Apparatus with Adaptive Microphone Configuration Based on Surface Proximity, Surface Type and Motion

• US 20140270217A1
• Filed: 07/31/2013
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility LLC (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Ivanov, Plamen A., Bastyr, Kevin J., Wu, Jincheng, Clark, Joel A., Oliveira, Rivanaldo S., Singaraju, Snehitha
• Granted Patent: US 9,351,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/66
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/44 Processing the detected response signal , e.g. electronic circuits specially adapted therefor digital signal processing per se G06F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/02 Speech enhancement, e.g. noise reduction or echo cancellation reducing echo effects in line transmission systems H04B3/20; echo suppression in hands-free telephones H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/03 Constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. telephone hand-sets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6041 Portable telephones adapted for handsfree use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• 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 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/004 for microphones H04R29/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/005 Microphone arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

An apparatus includes a group of microphones and a surface compensator that is operatively coupled to switch logic and to a signal conditioner that provides a control channel to voice recognition logic. The surface compensator may detect surfaces in proximity to the apparatus as well as the surface'"'"'s acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity and may accordingly configure the group of microphones including selecting appropriate signal conditioning and beamforming based on the surface acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity and the orientation of the apparatus. Voice recognition performance is thus improved when microphones are impeded or occluded by proximate surfaces. A group of sensors of the apparatus is used by the surface compensator to detect surfaces and surface type, and to determine apparatus orientation and motion.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining that a first microphone, of a group of microphones of a mobile device, is impeded by a surface that is in proximity to the mobile device; and

turning off the first microphone.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

turning on a second microphone that is determined not to be impeded by the surface.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

detecting the surface that is in proximity to the mobile device; and

using sensor data obtained from at least one sensor of the mobile device to determine acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity of the surface.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity of the surface comprises:

actuating a vibrator of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining orientation of the mobile device;

determining that the first microphone is impeded by the surface using the orientation and the first microphone'"'"'s known position in the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

selecting signal conditioning parameters based on the acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity of the surface.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein selecting signal conditioning parameters based on the acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity of the surface, comprises:

selecting signal conditioning parameters from a memory table correlating a plurality of sets of signal conditioning parameters to surface types for predetermined conditions.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

applying de-reverberation to an output of the second microphone when the surface is determined to be reflective.

9. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

turning on a third microphone that is determined not to be impeded by the surface; and

beamforming the outputs of the second microphone and the third microphone to create a voice recognition virtual microphone.

10. The method of claim 3, wherein detecting the surface that is in proximity to the mobile device, comprises:

actuating a vibrator of the mobile device; and

obtaining data from an accelerometer of the mobile device where the data exhibits a signature of the surface'"'"'s surface type.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a group of microphones;

switch logic, operatively coupled to the group of microphones, operative to switch each microphone of the group of microphones either on or off in response to a first control signal;

a signal conditioner, operatively coupled to the switch logic and to the group of microphones, the signal conditioner operative to receive outputs from each microphone of the group of microphones;

voice recognition logic, operatively coupled to the signal conditioner; and

a surface compensator, operatively coupled to the switch logic and to the signal conditioner, the surface compensator operative to;

determine that a first microphone, of the group of microphones, is impeded by a surface that is in proximity to the apparatus; and

turn off the first microphone by sending the first control signal to the switch logic.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

a plurality of sensors, operatively coupled to the surface compensator.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

a vibrator, operatively coupled to the surface compensator;

an accelerometer operatively coupled to the surface compensator, wherein the accelerometer is one sensor of the plurality of sensors; and

wherein the surface compensator is operative to detect a surface in proximity of the apparatus by;

actuating the vibrator; and

obtaining data from an accelerometer where the data exhibits a signature of the surface'"'"'s surface type.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the surface compensator is operative to:

select signal conditioning parameters based on the signature of the surface'"'"'s surface type; and

adjust the signal conditioner with the selected signal conditioning parameters.

15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

changeover switch logic, operatively coupled to the switch logic; and

a beamformer, operatively coupled to the changeover switch logic and to the signal conditioner, the beamformer operative to receive and beamform microphone outputs from the changeover switch logic to create a virtual microphone and to provide at least one voice recognition channel from the virtual microphone to the signal conditioner.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the surface compensator is operatively coupled to changeover switch logic, and wherein the surface compensator is operative to send a second control signal to the changeover switch logic to control the changeover switch logic to switch each microphone of the group of microphones either to the beamformer or to the signal conditioner.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

a 3D gyroscope wherein the 3D gyroscope is one of the plurality of sensors; and

wherein the surface compensator is operative to;

determine orientation of the apparatus by obtaining 3D gyroscope data; and

determine that the first microphone, of the group of microphones, is impeded by the surface based on the orientation of the apparatus and the first microphone'"'"'s know position in the apparatus.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the signal conditioner comprises a noise suppressor and a de-reverberator.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

global positioning system logic, operatively coupled to the surface compensator; and

wherein the surface compensator is operative to receive global positioning system data from the global positioning system logic and determine when the apparatus is in motion in a vehicle based on the global positioning system data.

20. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

non-volatile, non-transitory memory, operatively coupled to the surface compensator; and

wherein the surface compensator is operative to;

access the memory to compare the observed signature of the surface'"'"'s surface type to a table of stored predetermined signatures and select the signal condition parameters from the table based on a matching predetermined signature.