CONVERSATION ASSISTANT FOR NOISY ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20100142722A1
• Filed: 05/01/2009
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sensimetrics Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sensimetrics Corporation
• Inventors: VON WIEGAND, Thomas E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,218,785 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/77
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F

Abstract

An infrared (IR) emitter having a broad emission pattern driven by a frequency-modulated (FM) carrier signal enables electronic communication between multiple talkers and multiple listeners. A narrow reception pattern on the listener'"'"'s receiving unit combined with the inherent capture effect of FM coding provides each listener with the means of easily and naturally selecting one of many talkers from a group. A close microphone for the talking party and a close earphone for the listening party enables the system to assist conversation particularly in the case of noisy environments by improving the signal to noise ratio. A similar system of broad emission transmitters and narrow reception can be used in other systems, such as a teleconferencing unit in which users have transmitters and receivers and a teleconferencing unit has multiple receivers arranged to receive signals in multiple different sectors.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system comprising:

a directional infrared receiver for receiving incoming infrared waves, where the receiver is operable to substantially receive infrared waves that originate from sources substantially in a limited angular range, and where the receiver attenuates infrared waves from sources outside the limited angular range; and

an FM demodulator for demodulating said incoming infrared waves to form demodulated audio signals.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising an earpiece speaker for providing said demodulated audio signals to a listening user.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a microphone for converting speech received from a talking user into electrical signals;

an FM modulator for modulating said electrical signals to produce modulated signals for transmission using infrared energy;

an infrared transmitter for emitting said modulated signals as outgoing infrared waves radiating omnidirectionally from the transmitter.

4. The system of claim 3, further comprising a voice operated switch that powers up the infrared transmitter when speech is received from the talking user and powers down the infrared transmitter when speech is no longer being received from the talking user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications device further comprises a vertical angle control for adjusting a vertical angular range of the infrared receiver.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the vertical angular range of the infrared receiver can be adjusted within an angular range from ±

10°

to ±

45°

.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications device further comprises a horizontal angle control for adjusting a horizontal angular range of the infrared receiver.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the horizontal angular range of the infrared receiver can be adjusted within the range from ±

10°

to ±

45°

.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the horizontal angular range of the infrared receiver can be adjusted within the range from ±

20°

to ±

35°

.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications device further comprises a vertical angle control for adjusting the vertical angular range of the infrared receiver and a horizontal angle control for adjusting the horizontal angular range of the infrared receiver.

11. The system of claim 3, further comprising:

a second directional infrared receiver for receiving incoming infrared waves, where the receiver is operable to receive infrared waves that originate from sources substantially in a limited angular range relative to the direction in which the user is facing, and where the receiver attenuates infrared waves from sources outside the angular range;

a second FM demodulator for demodulating said incoming infrared waves to form demodulated audio signals;

a second earpiece speaker for providing said demodulated audio signals to the user.

12. The system of claim 3, wherein each user has a system that consists essentially of the microphone, the FM modulator, the directional infrared receiver, the FM demodulator, and the earpiece.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a voice operated switch coupled to each microphone.

14. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of directional receivers for receiving signals from different angles, wherein signals received by the plurality of directional receivers are provided to an audio device.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of directional receivers for receiving signals from different angles, wherein signals received by the plurality of directional receivers are provided to a teleconferencing system.

16. The system of claim 3, further comprising a voice operated switch coupled to the microphone.

17. A method for allowing a user of a wireless communications device to engage in a conversation with one or more parties, where the communications device includes an infrared receiver and an FM demodulator, the method comprising:

receiving incoming infrared waves using the infrared receiver, where the receiver is operable to substantially receive infrared waves that originate from sources substantially in a limited angular range relative to the direction in which the user is facing, and where the receiver attenuates infrared waves from sources outside the limited angular range;

demodulating said incoming infrared waves using the FM demodulator to form demodulated audio signals;

providing said demodulated audio signals to a listening user.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the communications device further comprises an FM modulator, a microphone, and an infrared transmitter, the method further comprising:

converting speech received from the user into electrical signals using the microphone;

modulating said electrical signals using the FM modulator to produce modulated signals for transmission using infrared energy;

using the infrared transmitter to emit said modulated signals as outgoing infrared waves radiating omnidirectionally from the transmitter.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the communications device further comprises a voice operated switch, the method further comprising, in response to receiving speech from the user, the voice operated switch powering-up the IR transmitter.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising adjusting a vertical angular range of the infrared receiver.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising adjusting a horizontal angular range of the infrared receiver.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising adjusting a vertical angular range of the infrared receiver.

23. A wireless speech communication system comprising:

a plurality of directional infrared receivers facing radially outward from a central location, where each infrared receiver is operable to receive infrared waves that originate from sources substantially within a limited angular range;

a plurality of FM demodulators for demodulating said incoming infrared waves to form demodulated audio signals;

a mixing bus for mixing said demodulated audio signals to form an aggregated signal.

24. The system of claim 23, the system further comprising a plurality of transmitters, each including:

a microphone for receiving an audio signal,

an FM modulator for modulating the audio signal to produce modulated signals for transmission using infrared energy; and

an infrared transmitter for emitting said modulated signals as outgoing infrared waves radiating omnidirectionally from the transmitter,

such that the infrared waves can be received by at least one of the plurality of directional infrared receivers.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein each transmitter is associated with a receiver that includes:

a directional infrared receiver for receiving incoming infrared waves, where the receiver is operable to substantially receive infrared waves that originate from sources substantially in a limited angular range, and where the receiver attenuates infrared waves from sources outside the limited angular range; and

an FM demodulator for demodulating said incoming infrared waves to form demodulated audio signals.

26. The system of claim 23, further comprising a line out for conveying said aggregated signal to an external device.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the plurality of directional receivers are oriented such that there is substantially no overlap among the areas covered by each of the infrared receivers.