AUDIO PROCESSING APPARATUS

• US 20150030159A1
• Filed: 07/25/2013
• Published: 01/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: OZCAN, Koray
• Granted Patent: US 11,022,456 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/17
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3629 Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech text to speech systems per se G10L13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 13/033 Voice editing, e.g. manipulating the voice of the synthesiser
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/08 Speech classification or search
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/088 Word spotting
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/11 Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field H04S2420/13 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/01 Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/30 Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field

Abstract

An example approach for navigation is provided with an apparatus comprising: a navigation processor configured to generate at least one navigation command; and an audio processor configured to determine at least one directional audio parameter so as to provide a direction, the at least one directional audio parameter being based on the navigation command and further configured to process at least one audio signal based on the at least one directional audio parameter such that a virtual sound image of a navigation routing is generated based on the processed at least one audio signal.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating at least one navigation command;

determining at least one directional audio parameter so as to provide a direction, the at least one directional audio parameter being based on the navigation command; and

processing at least one audio signal based on the at least one directional audio parameter such that a virtual sound image of a navigation routing is generated based on the processed at least one audio signal.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one directional audio parameter comprises at least one of:

at least one interaural level difference based on the at least one navigation command;

at least one interaural time difference based on the at least one navigation command;

at least one interaural phase difference based on the at least one navigation command; and

a head related transfer function based on the at least one navigation command.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one navigation command further comprises at least one directional indication associated with the at least one audio signal, and wherein determining at least one directional audio parameter is based on the at least one directional indication.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one navigation command further comprises at least one distance indication, and the method further comprises:

determining at least one distance audio parameter, the at least one distance audio parameter is based on the at least one distance indication; and

processing the at least one audio signal based on the at least one distance audio parameter.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the at least one distance audio parameter comprises a gain value based on the at least one distance value.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the gain value is inversely proportional to the at least one distance value, up to a determined maximum gain value.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising generating the at least one audio signal based on the at least one navigation command.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

generating at least one further navigation command;

determining whether to generate at least one further directional audio parameter based on the at least one further navigation command; and

processing at least one further audio signal based on the at least one further directional audio parameter.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

generating at least one visual information element based on the at least one navigation command; and

displaying the at least one visual information element.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein generating at least one navigation command comprises:

determining a location of an apparatus;

determining a destination of the apparatus;

routing the apparatus from the location of the apparatus to the destination of the apparatus; and

generating the at least one navigation command from the routing.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein routing the apparatus from the location of the apparatus to the destination of the apparatus comprises determining at least one routing path from the location of the apparatus to the destination of the apparatus.

12. The method as claimed in claim 10, wherein generating the at least one navigation command from the routing comprises at least one of:

generating a routing parameter associated with a routing change; and

generating a routing parameter associated with the destination, the routing parameter comprising at least one of;

at least one directional indication; and

at least one distance indication.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one audio signal comprises:

a first channel audio signal; and

a second channel audio signal.

14. An apparatus comprising:

means for generating at least one navigation command;

means for determining at least one directional audio parameter so as to provide a direction, the at least one directional audio parameter being based on the navigation command; and

means for processing at least one audio signal based on the at least one directional audio parameter such that a virtual sound image of a navigation routing is generated based on the processed at least one audio signal.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one navigation command further comprises at least one directional indication associated with the at least one audio signal, and wherein the means for determining at least one directional audio parameter is based on the at least one directional indication.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the at least one navigation command further comprises at least one distance indication, and the apparatus further comprises:

means for determining at least one distance audio parameter, the at least one distance audio parameter is based on the at least one distance indication; and

means for processing the at least one audio signal based on the at least one distance audio parameter.

17. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

generate at least one navigation command;

determine at least one directional audio parameter so as to provide a direction, the at least one directional audio parameter being based on the navigation command; and

process at least one audio signal based on the at least one directional audio parameter such that a virtual sound image of a navigation routing is generated based on the processed at least one audio signal.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the at least one navigation command further comprises at least one directional indication associated with the at least one audio signal, and wherein determining at least one directional audio parameter is based on the at least one directional indication.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 17, wherein the at least one navigation command further comprises at least one distance indication, and the apparatus further is caused to:

determine at least one distance audio parameter, the at least one distance audio parameter being based on the at least one distance indication; and

processing the at least one audio signal based on the at least one distance audio parameter.

20. An apparatus comprising:

a navigation processor configured to generate at least one navigation command; and

an audio processor configured to determine at least one directional audio parameter so as to provide a direction, the at least one directional audio parameter being based on the navigation command and further configured to process at least one audio signal based on the at least one directional audio parameter such that a virtual sound image of a navigation routing is generated based on the processed at least one audio signal.

21-41. -41. (canceled)