MICROPHONE APPARATUS AND SOUND PROCESSING METHOD

• US 20110096937A1
• Filed: 10/28/2009
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2009
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Fortemedia, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortemedia, Inc.
• Inventors: Zhang, Ming, Pai, Wan-Chieh
• Application Number:
  US12/607,138
• Publication Number:
  US 20110096937A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/71.11
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02165 Two microphones, one receiving mainly the noise signal and the other one mainly the speech signal
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02166 Microphone arrays; Beamforming
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/03 Constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. telephone hand-sets
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/20 Processing of the output signals of the acoustic transducers of an array for obtaining a desired directivity characteristic H04R2203/12 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/006 Microphone matching
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A microphone apparatus is provided, including a body, a main microphone and a reference microphone. The main microphone and a reference microphone are disposed on the body for receiving a sound from a source and a noise from other than the source, wherein the main microphone and the reference microphone are arranged vertically towards the source.

Claims

1. A microphone apparatus, comprising:

a body; and

a main microphone and a reference microphone, disposed on the body, for receiving a sound from a source and a noise from other than the source,

wherein the main microphone and the reference microphone are arranged vertically towards the source.

2. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main microphone is closer to the source than the reference microphone is.

3. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main microphone is relatively disposed in the middle of the body and the reference microphone is relatively disposed in the bottom of the body.

4. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main microphone outputs a first received signal based on the sound and the noise, and the reference microphone outputs a second received signal based on the sound and the noise.

5. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 4 further comprises a microphone sensitivity calibration unit for performing sensitivity calibration upon receiving the first received signal and the second received signal and outputting a calibrated signal.

6. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 5 further comprises a beamformer for outputting a beam-formed signal based on the first received signal and the calibrated signal.

7. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the beamformer further comprises a first sound activity detector for providing a first sound detection signal based on the first received signal and the calibrated signal.

8. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the beamformer further comprises a reference channel forming unit for providing a reference channel signal based on the first received signal, the calibrated signal and the first sound detection signal.

9. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the beamformer further comprises a second sound activity detector for providing a second sound detection signal based on the first received signal and the reference channel signal.

10. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the beamformer further comprises an adaptive noise cancellation unit for providing the beam-formed signal based on the first received signal, the reference channel signal and the second sound detection signal.

11. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main microphone and the reference microphone are all omni-directional microphones.

12. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the body comprises at least a first plane and a second plane intersecting at an angle, wherein the main microphone is disposed on the first plane, and the reference microphone is disposed on the second plane.

13. A sound processing method, comprising:

arranging a main microphone and a reference microphone vertically towards a source, wherein the main microphone and the reference microphone are used to receive a sound from the source and a noise from other than the source.

14. The sound processing method as claimed in claim 13 further comprises:

using the main microphone to generate a first received signal based on the sound and the noise; and

using the reference microphone to generate a second received signal based on the sound and the noise.

15. The sound processing method as claimed in claim 14 further comprises:

performing sensitivity calibration upon the first received signal and the second received signal to generate a calibrated signal.

16. The sound processing method as claimed in claim 15 further comprises:

outputting a beam-formed signal based on the first received signal and the calibrated signal.

17. The sound processing method as claimed in claim 16 further comprises:

providing a first sound detection signal based on the first received signal and the calibrated signal.

18. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 17 further comprises:

providing a reference channel signal based on the first received signal, the calibrated signal and the first sound detection signal.

19. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 18 further comprises:

providing a second sound detection signal based on the first received signal and the reference channel signal.

20. The microphone apparatus as claimed in claim 19 further comprises:

providing the beam-formed signal based on the first received signal, the reference channel signal and the second sound detection signal.