ESTABLISHING MICROPHONE ZONES IN A VEHICLE

• US 20160039356A1
• Filed: 08/08/2014
• Published: 02/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company), GM Global Technology Operations LLC (General Motors Company)
• Original Assignee: General Motors LLC (General Motors Company), GM Global Technology Operations Incorporated (Motors Liquidation Co. GUC Trust)
• Inventors: Talwar, Gaurav, Chowdhury, MD Foezur Rahman, Zhao, Xufang
• Application Number:
  US14/454,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20160039356A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/28 Constructional details of speech recognition systems
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/26 Recognition of special voice characteristics, e.g. for use in lie detectors; Recognition of animal voices
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02166 Microphone arrays; Beamforming
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/05 Noise reduction with a separate noise microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/13 Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A system and method of activating at least some of a plurality of microphones in a vehicle includes: identifying an acoustic zone within the vehicle where a vehicle occupant is located; detecting one or more biometric attributes of the vehicle occupant; determining a location within the acoustic zone where the vehicle occupant utters speech based on the detected biometric attributes; and activating a subset of the plurality of microphones in the vehicle to receive speech within the acoustic zone based on the determined location.

Claims

1. A method of activating at least some of a plurality of microphones in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying an acoustic zone within the vehicle where a vehicle occupant is located;

(b) detecting one or more biometric attributes of the vehicle occupant;

(c) determining a location within the acoustic zone where the vehicle occupant utters speech based on the detected biometric attributes; and

(d) activating a subset of the plurality of microphones in the vehicle to receive speech within the acoustic zone based on the determined location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the biometric attributes further comprise a physiological biometric or a voice characteristic.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of detecting a seat position of the vehicle occupant.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of detecting a rear-view mirror position or a side mirror position.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of detecting a weight of the vehicle occupant.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of categorizing the vehicle occupant according to physiological biometrics.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of identifying a gender of the vehicle occupant based on the voice characteristic.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating steps (a)-(c) for another vehicle occupant and selecting another subset of microphones that filter speech from the vehicle occupant.

9. A method of activating at least some of a plurality of microphones in a vehicle, comprising the steps of:

(a) defining a plurality of acoustic zones within an interior of the vehicle;

(b) detecting one or more biometric attributes of a first vehicle occupant in a first acoustic zone;

(c) activating a subset of the plurality of microphones for receiving speech from the first vehicle occupant in the first acoustic zone;

(d) detecting one or more biometric attributes of a second vehicle occupant in a second acoustic zone; and

(e) activating a second subset of the plurality of microphones for receiving speech from the second vehicle occupant in the second acoustic zone that filter speech generated by the first vehicle occupant in the first acoustic zone.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the biometric attributes further comprise a physiological biometric or a voice characteristic.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of detecting a seat position of the vehicle occupant.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of detecting a rear-view mirror position or a side mirror position.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of detecting a weight of the vehicle occupant.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of categorizing the vehicle occupant according to physiological biometrics.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of identifying a gender of the vehicle occupant based on the voice characteristic.