Method and apparatus for multi-sensory speech enhancement on a mobile device

• US 7,283,850 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2004
• Issued: 10/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Sinclair, Michael J., Zhang, Zhengyou, Liu, Zicheng, Granovetter, Randy Phyllis
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid; Lester G.
• Assistant Examiner(s): CASCA, FRED A
• Application Number:
  US10/962,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20060079291A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,099 Days
• Field of Search: 455/563, 455/63.1, 455/557, 455/185, 455/570, 455/550.1, 455/67.13, 386/124, 386/125, 370/332, 379/40, 704/260, 704/228, 381/94.7, 381/92, 381/122
• US Class Current: 455/570
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/58 Use of machine translation, e.g. for multi-lingual retrieval, for server-side translation for client devices or for real-time translation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/20 Speech recognition techniques specially adapted for robustness in adverse environments, e.g. in noise, of stress induced speech G10L21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/24 Speech recognition using non-acoustical features
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02161 Number of inputs available containing the signal or the noise to be suppressed
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/05 specially adapted for use on head, throat or breast
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6008 in the transmitter circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/605 involving control of the receiver volume to provide a dual operational mode at close or far distance from the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/083 Special constructions of mouthpieces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

A mobile device includes an air conduction microphone and an alternative sensor that provides an alternative sensor signal indicative of speech. A communication interface permits the mobile device to communicate directly with other mobile devices.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

an air conduction microphone that converts acoustic waves representative of a portion of speech into an electric microphone signal;

an alternative sensor that detects information representative of the portion of speech separate from the electronic microphone signal and provides an electric alternative sensor signal comprising information representative of the portion of speech, wherein

the mobile device communicates directly with other mobile devices, the mobile device communicates with a server on a network, wherein

the communication with the server comprises audio, video, and data corresponding to an image of a document that is shared with another computing device, and wherein the mobile device transmits instructions to the server instructing the server to modify the document based on said instructions and to provide data corresponding to the modification of the document to the other computing device.

2. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the communicating directly with other mobile devices comprises multiple types of communication with other mobile devices.

3. The mobile device of claim 2 wherein one of the multiple types of communication comprises one-to-one communication with one other mobile device even when more than one other mobile device is available for communication.

4. The mobile device of claim 2 wherein one of the multiple types of communication comprises one-to-many communication with a plurality of other mobile devices.

5. The mobile device of claim 2 wherein one of the multiple types of communication comprises many-to-many communication.

6. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the mobile device further comprises a global positioning satellite receiver that is capable of generating a position value indicative of the position of the mobile device.

7. The mobile device of claim 6 wherein communication with a server comprises providing the position value to the server.

8. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the server hosts a speech recognition program and wherein communicating with the server comprises providing audio data to the server and receiving recognized text from the server.

9. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the server hosts a translation program and wherein communicating with the server comprises providing content in one language to the server and receiving a translation in another language from the server.

10. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the mobile device comprises a cellular phone.

11. The mobile device of claim 1 wherein the mobile device comprises a personal digital assistant.

12. The mobile device, of claim 1 wherein the mobile device further communicates directly with another device.

13. A method in a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving an air conduction microphone signal that comprises information representative of a frame of speech;

receiving an alternative sensor signal that comprises information representative of the frame of speech;

estimating an enhanced clean speech value based on the air conduction microphone signal for the frame of speech and the alternative sensor signal for the frame of speech;

providing the enhanced clean speech value directly to another mobile device;

and communicating between the mobile device and a server on a network,

the mobile device instructing the server to use a translation service on the server to translate text from one language to another language based on data sent from the mobile device to the server and,

the mobile device receiving values representing an audio signal from the server, the audio signal representing the translation of the text.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein providing the enhanced clean speech value directly to another mobile device comprises providing the enhanced clean speech value during a one-to-one communication between the mobile device and the other mobile device.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein providing the enhanced clean speech value directly to another mobile device comprises providing the enhanced clean speech value during a one-to-many communication between the mobile device and a plurality of other mobile devices.

16. The method of claim 13 wherein providing the enhanced clean speech value directly to another mobile device comprises providing the enhanced clean speech value during a many-to-many communication between a plurality of mobile devices.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising communicating between the mobile device and a network of computing devices.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising communicating between the mobile device and a server on the network of computing devices.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein communicating between the mobile device and the server comprises communicating instant messages.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein communicating between the mobile device and the server comprises communicating information that is shared with another computing device that is in communication with the server.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein the information that is shared comprises changes to an object displayed on the mobile device and the other computing device.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the information that is shared further comprises audio information.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein the information that is shared further comprises video information.

24. The method of claim 18 further comprising determining a position for the mobile device and communicating the position of the mobile device from the mobile device to the server.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising using the position of the mobile device to generate a map and communicating the map from the server to another computing device.

26. The method of claim 13 further comprising returning text from the server to the mobile device, the text representing the translation of the text.

27. The method of claim 13 further comprising communicating between the mobile device and another device.

30. The method of claim 24 further comprising providing the position value to the server.

28. A method in a mobile device comprising:

using an air conduction microphone to convert acoustic waves representative of a portion of speech into an electric microphone signal;

using an alternative sensor that detects information representative of the portion of speech separate from the electronic microphone signal to provide an electric alternative sensor signal comprising information representative of the portion of speech;

the mobile device communicating directly with other mobile devices, and the mobile device communicating with a server on a network, wherein

the communication with the server comprises audio, video, and data corresponding to an image of a document that is shared with another computing device, and wherein

the mobile device transmits instructions to the server instructing the server to modify the document based on said instructions and to provide data corresponding to the modification of the document to the other computing device.

29. The method of claim 28 further comprising using a global positioning satellite receiver that is capable of generating a position value indicative of the position of the mobile device.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein the server hosts a speech recognition program and wherein communicating with the server comprises providing audio data to the server and receiving recognized text from the server.

32. The method claim 28 wherein the server hosts a translation program and wherein communicating with the server comprises providing content in one language to the server and receiving a translation in another language from the server.