VOICE-ESTIMATION INTERFACE AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20100131268A1
• Filed: 11/26/2008
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Moeller, Lothar Benedikt
• Application Number:
  US12/323,525
• Publication Number:
  US 20100131268A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/233
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/025 Phonemes, fenemes or fenones being the recognition units
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/0575 Aids for the handicapped in speaking
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0364 for improving intelligibility
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/30 using neural networks

Abstract

An apparatus having a voice-estimation (VE) interface that probes the vocal tract of a user with sub-threshold acoustic waves to estimate the user'"'"'s voice while the user speaks silently or audibly in a noisy or socially sensitive environment. In one embodiment, the VE interface is integrated into a cell phone that directs an estimated-voice signal over a network to a remote party to enable (i) the user to have a conversation with the remote party without disturbing other people, e.g., at a meeting, conference, movie, or performance, and (ii) the remote party to more-clearly hear the user whose voice would otherwise be overwhelmed by a relatively loud ambient noise due to the user being, e.g., in a nightclub, disco, or flying aircraft.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a voice-estimation (VE) interface adapted to probe a vocal tract of a user; and

a signal-converter (SC) module operatively coupled to the VE interface and adapted to process one or more signals produced by the VE interface to generate an estimated-voice signal corresponding to the user, wherein;

the VE interface comprises a sub-threshold acoustic (STA) package adapted to direct STA bursts to the vocal tract and detect echo signals corresponding to said STA bursts; and

the estimated-voice signal is based on the echo signals.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein the echo signals correspond to silent speech of the user.

3. The invention of claim 1, wherein the VE interface is implemented in a cell phone.

4. The invention of claim 3, wherein the SC module is implemented in the cell phone.

5. The invention of claim 3, wherein the SC module is implemented on a server of a network to which the cell phone is connected.

6. The invention of claim 1, wherein the STA package comprises:

an STA speaker adapted to generate an excitation pulse having an envelope shape and a carrier frequency; and

an STA microphone adapted to pick up from the vocal tract a response signal corresponding to said excitation pulse and containing an echo signal.

7. The invention of claim 6, wherein the carrier frequency is greater than about 20 kHz.

8. The invention of claim 6, wherein:

the carrier frequency is in a range between about 20 Hz and about 20 kHz; and

the excitation pulse has an intensity that is below a physiological-perception threshold.

9. The invention of claim 1, wherein the SC module is adapted to:

collect reference data during a training session; and

use the reference data during a work session to generate the estimated-voice signal.

10. The invention of claim 9, wherein, during the training session, the SC module:

sends a request to the user to silently or audibly speak one or more training phrases while the STA package is probing the vocal tract of the user; and

processes echo signals corresponding to the one or more training phrases to derive a plurality of reference echo responses (RERs), wherein the reference data comprise said plurality of RERs.

11. The invention of claim 9, wherein:

the reference data comprise a plurality of reference echo responses (RERs); and

during the work session, the SC module;

receives a stream of echo signals corresponding to the user; and

compares each received echo signal with the RERs to generate the estimated-voice signal.

12. The invention of claim 9, wherein, during the training session, the SC module:

sends a request to the user to audibly say one or more training phrases while the STA package is probing the vocal tract of the user; and

processes acoustic waveforms and echo signals corresponding to the one or more training phrases to enable that the SC module to map a space of echo signals onto a space of audio signals, wherein the reference data comprise one or more parameters of said mapping.

13. The invention of claim 9, wherein:

the reference data comprise one or more parameters of a voice-estimation algorithm that maps a space of echo signals onto a space of audio signals; and

during the work session, the SC module;

receives a stream of echo signals corresponding to the user; and

applies the voice-estimation algorithm to the received echo signals to generate the estimated-voice signal.

14. The invention of claim 1, wherein the estimated-voice signal comprises a sequence of time-stamped audio waveforms generated based on the echo signals.

15. The invention of claim 1, wherein the estimated-voice signal comprises a sequence of time-stamped phonemes generated based on the echo signals.

16. The invention of claim 1, wherein:

the VE interface further comprises one or more sensors, each adapted to probe the vocal tract; and

the SC module is adapted to use one or more signals produced by the one or more sensors in the generation of the estimated-voice signal.

17. The invention of claim 16, wherein the one or more signals produced by the one or more sensors are used in the SC module to improve accuracy of the estimated-voice signal compared to accuracy attainable based solely on the echo signals.

18. The invention of claim 16, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more of a video camera, an infrared sensor or imager, a millimeter-wave sensor, an electromyographic sensor, and an electromagnetic articulographic sensor.

19. The invention of claim 1, further comprising an earpiece adapted to phonate the estimated-voice signal and feed a resulting sound to the user.

20. A method of estimating voice, comprising:

probing a vocal tract of a user using a voice-estimation (VE) interface; and

processing one or more signals produced by the VE interface to generate an estimated-voice signal corresponding to the user, wherein;

the VE interface comprises a sub-threshold acoustic (STA) package adapted to direct STA bursts to the vocal tract and detect echo signals corresponding to said STA bursts; and

the estimated-voice signal is based on the echo signals.