METHOD AND DEVICE FOR VOICE OPERATED CONTROL

• US 20080260180A1
• Filed: 04/14/2008
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Staton Techiya, LLC
• Original Assignee: Personics Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Usher, John, Goldstein, Steven Wayne, Boillot, Marc Andre
• Granted Patent: US 8,611,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/110
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/20 Speech recognition techniques specially adapted for robustness in adverse environments, e.g. in noise, of stress induced speech G10L21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/00 Speech or audio signals analysis-synthesis techniques for redundancy reduction, e.g. in vocoders; Coding or decoding of speech or audio signals, using source filter models or psychoacoustic analysis in musical instruments G10H
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/08 Mouthpieces; Microphones; Attachments therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1041 Mechanical or electronic switches, or control elements switches in general H01H
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/50 Customised settings for obtaining desired overall acoustical characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a method and/or a device for voice operated control. The method can include method measuring an ambient sound received from at least one Ambient Sound Microphone, measuring an internal sound received from at least one Ear Canal Microphone, detecting a spoken voice from a wearer of the earpiece based on an analysis of the ambient sound and the internal sound, and controlling at least one voice operation of the earpiece if the presence of spoken voice is detected. The analysis can be a sound pressure level (SPL) difference, a correlation, a coherence, and a spectral difference.

Claims

1. An acoustic device, comprising:

a first Microphone (FM) configured to detect a first acoustic signal;

a second Microphone (SM) configured to detect a second acoustic signal; and

a processor operatively coupled to the FM and the SM, where the processor is configured to detect a spoken voice generated by a wearer of the earpiece based on an analysis of the ratio of the first acoustic signal and the second acoustic signal.

2. The acoustic device of claim 1, further comprising a voice operated control (VOX), where the VOX controls a mixing of the first acoustic signal and the second acoustic signal for producing a mixed signal.

3. The acoustic device of claim 2, wherein the VOX controls at least one among a voice monitoring system, a voice dictation system, and a voice recognition system.

4. The acoustic device of claim 2, where the VOX manages a delivery of the mixed signal based on one or more aspects of the spoken voice, wherein the aspect is one among a volume level, a voicing level, and a spectral shape of the spoken voice.

5. The acoustic device of claim 2 wherein the VOX controls a second mixing of an audio content and the mixed signal delivered to a receiver.

6. The acoustic device of claim 2, further comprising a transceiver operatively coupled to the processor and configured to transmit the mixed signal to at least one among a cell phone, a media player, a portable computing device, and a personal digital assistant.

7. An earpiece, comprising:

an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to capture ambient sound;

an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to capture internal sound in an ear canal;

an Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) operatively coupled to the processor and configured to deliver audio content to the ear canal;

a processor operatively coupled to the ASM, the ECM and the ECR, where the processor is configured to detect a spoken voice generated by a wearer of the earpiece based on an analysis of the ambient sound measured by the ASM and the internal sound measured by the ECM; and

a voice operated control (VOX) configured to mix the ambient sound and the internal sound to produce a mixed signal and control the production of the mixed signal based on one or more aspects of the audio content and the spoken voice.

8. The earpiece of claim 7, wherein one or more aspects of the spoken voice include at least one among a volume level, a voicing level, and a spectral shape of the spoken voice.

9. The earpiece of claim 7, wherein one or more aspects of the audio content include at least one among a spectral distribution, a duration, and a volume of the audio content.

10. The earpiece of claim 7, wherein the audio content is at least one among a phone call, a voice message, a music signal, and an auditory warning signal.

11. The earpiece of claim 8, further comprising a transceiver operatively coupled to the processor and configured to transmit the mixed signal to at least one among a cell phone, a media player, a portable computing device, and a personal digital assistant.

12. The earpiece of claim 7, wherein the VOX comprises:

a level detector configured to compare a sound pressure level (SPL) of the ambient sound and the internal sound for detecting the spoken voice;

a correlation unit configured to access a correlation of the ambient sound and the internal sound for detecting the spoken voice;

a coherence unit configured to determine whether the spoken voice originates from the wearer; and

a spectral analysis unit configured to detect whether spectral portions of the spoken voice are similar in the ambient sound and the internal sound.

13. A dual earpiece, comprising:

a first earpiece comprising;

a first Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to measure a first ambient sound;

a first Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to measure a first internal sound in an ear canal;

a second earpiece comprising;

a second Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to measure a second ambient sound;

a second Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to measure a second internal sound in an ear canal, and

a processor operatively coupled to the first earpiece and the second earpiece, where the processor is configured to detect a spoken voice generated by a wearer of the earpiece based on an analysis of at least one of the first and second ambient sounds and at least one of the first and second internal sounds.

14. The dual earpiece of claim 13, further comprising a voice operated control (VOX), where the VOX controls a mixing of at least one of the first and second ambient sound and at least one of the first and second internal sound for producing a mixed signal.

15. The dual earpiece of claim 14, further comprising:

a first Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) in the first earpiece for receiving first audio content from an audio interface; and

a second ECR in the second earpiece for receiving a second audio content, wherein the VOX controls a second mixing of the mixed signal with at least one of the first and second audio content to produce a second mixed signal and controls a delivery of the second mixed signal to at least one of the first ECR and the second ECR.

16. The dual earpiece of claim 14, wherein the VOX receives the first ambient sound from the first earpiece and the second internal sound from the second earpiece for controlling the mixing.

17. A method for voice operated control, the method comprising the steps of:

measuring a first sound received from a first microphone (FM);

measuring a second sound received from a second microphone (SM);

detecting a spoken voice based on an analysis of the first and second microphone; and

controlling at least one voice operation if the presence of spoken voice is detected,

wherein the analysis is at least one among a sound pressure level (SPL) comparison, a correlation, a coherence, and a spectral difference.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of detecting a spoken voice is performed only if an absolute sound pressure level of the first sound or the second sound is above a predetermined threshold.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing a level comparison analysis of the first sound measured by the first microphone in a first earpiece and a third sound measured by a third microphone in a second earpiece.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing a level comparison analysis of the second sound measured by the second microphone in a first earpiece and a fourth sound measured by a fourth microphone in a second earpiece.

21. A method for voice operated control, the method comprising the steps of:

measuring an ambient sound received from at least one Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM);

measuring an internal sound received from at least one Ear Canal Microphone (ECM);

performing a cross correlation on at least one of the ambient sound and the internal sound or a combination thereof;

declaring a presence of spoken voice from a wearer of the earpiece if a peak of the cross correlation is within a predetermined amplitude range and a timing of the peak is within a predetermined time range; and

controlling at least one voice operation of the earpiece if the presence of spoken voice is detected.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein spoken voice is declared if the peak and the timing of the cross correlation reveals that the spoken voice arrives at the at least one ECM before the at least one ASM.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the cross correlation is performed between a first ambient sound within a first earpiece and a first internal sound within the first earpiece.

24. The method of claim 21, wherein the cross correlation is performed between a first ambient sound within a first earpiece and a second internal sound within a second earpiece.

25. The method of claim 21, further comprising determining whether an origin of the spoken voice is centered between a left earpiece and a right earpiece by determining whether a cross correlation between the left earpiece and the right earpiece is about zero indicating a presence of voice activity, wherein the cross correlation is performed either between a first ambient sound within a first earpiece and a second ambient sound within a second earpiece, or between a first internal sound within a first earpiece and a second internal sound within a second earpiece.