SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR RECEIVING AND PROCESSING AUDIO SIGNALS CAPTURED USING MULTIPLE DEVICES

• US 20130022189A1
• Filed: 07/21/2011
• Published: 01/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc. (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Ganong, William F. III, Krowitz, David Mark
• Application Number:
  US13/187,940
• Publication Number:
  US 20130022189A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/202.01
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/509 Microphone arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/62 user interface aspects of conference calls
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42221 Conversation recording systems at the subscriber's set H04M1/656
• 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

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatus for using different interfaces to receive from different devices representations of at least one audio signal. In some embodiments, each representation may be generated using at least one microphone of the respective device during a meeting attended by a plurality of participants. In some further embodiments, a first representation may be received from a first device via a telephone network, while a second representation may be received from a second device via a data network. In yet some further embodiments, the first and second representations may be processed to obtain a processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

Claims

1. A method comprising acts of:

using at least one first interface to receive, from a first device, a first representation of at least one audio signal, the first representation being generated using at least one microphone of the first device during a meeting attended by a plurality of participants, the at least one first interface being adapted to receive the first representation from a telephone network;

using at least one second interface to receive, from a second device, a second representation of the at least one audio signal, the second representation being generated using at least one microphone of the second device during the meeting attended by the plurality of participants, the at least one second interface being adapted to receive the second representation from a data network; and

processing the first and second representations of the at least one audio signal to obtain a processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data network comprises at least one communication network implementing an Internet Protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of processing the first and second representations comprises an act of:

shifting the first representation in time at least in part by performing auto-correlation processing on the first and second representations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first representation is received via a first communication path having a first transmission delay, and the second representation is received via a second communication path having a second transmission delay different from the first transmission delay, and wherein the act of shifting the first representation in time is performed based at least in part on a difference between the first and second transmission delays.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a speech signal of a selected participant of the plurality of participants is emphasized in the processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising an act of:

transmitting, via at least one communication medium, the processed representation of the at least one audio signal to a location remote from the first and second devices to be played to at least one of the plurality of participants participating from the remote location.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising an act of:

performing speech recognition processing on at least a portion of the processed representation of the at least one audio signal to obtain a transcript of at least one portion of the meeting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one portion of the meeting comprises speech of a selected participant, and wherein the method further comprises an act of:

displaying the transcript of the at least one portion of the meeting to at least one of the plurality of participants in a manner that associates the transcript with the selected participant.

9. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium having encoded thereon computer executable instructions for causing at least one computer to perform a method comprising acts of:

using at least one first interface to receive, from a first device, a first representation of at least one audio signal, the first representation being generated using at least one microphone of the first device during a meeting attended by a plurality of participants, the at least one first interface being adapted to receive the first representation from a telephone network;

using at least one second interface to receive, from a second device, a second representation of the at least one audio signal, the second representation being generated using at least one microphone of the second device during the meeting attended by the plurality of participants, the at least one second interface being adapted to receive the second representation from a data network; and

processing the first and second representations of the at least one audio signal to obtain a processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

10. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the data network comprises at least one communication network implementing an Internet Protocol.

11. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the act of processing the first and second representations comprises an act of

shifting the first representation in time at least in part by performing auto-correlation processing on the first and second representations.

12. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first representation is received via a first communication path having a first transmission delay, and the second representation is received via a second communication path having a second transmission delay different from the first transmission delay, and wherein the act of shifting the first representation in time is performed based at least in part on a difference between the first and second transmission delays.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein a speech signal of a selected participant of the plurality of participants is emphasized in the processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises an act of:

transmitting, via at least one communication medium, the processed representation of the at least one audio signal to a location remote from the first and second devices to be played to at least one of the plurality of participants participating from the remote location.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises an act of:

performing speech recognition processing on at least a portion of the processed representation of the at least one audio signal to obtain a transcript of at least one portion of the meeting.

16. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the at least one portion of the meeting comprises speech of a selected participant, and wherein the method further comprises an act of:

displaying the transcript of the at least one portion of the meeting to at least one of the plurality of participants in a manner that associates the transcript with the selected participant.

17. A system comprising at least one processor programmed to:

use at least one first interface to receive, from a first device, a first representation of at least one audio signal, the first representation being generated using at least one microphone of the first device during a meeting attended by a plurality of participants, the at least one first interface being adapted to receive the first representation from a telephone network;

use at least one second interface to receive, from a second device, a second representation of the at least one audio signal, the second representation being generated using at least one microphone of the second device during the meeting attended by the plurality of participants, the at least one second interface being adapted to receive the second representation from a data network; and

process the first and second representations of the at least one audio signal to obtain a processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the data network comprises at least one communication network implementing an Internet Protocol.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is programmed to process the first and second representations at least in part by:

shifting the first representation in time at least in part by performing auto-correlation processing on the first and second representations.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first representation is received via a first communication path having a first transmission delay, and the second representation is received via a second communication path having a second transmission delay different from the first transmission delay, and wherein the at least one processor is programmed to shift the first representation in time based at least in part on a difference between the first and second transmission delays.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein a speech signal of a selected participant of the plurality of participants is emphasized in the processed representation of the at least one audio signal.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

transmit, via at least one communication medium, the processed representation of the at least one audio signal to a location remote from the first and second devices to be played to at least one of the plurality of participants participating from the remote location.

23. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

perform speech recognition processing on at least a portion of the processed representation of the at least one audio signal to obtain a transcript of at least one portion of the meeting.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the at least one portion of the meeting comprises speech of a selected participant, and wherein the at least one processor is further programmed to:

display the transcript of the at least one portion of the meeting to at least one of the plurality of participants in a manner that associates the transcript with the selected participant.