Listening assistance function in phone terminals

• US 20070082612A1
• Filed: 09/27/2005
• Published: 04/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (Conversant Intellectual Property Management, Inc. (f/k/a MOSAID Technologies))
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Sjoberg, Jari, Karkkainen, Leo, Backman, Juha, Valve, Paivi
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,248 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6008 in the transmitter circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/10 Earpieces; Attachments therefor ; Earphones; Monophonic headphones H04R1/28 takes precedence; stereophonic headphones H04R5/033
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/107 Monophonic and stereophonic headphones with microphone for two-way hands free communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/554 using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/02 for preventing acoustic reaction , i.e. acoustic oscillatory feedback specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/453
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/04 for correcting frequency response

Abstract

The specification and drawings present a new method, apparatus and software product for listening assistance to a user of a phone terminal with a headset or a hearing aid for selective listening of a local acoustic source in a noisy environment by said user utilizing a combination of said phone terminal and said headset. The method for the listening assistance comprises of placing the phone terminal near a desired local acoustic source, switching a mode of the phone terminal to a listening mode, providing to the headset or to the hearing aid a signal (e.g., a wireless signal) generated by the phone terminal in response to an acoustic signal from the local acoustic source, and providing to the user an output acoustic signal generated by the headset or by the hearing aid in response to that signal thus providing said listening assistance to the user.

Claims

1. A method for a listening assistance to a user of a phone terminal (10) with a headset (12) or a hearing aid, comprising the steps of:

placing the phone terminal (10) near a local acoustic source;

switching a mode of the phone terminal (10) to a listening mode;

providing to the headset (12) an RF signal (38) generated by the phone terminal (10) in response to a microphone signal (52) from a microphone (46) or to microphone signals (52-1, 52-2, . . . , 52-K) from corresponding K microphones (46-1, 46-2, . . . , 46-K) of said phone terminal (10) indicative of a local acoustic signal (33a) from said local acoustic source, wherein K is an integer of at least a value of one; and

providing to a user an output acoustic signal (45) by the headset (12) or by the hearing aid in response to said RF signal (38) thus providing said listening assistance to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said phone terminal (10) is wirelessly connected with said headset (12).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said phone terminal (10) is wirelessly connected with said hearing aid.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said headset provides a sidetone signal to the user for a feedback for controlling user'"'"'s voice.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of switching of the mode of the phone terminal (10) to the listening mode comprises:

providing a listening command signal (34) to a mode switch block (44) of said phone terminal (10); and

providing, in response to said listening command signal (34), a switching mode signal to an audio enhancement module (16) of the phone terminal (10) or to a listening audio enhancement module (47) of the phone terminal (10) and providing said listening command signal (34) optionally;

to a receiving and decoding module (14) of the phone terminal (10), to said microphone (46) or to an analog-to-digital converter (48) of the phone terminal (10).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing to the headset (12) the RF signal (38) comprises:

providing a digital microphone signal (54) or digital microphone signals (54-1, 54-2, . . . , 54-K) by said analog-to-digital converter (48) in response to said microphone signal (52) or to corresponding microphone signals (52-1, 52-2, . . . , 52-K), respectively;

providing an enhanced audio signal (37) by an audio enhancement module (16) or by a listening audio enhancement module (47) in response to said digital microphone signal (54) or to said digital microphone signals (54-1, 54-2, . . . , 54-K); and

providing said RF signal (38) by a terminal encoding and transmitting block (22) in response to said enhanced audio signal (37).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said providing the enhanced audio signal (37) by the audio enhancement module (16) or by the listening audio enhancement module (47) comprises at least one step of:

providing an AGC microphone signal (54a) by an automatic gain control block (62) in response to said digital microphone signal (54);

providing a noise suppressed microphone signal (54b) by a noise suppression (NS) block (64) in response to said AGC microphone signal (54a); and

providing said enhanced audio signal (37) by a dynamic range control (DRC) block (60) in response to said noise suppressed microphone signal (54b).

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said providing of the RF signal (38) by the terminal encoding and transmitting block (22) comprises:

providing an encoded enhanced audio signal (37a) by a terminal encoder (65) in response to said enhanced audio signal (37); and

providing said RF signal (38) by an RF transmitter (67) in response to said encoded enhanced audio signal (37a).

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said terminal encoder (67) is a continuous variable slope delta modulation (CVSD) encoder or a sub-band codec (SBC) encoder.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said continuous variable slope delta modulation (CVSD) encoder or said sub-band codec (SBC) encoder uses a BLUETOOTH protocol.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing to the user of said headset (12) the output acoustic signal (45) comprises:

providing a decoded audio signal (40) by a headset receiving and decoding module (21) of said headset (12) in response to said RF signal (38);

providing a digital audio signal (42) by a digital-to-analog converter (24) of said headset (12) in response to said decoded audio signal (40), and

providing said output acoustic signal (45) by a speaker (26) of said headset (12) in response to said digital audio signal (42).

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said providing the decoded audio signal (40) by the headset receiving and decoding module (28) comprises:

providing an audio receiver signal (39) by an RF receiver (68) in response to said RF signal (38); and

providing said decoded audio signal (40) by a terminal decoder (66) in response to said audio receiver signal (39).

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said headset decoder (66) is a continuous variable slope delta modulation (CVSD) decoder or a sub-band codec (SBC) decoder.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said continuous variable slope delta modulation (CVSD) decoder or said sub-band codec (SBC) decoder uses a BLUETOOTH protocol.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

switching the phone terminal (10) to a phone mode back from said listening mode.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said switching between the listening mode and the phone mode is provided by a mode switch block of the phone terminal (10), by a mode switch block of the headset (12) or by both the mode switch block of the phone terminal (10) and by the mode switch block of the headset (12).

17. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage structure embodying computer program code thereon for execution by a computer processor with said computer program code characterized in that it includes instructions for performing the steps of the method of claim 1 indicated as being performed by any component or a combination of components of said phone terminal (10), said headset (12) or said hearing aid.

18. A system for a listening assistance to a user of said system, comprising:

a phone terminal, for placing near a local acoustic source, for switching to a listening mode, providing an RF signal (38) in response to a microphone signal (52) from a microphone (46) or microphone signals (52-1, 52-2, . . . , 52-K) from corresponding K microphones (46-1, 46-2, . . . , 46-K) of said phone terminal (10) indicative of a local acoustic signal (43) from said local acoustic source, wherein K is an integer of at least a value of one; and

a headset or a hearing aid, responsive to said RF signal, for providing to said user an output acoustic signal (45) generated by said headset (12) or the hearing aid in response to said RF signal (38), thus providing said listening assistance to the user.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said phone terminal (10) is wirelessly connected with said headset (12).

20. The system of claim 18, wherein said phone terminal (10) is wirelessly connected with said hearing aid.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein said headset provides a sidetone signal to the user for a feedback for controlling user'"'"'s voice.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein said phone terminal uses a BLUETOOTH protocol to encode said RF signal and said headset uses said BLUETOOTH protocol to decode said RF signal.

23. A phone terminal placed near a local acoustic source for a listening assistance to a user of said phone terminal, comprises:

a mode switch block (44), responsive to a listening command signal for switching to a listening mode, for providing, in response to said listening command signal, a switching mode signal (50) for switching to listening assistance mode; and

at least one microphone (46), responsive to a local acoustic signal from said local acoustic source, for generating at least one microphone signal (52) indicative of a local acoustic signal (43) which is used by said phone terminal for providing an RF signal to a headset (12) or to a hearing aid for providing said listening assistance to said user, wherein said RF signal is generated by said phone terminal using said switching mode signal (50).

24. The phone terminal of claim 23, further comprising:

an analog-to-digital converter, responsive to said microphone signal, for providing a digital microphone signal;

an audio enhancement module (16) or a listening audio enhancement module (47), responsive to said digital microphone signal, responsive to said switching mode signal (50), for providing an enhanced audio signal (37); and

a terminal encoding and transmitting block (22), responsive to said enhanced audio signal (37), for providing said RF signal.

25. The phone terminal of claim 23, wherein said audio enhancement module (16) comprises:

automatic gain control block (62), for providing an AGC microphone signal (54a) in response to said digital microphone signal (54);

a noise suppression (NS) block (64), for providing a noise suppressed microphone signal (54b) in response to said AGC microphone signal (54a); and

a dynamic range control (DRC) block (60), for providing said enhanced audio signal (37) in response to said noise suppressed microphone signal (54b).

26. The phone terminal of claim 23, wherein said terminal encoding and transmitting block (22) comprises:

a terminal encoder (65), for providing an encoded enhanced audio signal (37a) in response to said enhanced audio signal (37); and

an RF transmitter (67), for providing said RF signal (38) in response to said encoded enhanced audio signal (37a).

27. The phone terminal of claim 26, wherein said terminal encoder (67) is a continuous variable slope delta modulation (CVSD) encoder or a sub-band codec (SBC) encoder.

28. The phone terminal of claim 27, wherein said continuous variable slope delta modulation (CVSD) encoder or said sub-band codec (SBC) encoder uses a BLUETOOTH protocol.