REAL-TIME AUDIO PROCESSING OF AMBIENT SOUND

• US 20160353196A1
• Filed: 06/01/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation (Dolby Laboratories Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Doppler Labs, Inc.
• Inventors: Baker, Jeff, Parks, Anthony, Garcia, Sal Greg, Burgess, Thomas Ezekiel, Palmborg, Nils Jacob, Wiggins, Daniel, Yamamoto, Matthew Fumio, Kraft, Noah, Lanman, Richard Fritz III
• Granted Patent: US 9,565,491 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17823 Reference signals, e.g. ambient acoustic environment
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17837 by retaining part of the ambient acoustic environment, e.g. speech or alarm signals that the user needs to hear
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17853 of the filter
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17857 Geometric disposition, e.g. placement of microphones
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17861 using additional means for damping sound, e.g. using sound absorbing panels
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17881 the reference signal being an acoustic signal, e.g. recorded with a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/1081 Earphones, e.g. for telephones, ear protectors or headsets
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3026 Feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3033 Information contained in memory, e.g. stored signals or transfer functions
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3035 Models, e.g. of the acoustic system
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3044 Phase shift, e.g. complex envelope processing
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/3055 Transfer function of the acoustic system
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/504 Calibration
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/05 Noise reduction with a separate noise microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2460/01 Hearing devices using active noise cancellation
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/002 Damping circuit arrangements for transducers, e.g. motional feedback circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

An earpiece for real-time audio processing of ambient sound includes an ear bud that provides passive noise attenuation to the earpiece such that exterior ambient sound is substantially reduced within an ear of a wearer, an exterior microphone that receives ambient sound and converts the received ambient sound into analog electrical signals, and an analog-to-digital converter that converts the analog electrical signals into digital signals representative of the ambient sounds. The earpiece further includes a digital signal processor that performs a transformation operation on the digital signals according to instructions received from a mobile device, the transformation operation transforms the digital signals into modified digital signals, a digital-to-analog converter that converts the modified digital signals into modified analog electrical signals, and a speaker that outputs the modified analog electrical signals as audio waves.

Claims

1. An earpiece for real-time audio processing of ambient sound comprising:

an ear bud that provides passive noise attenuation to the earpiece such that exterior ambient sound is substantially reduced within an ear of a wearer;

an exterior microphone that receives ambient sound and converts the received ambient sound into analog electrical signals;

an analog-to-digital converter that converts the analog electrical signals into digital signals representative of the ambient sounds;

a digital signal processor that performs active noise cancellation and performs a transformation operation that is distinct from the active noise cancellation on the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds according to instructions received from a mobile device, the active noise cancellation and the transformation operation together transform the digital signals into modified digital signals, wherein the transformation operation includes applying one or more filters, one or more effects, or both, to the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds, wherein at least one of the one or more effects includes applying a delay to a portion of the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds;

a digital-to-analog converter that converts the modified digital signals into modified analog electrical signals;

a speaker that outputs the modified analog electrical signals as audio waves; and

an interior microphone that receives the audio waves and is coupled to the digital signal processor, wherein in response to an output signal from the interior microphone, the digital signal processor determines whether the active noise cancellation and the transformation operation performed together produce desired audio waves.

3. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the transformation operation is at last one digital operation selected from the following:

adding digital reverb to the digital signals;

applying an echo to the digital signals;

applying a digital notch filter to reduce the volume of at least one selected frequency range; and

applying a flange to mix two copies of the digital signals, a second copy of which with a delay between 0.1 and 10 milliseconds relative to a first copy.

4. The earpiece of claim 3 wherein the active noise cancellation is designed to reduce noise in a specific frequency range associated with a selected one of background noise at a concert, background noise at a stadium, noise other than those by the musicians during musical performance, and noise from a crying baby.

5. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the transformation operation is the application of at least one filter that affects the volume of audio within at least one preselected frequency band.

6. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the audio waves derived from the ambient sound are output by the speaker less than thirty milliseconds following receipt of the ambient sound.

7. The earpiece of claim 1 combined with a second earpiece of claim 1, each operating upon the ambient sound independently of one another.

8. The earpiece and second earpiece of claim 7 wherein the ambient sound received by the exterior microphones in the earpiece and the second earpiece are different from one another, where active noise cancellation is performed and the transformation operation on the digital signals is performed independently by each of the earpiece and the second earpiece, and further wherein the resulting audio waves output by the internal speakers of the earpiece and the second earpiece are correspondingly different from one another.

9. The earpiece of claim 1 wherein the transformation operation is altered by an individual using the mobile device and the altered transformation operation is applied to future audio waves generated from ambient sound received after the altered transformation.

20. The earpiece of claim 1, wherein the instructions received from the mobile device include an instruction to simultaneously apply a plurality of the filters or effects together.

2. (canceled)

10. A method for real-time audio processing of ambient sound comprising:

providing passive noise attenuation using an ear bud such that exterior ambient sound is substantially reduced within an ear of a wearer;

receiving ambient sound at an exterior microphone and converting the received ambient sound into analog electrical signals;

converting the analog electrical signals into digital signals representative of the ambient sounds using an analog-to-digital converter;

performing active noise cancellation using a digital signal processor;

performing a transformation operation that is distinct from the active noise cancellation using the digital signal processor, on the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds using the digital signal processor and according to instructions received from a mobile device, the active noise cancellation and the transformation operation together transforming the digital signals into modified digital signals, wherein the transformation operation includes applying one or more filters, one or more effects, or both, to the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds, wherein at least one of the one or more effects includes applying a delay to a portion of the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds;

converting the modified digital signals into modified analog electrical signals using a digital-to-analog converter;

outputting the active noise cancellation signal to interfere with the exterior ambient sound along with the modified analog electrical signals as audio waves using a speaker; and

receiving, by an interior microphone that is coupled to the digital signal processor, the audio waves, wherein in response to receiving an output signal from the interior microphone, the digital signal processor determines whether the active noise cancellation and the transformation operation performed together produce desired audio waves.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the transformation operation is at least one digital operation selected from the following:

adding digital reverb to the digital signals;

applying an echo to the digital signals;

applying a digital notch filter to reduce the volume of at least one selected frequency range; and

applying a flange to mix two copies of the digital signals, a second copy of which with a delay between 0.1 and 10 milliseconds relative to a first copy.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the active noise cancellation is designed to reduce noise in a specific frequency range associated with a selected one of background noise at a concert, background noise at a stadium, noise other than those by the musicians during musical performance, and noise from a crying baby.

14. The method of claim 10 wherein the transformation operation is the application of at least one filter that affects the volume of audio within at least one preselected frequency band.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein the audio waves derived from the ambient sound are output by the speaker less than thirty milliseconds following receipt of the ambient sound.

16. The method of claim 10 further comprising performing the method substantially simultaneously upon ambient sound received at two independent earpieces, each operating upon the ambient sound independently of one another.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the ambient sound received by exterior microphones in the two independent earpieces are different from one another, where the active noise cancellation is performed and the transformation operation on the digital signals is performed independently by each of the two independent earpieces, and further wherein the resulting audio waves output by internal speakers of the two independent earpieces are correspondingly different from one another.

18. The method of claim 10 wherein the transformation operation is altered by an individual using the mobile device and the altered transformation operation is applied to future audio waves generated from ambient sound received after the altered transformation.

11. (canceled)

19. A system for real-time audio processing of ambient sound, comprising:

a first earpiece; and

a second earpiece, where each of the first earpiece and the second earpiece include;

an ear bud that provides passive noise attenuation to the earpiece such that exterior ambient sound is substantially reduced within an ear of a wearer;

an exterior microphone that receives ambient sound and converts the received ambient sound into analog electrical signals;

analog-to-digital converter that converts the analog electrical signals into digital signals representative of the ambient sounds;

a digital signal processor that performs active noise cancellation and performs a transformation operation that is distinct from the active noise cancellation on the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds according to instructions received from a mobile device, the active noise cancellation and the transformation operation together transforms the digital signals into modified digital signals, wherein the transformation operation includes applying one or more filters, one or more effects, or both, to the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds, wherein at least one of the one or more effects includes applying a delay to a portion of the digital signals representative of the ambient sounds;

a digital-to-analog converter that converts the modified digital signals into modified analog electrical signals;

a speaker that outputs the modified analog electrical signals as audio waves; and

an interior microphone that receives the audio waves and is coupled to the digital signal processor, wherein in response to an output signal from the interior microphone, the digital signal processor determines whether the active noise cancellation and the transformation operation performed together produce desired audio waves.