Touch input surface microphone

• US 9,513,727 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sentons, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Sentons, Inc.
• Inventors: Sheng, Samuel W., Shih, Shih-Ming, Lynn, Lapoe E.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHIN, VIVIAN C
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kurr, Jason R
• Application Number:
  US13/828,666
• Publication Number:
  US 20140023210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,363 Days
• Field of Search: 381/355, 381/365, 381/173, 381/190, 381/152, 381/114, 381/122, 381/94.1, 381/94.5, 381/94.7, 345/173, 345/175, 345/177
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04103 Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/041 Digitisers, e.g. for touch screens or touch pads, characterised by the transducing means
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0418 for error correction or compensation, e.g. based on parallax, calibration or alignment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/043 using propagating acoustic waves
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0436 in which generating transducers and detecting transducers are attached to a single acoustic waves transmission substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/00 Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 17/00 Piezoelectric transducers; Electrostrictive transducers piezoelectric or electrostrictive elements in general H10N30/00; details of piezoelectric or electrostrictive motors, generators or positioners H10N30/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/00 Monitoring arrangements; Testing arrangements for hearing aids H04R25/30; detection of loudspeaker connection H04R5/04; sound-field adaptation dependent on speaker detection H04S7/308
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 7/045 using the distributed mode principle, i.e. whereby the acoustic radiation is emanated from uniformly distributed free bending wave vibration induced in a stiff panel and not from pistonic motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 9/066 using the principle of inertia

Abstract

Processing an audio signal is disclosed. The audio signal is received from a sensor coupled to a touch input medium. An indication of an event where the touch input medium has been contacted at a location on the touch input medium is received. The event has been captured as an audio signal component of the received audio signal. At least a portion of the audio signal component is reduced from the audio signal.

Claims

1. A system for processing an audio signal, comprising:

an interface that receives the audio signal from a sensor coupled to a touch input medium, wherein the sensor receives the audio signal via the touch input medium and the touch input medium includes a touch location input surface of a touchscreen;

a detector that indicates an event where the touch input medium has been contacted at a location on the touch input medium, wherein the event has been captured as an audio signal component of the received audio signal;

a processor configured to perform a joint estimation using a set of audio signal components, wherein the set includes the audio signal component of the received audio signal and performing the joint estimation includes identifying the audio signal component of the received audio signal that is to be at least in part reduced; and

a signal modifier that reduces at least a portion of the identified audio signal component from the audio signal.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the indication of the event is used at least in part to locate the audio signal component within the received audio signal.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein locating the audio signal component within the received audio signal includes determining a time identifier identifying a temporal location within the audio signal.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein reducing at least a portion of the audio signal component from the audio signal includes muting a portion of the audio signal that includes the audio signal component.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein reducing at least a portion of the audio signal component includes reducing an amplitude of the audio signal component within the received audio signal.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a threshold detector that activates a component of the system when a threshold amplitude is detected in the received audio signal.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the joint estimation includes determining a joint estimation output signal that maximizes a signal-to-noise ratio when the set of audio signal components are combined.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the joint estimation includes compensating for phase differences between one or more of the audio signal components in the set.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the joint estimation includes temporally shifting one or more of the audio signal components in the set.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein performing the joint estimation includes compensating for amplitude differences between one or more of the audio signal components in the set.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein reducing at least a portion of the audio signal component includes subtracting from the received audio signal a resulting signal from performing the joint estimation.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface receives a second audio signal from a second sensor coupled to the touch input medium.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the indication of the event is used to determine a second audio component of the second audio signal that captured the event.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein reducing at least a portion of the audio component includes compensating for a disturbance to the audio signal caused by the contact to the touch input medium.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein a resulting signal from the signal modifier is combined with another resulting signal from a second signal modifier to determine a detected microphone audio input signal.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor includes a piezoelectric transducer.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the interface, the detector, and the signal modifier are integrated on a single physical component.

18. A method for processing an audio signal, comprising:

receiving the audio signal from a sensor coupled to a touch input medium, wherein the sensor receives the audio signal via the touch input medium and the touch input medium includes a touch location input surface of a touchscreen;

receiving an indication of an event where the touch input medium has been contacted at a location on the touch input medium, wherein the event has been captured as an audio signal component of the received audio signal;

performing a joint estimation using a set of audio signal components, wherein the set includes the audio signal component of the received audio signal and performing the joint estimation includes identifying the audio signal component of the received audio signal that is to be at least in part reduced; and

using a signal modifier to reduce at least a portion of the identified audio signal component from the audio signal.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein reducing at least a portion of the audio component includes compensating for a disturbance to the audio signal caused by the contact to the touch input medium.

20. A computer program product for processing an audio signal, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving the audio signal from a sensor coupled to a touch input medium, wherein the sensor receives the audio signal via the touch input medium and the touch input medium includes a touch location input surface of a touchscreen;

receiving an indication of an event where the touch input medium has been contacted at a location on the touch input medium, wherein the event has been captured as an audio signal component of the received audio signal;

performing a joint estimation using a set of audio signal components, wherein the set includes the audio signal component of the received audio signal and performing the joint estimation includes identifying the audio signal component of the received audio signal that is to be at least in part reduced; and

reducing at least a portion of the identified audio signal component from the audio signal.