Identifying directions of acoustically reflective surfaces
First Claim
1. An audio device, comprising:
- a housing;
a speaker to generate output audio;
multiple microphones to produce input audio signals;
one or more audio beamformers configured to produce multiple directional audio signals from the input audio signals, wherein each of the directional audio signals potentially contains one or more acoustic echoes of the output audio, and wherein each of the directional audio signals emphasizes sound received from a corresponding direction relative to the audio device;
one or more visual indicators, the one or more visual indicators being controllable to visually indicate different directions relative to the audio device;
one or more acoustic echo cancellers configured to cancel the one or more acoustic echoes from the directional audio signals based at least in part on sequences of dynamically updated filter coefficients;
a proximity detector configured to perform acts comprising;
analyzing the sequences of dynamically updated filter coefficients to identify one of the directional audio signals that contains an acoustic echo originating from a nearest of one or more acoustically reflective surfaces; and
controlling the one or more visual indicators to indicate the direction of the nearest of the one or more acoustically reflective surfaces.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An audio device may be configured to produce output audio and to also capture input audio for speech recognition. Beamforming may be used to produce directional audio signals that emphasize sounds received from different directions. Acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) may be used to remove components of output audio from the directional input signals. AEC may be implemented by an adaptive filter based on dynamically optimized filter coefficients. The filter coefficients may be analyzed to detect the presence of potentially problematic reflective surfaces near the audio device. When such a reflective surface is detected, the user may be notified by illuminating a directional indicator on a housing of the audio device, where the directional indicator indicates the direction of the potentially problematic surface relative to the audio device.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An audio device, comprising:
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a housing; a speaker to generate output audio; multiple microphones to produce input audio signals; one or more audio beamformers configured to produce multiple directional audio signals from the input audio signals, wherein each of the directional audio signals potentially contains one or more acoustic echoes of the output audio, and wherein each of the directional audio signals emphasizes sound received from a corresponding direction relative to the audio device; one or more visual indicators, the one or more visual indicators being controllable to visually indicate different directions relative to the audio device; one or more acoustic echo cancellers configured to cancel the one or more acoustic echoes from the directional audio signals based at least in part on sequences of dynamically updated filter coefficients; a proximity detector configured to perform acts comprising; analyzing the sequences of dynamically updated filter coefficients to identify one of the directional audio signals that contains an acoustic echo originating from a nearest of one or more acoustically reflective surfaces; and controlling the one or more visual indicators to indicate the direction of the nearest of the one or more acoustically reflective surfaces. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A device comprising:
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a speaker configured to generate output audio; a microphone array configured to produce multiple input audio signals; one or more audio beamformers configured to produce multiple directional audio signals from the input audio signals, wherein each directional audio signal potentially contains one or more acoustic echoes of the output audio; one or more acoustic echo cancellers configured to cancel the one or more acoustic echoes from each of the directional audio signals; and a proximity detector configured to perform acts comprising; identifying at least one of the directional audio signals that contains an acoustic echo of the output audio caused by a nearby acoustically reflective surface that is within a threshold proximity of the device; and providing a proximity indication that is based at least in part on the direction corresponding to the identified one of the directional audio signals. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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receiving multiple directional audio signals based at least in part on input audio signals produced by multiple microphones; cancelling acoustic echoes that are potentially present in the directional audio signals due to one or more acoustically reflective surfaces, wherein the cancelling is based on dynamically calculated parameters that indicate proximities of the one or more acoustically reflective surfaces to the multiple microphones; analyzing the dynamically calculated parameters to identify at least one of the directional audio signals having an acoustic echo caused by one of the one or more acoustically reflective surfaces within at least a threshold proximity of the multiple microphones; providing an indication that is based at least in part on the direction corresponding to the identified at least one of the directional audio signals. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification