Microphone and communication interface system

• US 20050244020A1
• Filed: 09/01/2003
• Published: 11/03/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2002
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nara Institute of Science and Technology, National University Corporation
• Original Assignee: Asahi Kasei Kabushiki Kaisha
• Inventors: Nakajima, Yoshitaka, Shozakai, Makoto
• Application Number:
  US10/525,733
• Publication Number:
  US 20050244020A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/151
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/24 Speech recognition using non-acoustical features
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/0575 Aids for the handicapped in speaking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/06 Transformation of speech into a non-audible representation, e.g. speech visualisation or speech processing for tactile aids G10L15/26 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/083 Special constructions of mouthpieces
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/46 Special adaptations for use as contact microphones, e.g. on musical instrument, on stethoscope throat mountings H04R1/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's

Abstract

The present invention eliminates the disadvantages of an analysis target used by a cellular phone and speech recognition, that is, a normal sound which is transmitted through the air and which is externally sampled through a microphone, and improves the disadvantages that noise may be mixed or occur in the target, that information may leak, and that corrections are difficult. The present invention also provides a personal portable information terminal realizing new portable terminal communications which do not require training and which conform to the cultural practice of human beings. In the present invention, no apparatus that obtains an analysis target is put off human body, and a normal sound is not an analysis target. A stethoscope-type microphone is installed on the surface of the human skin. Then, a vibration sound is sampled which is obtained when a non-audible murmur articulated in association with speech action (the motion of the mouth) not using the regular vibration of the vocal cords is transmitted through the flesh. A vibration sound obtained when a non-audible murmur amplified is transmitted through the flesh is similar to a whisper. The vibration sound can thus be heard and understood by human beings. Accordingly, the vibration sound can be used for a speech over the cellular phone as it is. Further, when the vibration sound obtained when the non-audible murmur is transmitted through the flesh is analyzed and converted into parameters, a kind of soundless recognition is realized. The present invention replaces the HMM model, conventionally used for speech recognition by an acoustic model created on the basis of a vibration sound obtained when a non-audible murmur is transmitted through the flesh. Therefore, the present invention provides a new method of inputting data to the personal portable information terminal.

Claims

1. A microphone sampling one of a non-audible murmur articulated by a variation in resonance filter characteristics associated with motion of the phonatory organ, the non-audible murmur not involving regular vibration of the vocal cords, the non-audible murmur being a vibration sound generated when an externally non-audible respiratory sound is transmitted through internal soft tissues, a whisper which is audible but is uttered without regularly vibrating the vocal cords, a sound uttered by regularly vibrating the vocal cords and including a low voice or a murmur, and various sounds such as a teeth gnashing sound and a tongue clucking sound,

the microphone being installed on a surface of the skin on the sternocleidomastoid muscle immediately below the mastoid of the skull, that is, in the lower part of the skin behind the auricle.

2. The microphone according to claim 1, comprising a diaphragm installed on the surface of the skin and a sucker that sticks to the diaphragm.

3. The microphone according to claim 1 or 2, which is integrated with a head-installed object such as glasses, a headphone, a supra-aural earphone, a cap, or a helmet which is installed on the human head.

4. A communication interface system comprising the microphone according to any of claims 1 to 3 and a signal processing apparatus that processes a signal sampled through the microphone,

wherein a result of processing by the signal processing apparatus is used for communications.

5. The communication interface system according to claim 4, wherein the signal processing apparatus includes an analog digital converting section that quantizes a signal sampled through the microphone, a processor section that processes a result of the quantization by the analog digital converting section, and a transmission section that transmits a result of the processing by the processor section to an external apparatus.

6. The communication interface system according to claim 4, wherein the signal processing apparatus includes an analog digital converting section that quantizes a signal sampled through the microphone and a transmission section that transmits a result of the quantization by the analog digital converting section to an external apparatus and in that the external apparatus processes the result of the quantization.

7. The communication interface system according to claim 5, wherein the signal processing apparatus includes an analog digital converting section that quantizes a signal sampled through the microphone, a processor section that processes a result of the quantization by the analog digital converting section, and a speech recognition section that executes a speech recognition process on a result of the processing by the processor section.

8. The communication interface system according to claim 7, further comprising a transmission section that transmits a result of the speech recognition by the speech recognition section to an external apparatus.

9. The communication interface system according to claim 5, wherein an apparatus in a mobile telephone network executes a speech recognition process on the result of the processing by the processor section, the result being transmitted by the transmitting section.

10. The communication interface system according to claim 5, wherein the signal processing executed by the signal processing apparatus is a modulating process in which the process section modulates the signal into an audible sound.

11. The communication interface system according to claim 10, wherein the modulating process applies a fundamental frequency of the vocal cords to the non-audible murmur to convert the non-audible murmur into an audible sound involving the regular vibration of the vocal cords.

12. The communication interface system according to claim 10, wherein the modulating process converts a spectrum of the non-audible murmur not involving the regular vibration of the vocal cords into a spectrum of an audible sound uttered using the regular vibration of the vocal cords.

13. The communication interface system according to claim 12, wherein the modulating process uses the spectrum of the non-audible murmur and a speech recognition apparatus to recognize phonetic units such as syllables, semi-syllables, phonemes, two-juncture phonemes, and three-juncture phonemes and uses a speech synthesis technique to convert the phonetic units recognized into an audible sound uttered using the regular vibration of the vocal cords.

14. The communication interface system according to any of claims 4 to 13, wherein an input gain is controlled in accordance with a magnitude of a dynamic range of a sound sampled through the microphone.

15. The communication interface system according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the speech recognition section appropriately executes speech recognition utilizing an acoustic model of at least one of the non-audible murmur, a whisper which is audible but is uttered without regularly vibrating the vocal cords, a sound uttered by regularly vibrating the vocal cords and including a low voice or a murmur, and various sounds such as a teeth gnashing sound and a tongue clucking sound.