Enablement of a private phone conversation

• US 9,564,983 B1
• Filed: 10/16/2015
• Issued: 02/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Yini, Cao, Feng, Sun, Xing Zhi, Tang, Jianbin
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Fayyaz
• Application Number:
  US14/884,817
• Time in Patent Office: 480 Days
• Field of Search: 455/1, 455/550.1, 455/67.11, 455/67.13, 455/63.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04K 3/45 characterized by including monitoring of the target or target signal, e.g. in reactive jammers or follower jammers for example by means of an alternation of jamming phases and monitoring phases, called "look-through mode"
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A method, system, and computer program product for enablement of a phone conversation. The method includes receiving a combined signal including an interference signal and a first voice signal from a first user having a communication with a second user. The interference signal can be used to prevent the first voice signal from being overheard by people near the first user. The first voice signal can be extracted from the combined signal based at least in part on the interference signal and transmitting the extracted first voice signal to the second user. The system and computer program product are also provided.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a combined signal comprising an interference signal and a first voice signal from a first user having a communication with a second user, wherein the interference signal is used to prevent the first voice signal from being overheard by people near the first user;

extracting the first voice signal from the combined signal based at least in part on the interference signal; and

transmitting the extracted first voice signal to the second user.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interference signal comprises an environment noise of the first user.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising:

in response to quality of the first voice signal relative to the environment noise being higher than a predetermined threshold, generating an additional signal based at least in part on the first voice signal and the environment noise; and

sending out the additional signal;

wherein the interference signal further comprises the additional signal.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the additional signal is associated with at least one of:

voice characteristics of the first user in time domain, voice characteristics of the first user in frequency domain, and words spoken by the first user.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the extracted first voice signal is provided to the first user along with a second voice signal from the second user.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the interference signal is adjusted adaptively according to changes of the first voice signal and the environment noise during the communication between the first user and the second user.

7. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

a memory coupled to at least one of the processors; and

a set of computer program instructions stored in the memory and executed by at least one of the processors in order to perform actions of;

receiving a combined signal comprising an interference signal and a first voice signal from a first user having a communication with a second user, wherein the interference signal is used to prevent the first voice signal from being overheard by people near the first user;

extracting the first voice signal from the combined signal based at least in part on the interference signal; and

transmitting the extracted first voice signal to the second user.

8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the interference signal comprises an environment noise of the first user.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the set of computer program instructions are executed by at least one of the processors in order to further perform an action of:

in response to quality of the first voice signal relative to the environment noise being higher than a predetermined threshold, generating an additional signal based at least in part on the first voice signal and the environment noise; and

sending out the additional signal;

wherein the interference signal further comprises the additional signal.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein the additional signal is associated with at least one of:

voice characteristics of the first user in time domain, voice characteristics of the first user in frequency domain, and words spoken by the first user.

11. The system according to claim 7, wherein the extracted first voice signal is provided to the first user along with a second voice signal from the second user.

12. The system according to claim 7, wherein the interference signal is adjusted adaptively according to changes of the first voice signal and the environment noise during the communication between the first user and the second user.

13. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith which, when executed, cause a processor to cause a user device to:

receive a combined signal comprising an interference signal and a first voice signal from a first user having a communication with a second user, wherein the interference signal is used to prevent the first voice signal from being overheard by people near the first user;

extract the first voice signal from the combined signal based at least in part on the interference signal; and

transmit the extracted first voice signal to the second user.

14. The non-transitory computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the interference signal comprises an environment noise of the first user.

15. The non-transitory computer program product according to claim 14, wherein the program instructions are executable by the processor to cause the user device further to:

in response to quality of the first voice signal relative to the environment noise being higher than a predetermined threshold, generate an additional signal based at least in part on the first voice signal and the environment noise; and

send out the additional signal, wherein the interference signal further comprises the additional signal.

16. The non-transitory computer program product according to claim 15, wherein the additional signal is associated with at least one of:

voice characteristics of the first user in time domain, voice characteristics of the first user in frequency domain, and words spoken by the first user.

17. The non-transitory computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the extracted first voice signal is provided to the first user along with a second voice signal from the second user.

18. The non-transitory computer program product according to claim 13, wherein the interference signal is adjusted adaptively according to changes of the first voice signal and the environment noise during the communication between the first user and the second user.