System and method for receiving audible input in a vehicle

• US 20090192795A1
• Filed: 11/12/2008
• Published: 07/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Joyson Safety Systems Acquisition, LLC (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: TK Holdings Incorporated (Ningbo Junsheng Investment Group Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Cech, Leonard
• Granted Patent: US 9,302,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/233
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/02 for radio sets, television sets, telephones, or the like; Arrangement of controls thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 11/0247 for microphones or earphones
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/0373 Voice control in general G10L
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2011/001 Vehicle control means, e.g. steering-wheel or column
• 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 21/0208 Noise filtering

Abstract

A steering wheel system for a vehicle. The steering wheel system includes a first microphone mounted in a steering wheel and a second microphone mounted in the vehicle. The first and second microphones are each configured to receive an audible input. The audible input includes an oral command component and a noise component. The steering wheel system also includes a controller configured to identify the noise component by determining that the noise component received at the first microphone is out of phase with the noise component received at the second microphone. The controller is configured to cancel the noise component from the audible input.

Claims

1. A steering wheel system for a vehicle, comprising:

a first microphone mounted in a steering wheel;

a second microphone mounted in the vehicle, the first and second microphones each configured to receive an audible input, the audible input comprising an oral command component and a noise component; and

a controller configured to identify the noise component by determining that the noise component received at the first microphone is out of phase with the noise component received at the second microphone, the controller configured to cancel the noise component from the audible input.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the second microphone is mounted on the steering wheel and the first and second microphones are equidistant from a center of the steering wheel.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the noise component is from at least one of a vehicle passenger, road noise, engine noise, fan noise, wind noise, and other noise outside of the vehicle.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the oral command is a command for controlling an electronic device.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the electronic device is at least one of a cellular phone, a personal navigation device, a portable media player, and a personal digital assistant.

6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the electronic device is a vehicle control system.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the vehicle control system is at least one of an integrated audio system, an integrated navigation system, a vehicle bus interface, and instrument panel electronics.

8. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controller communicates with the electronic device via a wireless connection.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the controller cancels the noise component based on an input from a steering angle sensor.

10. A method for canceling noise received from an audible input received by a vehicle system configured to receive oral commands, the vehicle system including a first microphone, a second microphone, and a controller, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving the audible input at the first microphone;

receiving the audible input at the second microphone, the audible input comprising an oral command component and a noise component;

identifying the noise component using the controller by determining that the phase of the noise component received at the first microphone is different than the phase of the noise component received at the second microphone; and

canceling the noise component from the audible input using the controller.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the vehicle system is a steering wheel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second microphones are equidistant from a center of the steering wheel.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the noise component is from at least one of a vehicle passenger, road noise, engine noise, fan noise, wind noise, and other noise outside of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

generating an electronic control signal based on the oral command using the controller; and

sending the electronic signal from the controller to an electronic device over a communication link, the control signal for controlling a function of the electronic device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the electronic device is at least one of a cellular phone, a personal navigation device, a portable media player, and a personal digital assistant.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the electronic device is a vehicle control system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the vehicle control system is at least one of an integrated audio system, an integrated navigation system, a vehicle bus interface, and instrument panel electronics.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the communication link is a wireless communication link.

19. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

receiving a steering angle signal from a steering angle sensor at the controller, the steering angle signal being used to cancels the noise component.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of identifying the noise component comprises the steps of:

determining phases of the oral command component received at the first microphone and at the second microphone using the controller;

comparing the phases of the oral command component received at the first microphone and at the second microphone using the controller;

determining phases of the noise component received at the first microphone and at the second microphone using the controller; and

comparing the phases of the noise component received at the first microphone and at the second microphone using the controller; and

determining that the compared phases of the noise component are different using the controller.