ELECTRONIC APPARATUS AND SYSTEM WITH MULTI-PARTY COMMUNICATION ENHANCER AND METHOD

• US 20090112589A1
• Filed: 10/30/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Andersson, Jonas Magnus, Hiselius, Per Olof
• Application Number:
  US11/928,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20090112589A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/246
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/576 associated with a pictorial or graphical representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6016 in the receiver circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/62 user interface aspects of conference calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2400/11 Aspects regarding the frame of loudspeaker transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/11 Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field H04S2420/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/302 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

A multi-party communication enhancer includes an audio data input adapted to receive voice data associated with a plurality of communication participants. A participant identifier included in the multi-party communication enhancer is adapted to distinguish the voice of a number of communication participants as represented within the received voice data. A cue generator, also included in the multi-party communication enhancer, is operable to generate a cue for each distinguished voice, with the generated cue being outputted in association with the corresponding distinguished voice.

Claims

1. A multi-party communication enhancer, comprising:

an audio data input adapted to receive voice data associated with a plurality of communication participants;

a participant identifier adapted to distinguish the voice of a number of communication participants as represented within the received voice data; and

a cue generator operable to generate a cue for each distinguished voice, the generated cue being outputted in association with the corresponding distinguished voice.

2. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 1, further comprising:

an amplitude normalizer adapted to selectively normalize the volume level of said received voice data.

3. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 1, wherein the participant identifier comprises a voice recognizer.

4. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 1, wherein the cue generator comprises at least one of a graphic cue generator or an audio cue generator.

5. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 4, wherein said audio cue generator comprises a multi-party communication spatializer adapted to generate an audio cue that provides a virtual spatial location from which the corresponding distinguished voice appears to originate when reproduced;

and said graphic cue generator generates a graphic cue that graphically represents the corresponding virtual spatial location provided by said audio cue.

6. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 4, wherein said audio cue generator generates an audio cue that is at least one of a vocal cue or a tonal cue;

and said graphic cue generator generates a graphic cue that is at least one of a character, a combination of characters, an icon, or a color.

7. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 4, wherein said graphic cue generator provides a graphic cue for each communication participant and at least one of the provided graphic cues is highlighted to indicate which communication participant is speaking.

8. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 1, wherein said participant identifier designates speaker identification data for each distinguished voice to provide the corresponding cue.

9. The multi-party communication enhancer of claim 8, wherein said speaker identification data is at least one of user-provided data, data assigned by said participant identifier, data received in association with said received voice data, data regarding the time of joining the multi-party communication, data regarding the order in which the voice was distinguished by said participant identifier, or data regarding the number of participants in the multi-party communication.

17. An electronic device, comprising:

an audio data receiver adapted to receive voice data associated with a plurality of communication participants; and

the multi-party communication enhancer of claim 1, wherein the received voice data is input to said multi-party communication enhancer.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, further comprising:

at least one of a conventional audio processor, a stereophonic audio system, or a display.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, further comprising:

an amplitude normalizer adapted to selectively normalize the volume level of said received voice data.

20. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein said participant identifier comprises a voice recognizer.

21. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein said cue generator comprises at least one of a graphic cue generator or an audio cue generator.

22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the audio cue generator comprises a multi-party communication spatializer adapted to generate an audio cue that provides a virtual spatial location from which the corresponding distinguished voice appears to originate when reproduced;

and said graphic cue generator generates a graphic cue that graphically represents the corresponding virtual spatial location provided by said audio cue.

23. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein said participant identifier designates speaker identification data for each distinguished voice to provide the corresponding cue.

24. The electronic device of claim 23, wherein said speaker identification data is at least one of user-provided data, data assigned by said participant identifier, data received in association with said received voice data of the multi-party communication, data regarding the time of joining the multi-party communication, data regarding the order in which the voice was distinguished by said participant identifier, or data regarding the number of participants in the multi-party communication.

25. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein said electronic device is a mobile phone.

10. A method for discerning respective participants in a multi-party communication, including:

receiving voice data associated with a plurality of communication participants;

distinguishing the voice of a number of the communication participants as represented within the received voice data;

correspondingly generating a cue for each distinguished voice; and

outputting the generated cue in association with the corresponding distinguished voice.

11. The method of claim 10, further including:

selectively normalizing the volume level of said received voice data.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said distinguishing the voice of a number of communication participants comprises using voice recognition technology.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said correspondingly generating a cue comprises generating at least one of a graphic cue or an audio cue.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said generating an audio cue comprises providing a virtual spatial location from which the corresponding distinguished voice appears to originate when reproduced;

and said generating a graphic cue comprises graphically representing the corresponding virtual spatial location provided by said audio cue.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein said distinguishing the voice of a number of communication participants comprises designating speaker identification data for each distinguished voice to provide the corresponding cue.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said designating speaker identification data comprises providing at least one of user-provided data, data assigned by a participant identifier, data received in association with said received voice data of the multi-party communication, data regarding the time of joining the multi-party communication, data regarding the order in which the voice was distinguished, or data regarding the number of participants in the multi-party communication.