second audio capture device, wherein neither the first audio capture device nor the second audio capture device is included in any of the other audio capture device pairs of the plurality of audio capture device pairs, and wherein a first axis along which at least a first pair of the audio capture device pairs are positioned crosses a second axis along which a second pair of the audio capture device pairs are positioned;

based on the audio information, determining a difference in audio energy between audio captured by the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs; and

selecting an audio capture device pair of the plurality of audio capture device pairs having the largest difference in audio energy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

selecting an audio capture device from the audio capture device pair having the greater amount of audio energy.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

if a ratio of audio energy captured by the first audio capture device to audio energy captured by the second audio capture device is within a threshold of 1, also selecting an audio capture device from the audio capture device pair having the lesser or equal amount of audio energy.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the difference in audio energy between the audio captured by the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs comprises:

for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs, determining a difference in audio energy between the first and second audio capture devices at each frequency of a plurality of frequencies; and

wherein the difference in audio energy for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs comprises the difference in audio energy at a frequency in which the difference in audio energy is maximized.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of frequencies comprise frequencies audible to human ears.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein a frequency selection function is used to select each frequency.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining captured audio energy for each of the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second audio capture devices comprise first and second unidirectional microphones.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first and second unidirectional microphones capture audio in opposite directions along an axis.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio energy comprises an amplitude of a captured audio signal.

11. A microphone selection system, comprising:

an interface configured to receive audio information captured via a plurality of audio capture device pairs, wherein each audio capture device pair comprises a first audio capture device and a second audio capture device, wherein neither the first audio capture device nor the second audio capture device is included in any of the other audio capture device pairs of the plurality of audio capture device pairs, and wherein a first axis along which at least a first pair of the audio capture device pairs are positioned crosses a second axis along which a second pair of the audio capture device pairs are positioned;

a processing system configured to, based on the audio information, determine a difference in audio energy between audio captured by the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs and select an audio capture device pair of the plurality of audio capture device pairs having the largest difference in audio energy.

12. The microphone selection system of claim 11, further comprising:

the processing system configured to select an audio capture device from the audio capture device pair having the greater amount of audio energy.

13. The microphone selection system of claim 12, further comprising:

the processing system configured to, if a ratio of audio energy captured by the first audio capture device to audio energy captured by the second audio capture device is within a threshold of 1, also select an audio capture device from the audio capture device pair having the lesser or equal amount of audio energy.

14. The microphone selection system of claim 11, wherein the processing system configured to determine the difference in audio energy between the audio captured by the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs comprises:

the processing system configured to, for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs, determine a difference in audio energy between the first and second audio capture devices at each frequency of a plurality of frequencies; and

wherein the difference in audio energy for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs comprises the difference in audio energy at a frequency in which the difference in audio energy is maximized.

15. The microphone selection system of claim 14, wherein the plurality of frequencies comprise frequencies audible to human ears.

16. The microphone selection system of claim 14, wherein a frequency selection function is used to select each frequency.

17. The microphone selection system of claim 11, further comprising:

the processing system configured to determine captured audio energy for each of the first and second audio capture devices for each of the plurality of audio capture device pairs.

18. The microphone selection system of claim 11, wherein the first and second audio capture devices comprise first and second unidirectional microphones.

19. The microphone selection system of claim 18, wherein the first and second unidirectional microphones capture audio in opposite directions along an axis.

20. The microphone selection system of claim 11, wherein the audio energy comprises an amplitude of a captured audio signal.