Auto-adjust noise canceling microphone with position sensor
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for sensing and compensating for at least one error signal, the system comprising:
- an acoustic pick-up device having a first microphone disposed at a first distance from a desired acoustic source, and a second microphone disposed at a second distance from the desired acoustic source, each of the first microphone and the second microphone receiving acoustic signals generated from the desired acoustic source, and in response, transducing the acoustic signals into audio signals;
a position estimation circuit coupled to receive the audio signals from the first microphone and the second microphone, and adapted to produce an error signal from the audio signals associated with the first and second microphones, the error signal representing an estimate of the acoustic pick-up device having angular and/or distance mispositioning relative to the desired acoustic source that results in the acoustic signals received by the acoustic pick-up device failing to achieve proper and/or adequate noise cancellation and resulting in the acoustic signals being degraded, the position estimation circuit including a first circuit providing first and second time averages of corresponding magnitudes for the audio signals received from the first microphone and the second microphone, respectively, the error signal being produced from the first and second time averages; and
a controller configured to use the error signal to select a directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones in order to compensate for the acoustic pick-up device being mispositioned by providing the audio signals from at least one of the first microphone and the second microphone to the output.
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Abstract
A system and method detects whether or not a microphone apparatus is positioned incorrectly relative to an acoustic source and of automatically compensating for such mispositioning. A position estimation circuit determines whether the microphone apparatus is mispositioned. A controller facilitates the automatic compensation of the mispositioning.
60 Citations
68 Claims
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1. A system for sensing and compensating for at least one error signal, the system comprising:
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an acoustic pick-up device having a first microphone disposed at a first distance from a desired acoustic source, and a second microphone disposed at a second distance from the desired acoustic source, each of the first microphone and the second microphone receiving acoustic signals generated from the desired acoustic source, and in response, transducing the acoustic signals into audio signals; a position estimation circuit coupled to receive the audio signals from the first microphone and the second microphone, and adapted to produce an error signal from the audio signals associated with the first and second microphones, the error signal representing an estimate of the acoustic pick-up device having angular and/or distance mispositioning relative to the desired acoustic source that results in the acoustic signals received by the acoustic pick-up device failing to achieve proper and/or adequate noise cancellation and resulting in the acoustic signals being degraded, the position estimation circuit including a first circuit providing first and second time averages of corresponding magnitudes for the audio signals received from the first microphone and the second microphone, respectively, the error signal being produced from the first and second time averages; and a controller configured to use the error signal to select a directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones in order to compensate for the acoustic pick-up device being mispositioned by providing the audio signals from at least one of the first microphone and the second microphone to the output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A headset, comprising:
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a supporting device adapted to be secured to a head of a user; a boom coupled to the supporting device and adapted to be disposed proximate a desired acoustic source comprising a mouth of the user generating acoustic signals; an acoustic pick-up device coupled to the boom and having a first microphone disposed at a first distance from the desired acoustic source, and a second microphone disposed at a second distance from the desired acoustic source, each of the first microphone and the second microphone receiving the acoustic signals, and in response, transducing the acoustic signals into audio signals; a position estimation circuit coupled to receive the audio signals from the first microphone and the second microphone, and adapted to produce an error signal from the audio signals associated with the first and second microphones, the error signal representing an estimate of the acoustic pick-up device having angular and/or distance mispositioning relative to the desired acoustic source that results in the acoustic signals received by the acoustic pick-up device failing to achieve proper and/or adequate noise cancellation and resulting in the acoustic signals being degraded, the position estimation circuit including a first circuit providing first and second time averages of corresponding magnitudes for the audio signals received from the first microphone and the second microphone, respectively, the error signal being produced from the first and second time averages; and a controller configured to use the error signal to select a directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones in order to compensate for the acoustic pick-up device being mispositioned by providing the audio signals from at least one of the first microphone and the second microphone to an output. - View Dependent Claims (50)
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51. A system for controlling a directional response of at least one of a first microphone and a second microphone, the system comprising:
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first microphone means disposed at a first distance from a desired acoustic source; second microphone means disposed at a second distance from the desired acoustic source, each of the first microphone means and the second microphone means receiving acoustic signals generated from the desired acoustic source, and in response thereto, transducing the acoustic signals into audio signals; position estimation means coupled to receive the audio signals from the first and second microphone means, the position estimation means being adapted to produce an error signal from the audio signals associated with the first and second microphones, the error signal representing an estimate of the first and second microphone means having angular and/or distance mispositioning relative to the desired acoustic source that results in the acoustic signals received by the acoustic pick-up device failing to achieve proper and/or adequate noise cancellation and resulting in the acoustic signals being degraded, the position estimation means including means for averaging to generate first and second time averages of corresponding magnitudes for the audio signals received from the first and second microphone means, respectively, the error signal being produced from the first and second time averages; and control means to use the error signal to select the directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones in order to compensate for the first and second microphone means being mispositioned by providing the audio signals from at least one of the first and second microphone means to an output. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53)
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54. A method of controlling a directional response of at least one of a first and second microphones, the method comprising:
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receiving acoustic signals generated by a desired acoustic source at a first microphone; receiving the acoustic signals at a second microphone; in response, the first and second microphones each transducing the acoustic signals respectively received into audio signals; determining first and second time averages of corresponding magnitudes of the audio signals for the first microphone and the second microphone, respectively; detecting an error signal amongst the audio signals from the audio signals associated with the first and second microphones, the error signal representing an estimate of the first and second microphones having angular and/or distance mispositioning relative to the desired acoustic source that results in the acoustic signals received by the acoustic pick-up device failing to achieve proper and/or adequate noise cancellation and resulting in the acoustic signals being degraded, the error signal being detected from the first and second time averages; using the error signal to select the directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones in order to compensate for the first and second microphones being mispositioned; and providing the audio signals associated with the directional response selected to an output. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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64. A method of sensing and compensating for an error, the method comprising:
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receiving acoustic signals generated by a desired acoustic source at a first microphone; receiving the acoustic signals at a second microphone; in response, the first and second microphones each transducing the acoustic signals respectively received into audio signals; determining first and second time averages of corresponding magnitudes of the audio signals for the first microphone and the second microphone, respectively; detecting an error signal from the audio signals associated with the first and second microphones, the error signal representing an estimate of the first and second microphones having angular and/or distance mispositioning relative to the desired acoustic source that results in the acoustic signals received by the first and second microphones failing to achieve proper and/or adequate noise cancellation and resulting in the acoustic signals being degraded, the error signal being detected from the first and second time averages; and using the error signal to select the directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones in order to compensate for the first and second microphones being mispositioned; and using the error signal to selectively provide a directional response corresponding to at least one of the first and second microphones to an output in order to compensate for the mispositioning. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67, 68)
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Specification