Hybrid beamforming

• US 7,970,151 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2006
• Issued: 06/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lifesize, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Original Assignee: Lifesize, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Inventors: Varadarajan, Vijay, Oxford, William V.
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin; Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Paul
• Application Number:
  US11/402,290
• Publication Number:
  US 20060269080A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,904 Days
• Field of Search: 381/92, 381/94.1, 381/94.3, 381/122, 381/98
• US Class Current: 381/92
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6008 in the transmitter circuit
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6033 for providing handsfree use or a loudspeaker mode in telephone sets arrangements for preventing acoustic echo H04M9/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/401 2D or 3D arrays of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/003 Digital PA systems using, e.g. LAN or internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2420/07 Applications of wireless loudspeakers or wireless microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/007 for public address systems public address systems per se H04R27/00
• 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 such as a speakerphone may include a processor, memory and an array of microphones. The processor may be configured (via program instructions stored in the memory) to perform automatic echo cancellation, self calibration and beam forming. In particular, the processor may receive input signals from the microphone array and operate on the input signals with a highly directed virtual beam which is a composite of two or more beams which are restricted to respective frequency ranges. The two or more beams may include beams of different kinds, e.g., superdirective beams and delay-and-sum beams.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a set of microphones;

a memory that stores program instructions;

a processor configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement;

(a) receiving input signals, wherein each of the input signals is received from a corresponding one of the microphones;

(b) operating on a first subset of the input signals to respectively generate first versions of the input signals in the first subset, wherein the first versions are band limited to a first frequency range, wherein the first frequency range is below a transition frequency;

(c) operating on the first versions of the input signals in the first subset with a first set of beam parameters in order to compute a first output signal, wherein the first set of beam parameters corresponds to a first virtual beam having an integer-order superdirective structure;

(d) operating on a second subset of the input signals to respectively generate second versions of the input signals in the second subset, wherein the second versions are band limited to a second frequency range different from the first frequency range, wherein the second frequency range is above the transition frequency, wherein the second subset includes two or more of the input signals and is not identical to the first subset of the input signals;

(e) operating on the second versions of the input signals in the second subset with a second set of beam parameters in order to compute a second output signal, wherein the second set of beam parameters corresponds to a second virtual beam having a delay-and-sum structure;

(f) generating a resultant signal, wherein the resultant signal includes a combination of at least the first output signal and the second output signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the input signals corresponds to a first subset of the microphones, wherein the first subset of microphones have physical positions that are at least partially aligned in a target direction, wherein the second set of beam parameters are configured so as to direct the second virtual beam in the target direction.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein (b) through (e) are performed in the frequency domain.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to provide the resultant signal to a communication interface for transmission.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of microphones are arranged in a circular array.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the second subset of the input signals includes all the input signals.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the input signals includes two or more of the input signals but less than all the input signals.

6. A method comprising:

receiving input signals from an array of microphones, wherein each of the input signals in received from a corresponding one of the microphones;

operating on the input signals with a set of virtual beams to obtain respective beam-formed signals, wherein each of the virtual beams is associated with a corresponding frequency range and a corresponding subset of the input signals, wherein each of the virtual beams operates on correspondingly band-limited versions of the input signals of the corresponding subset, wherein said band-limited versions operated on by each virtual beam are band limited to the corresponding frequency range, wherein the virtual beams include one or more integer-order superdirective beams, wherein the virtual beams also include one or more delay-and-sum beams, wherein the one or more frequencies ranges that correspond to the one or more integer-order superdirective beams are below a transition frequency, wherein the one or more frequencies ranges that correspond to the one or more delay-and-sum beams are above the transition frequency; and

generating a resultant signal, wherein the resultant signal includes a combination of the beam-formed signals;

wherein said receiving, said operating and said generating are performed by a computer system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a first of the one or more integer-order superdirective beams is associated with a first frequency range and a first subset of the input signals, wherein a first of the one or more delay-and-sum beams is associated with a second frequency range and a second subset of the input signals, wherein the first subset is not identical to the second subset, wherein the method further comprises:

operating on the first subset of the input signals to respectively generate first band-limited versions of the input signals of the first subset, wherein the first band-limited versions are band-limited to the first frequency range;

operating on the second subset of the input signals to respectively generate second band-limited versions of the input signals of the second subset, wherein the second band-limited versions are band-limited to the second frequency range;

wherein said operating on the input signals with a set of virtual beams to obtain respective beam-formed signals comprises;

operating on the first band-limited versions of the input signals in the first subset with a first set of beam parameters in order to compute a first beam-formed signal corresponding to the first integer-order superdirective beam;

operating on the second band-limited versions of the input signals in the second subset with a second set of beam parameters in order to compute a second beam-formed signal corresponding to the first delay-and-sum beam.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first subset of the input signals corresponds to a first subset of the microphones, wherein the first subset of microphones have spatial positions that are at least partially aligned in a target direction, wherein the second set of beam parameters are configured so as to direct the first delay-and-sum beam in the target direction.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said operating on the input signals with a set of virtual beams to obtain respective beam-formed signals is performed in the frequency domain.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

providing the resultant signal to a communication interface for transmission.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the array of microphones are arranged on a circle.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

accessing an array of parameters from a memory;

applying a circular shift to the array of parameters to obtain the second set of beam parameters, wherein the circular shift is with respect to microphone position index, wherein an amount of the shift corresponds to a desired target direction.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein each subset that corresponds to one of the delay-and-sum beams includes all of the input signals.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable memory medium that stores program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable by a computer system to implement:

(a) receiving input signals from an array of microphones, wherein each of the input signals is received from a corresponding one of the microphones;

(b) operating on a first subset of the input signals to respectively generate first versions of the input signals in the first subset, wherein the first versions are band-limited to a first frequency range, wherein the first frequency range is below a transition frequency;

(c) operating on the first versions of the first subset of input signals with a first set of beam parameters in order to compute a first output signal, wherein the first set of beam parameters corresponds to a first virtual beam having an integer-order superdirective structure;

(d) operating on a second subset of the input signals to respectively generate second versions of the input signals in the second subset, wherein the second versions are band limited to a second frequency range different from the first frequency range, wherein the second frequency range is above the transition frequency, wherein the second subset of the input signals is not identical to the first subset of the input signals;

(e) operating on the second versions of the input signals in the second subset with a second set of beam parameters in order to compute a second output signal, wherein the second set of beam parameters corresponds to a second virtual beam having a delay-and-sum structure;

(f) generating a resultant signal, wherein the resultant signal includes a combination of at least the first output signal and the second output signal.

14. A method for configuring a device that includes a computer system, wherein the device includes an array of microphones, a memory and a processor, the method comprising:

(a) generating a first set of beam parameters for a first virtual beam pointed in a target direction, wherein said generating is based on a first subset of the microphones, wherein the first virtual beam has an integer-order superdirective structure, wherein the first set of beam parameters are generated for a first frequency band;

(b) computing a plurality of parameter sets for a corresponding plurality of delay-and-sum beams pointed in the target direction, wherein the parameter set for each delay-and-sum beam is computed for a corresponding frequency, wherein the parameter sets for the delay-and-sum beams are computed based on a common set of beam constraints and based on a geometric description of the microphone array, wherein the corresponding frequencies for the delay-and-sum beams are above a transition frequency, wherein the first frequency band is entirely below the transition frequency;

(c) combining the plurality of parameter sets to obtain a second set of beam parameters; and

(d) storing the first set of beam parameters and the second set of beam parameters in the memory of the computer system;

wherein (a), (b), (c) and (d) are performed by the computer system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the device is a speakerphone.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the common set of beam constraints includes a pass band width.