Microphone apparatus and method with catch-up buffer
First Claim
1. A method in a microphone apparatus, the method comprising:
- clocking the microphone apparatus using a local oscillator of the microphone;
generating a digital data stream from an electrical signal representative of acoustic energy;
determining whether voice activity is present in the electrical signal while buffering data representative of the electrical signal in a buffer of the microphone apparatus, the buffered data having a delay time with respect to real-time data representative of the electrical signal;
providing a multiplexed data stream at an interface of the microphone apparatus after determining the presence of voice activity, the multiplexed data stream including a buffered data stream and a real-time data stream, the buffered data stream and the real-time data stream based on the electrical signal, the buffered data stream including non-real-time buffered data and real-time buffered data, an end portion of the buffered data stream temporally overlapping a beginning portion of the real-time data stream; and
providing the real-time data stream at the interface after discontinuing providing the buffered data stream at the interface.
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Accused Products
Abstract
At a microphone, voice activity is detected in a data stream while simultaneously buffering audio data from the data stream to create buffered data. A signal is sent to a host indicating the positive detection of voice activity in the data stream. When an external clock signal is received from the host, the internal operation of the microphone is synchronized with the external clock signal. Buffered data stream is selectively sent through a first path, the first path including a buffer having a buffer delay time representing the time the first data stream takes to move through the buffer. The data stream is continuously sent through a second path as a real-time data stream, the second path not including the buffer, the real-time data stream beginning with the extended buffer data at a given instant in time. The buffered data stream and the real-time data stream are multiplexed onto a single data line and transmitting the multiplexed data stream to the host.
159 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method in a microphone apparatus, the method comprising:
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clocking the microphone apparatus using a local oscillator of the microphone; generating a digital data stream from an electrical signal representative of acoustic energy; determining whether voice activity is present in the electrical signal while buffering data representative of the electrical signal in a buffer of the microphone apparatus, the buffered data having a delay time with respect to real-time data representative of the electrical signal; providing a multiplexed data stream at an interface of the microphone apparatus after determining the presence of voice activity, the multiplexed data stream including a buffered data stream and a real-time data stream, the buffered data stream and the real-time data stream based on the electrical signal, the buffered data stream including non-real-time buffered data and real-time buffered data, an end portion of the buffered data stream temporally overlapping a beginning portion of the real-time data stream; and providing the real-time data stream at the interface after discontinuing providing the buffered data stream at the interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A microphone apparatus comprising:
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a converter having an analog input and a digital output, wherein a digital data stream on the output of the converter is produced from an electrical signal representative of acoustic energy on the analog input of the converter; a buffer coupled to the digital output of the converter, wherein the buffer is configured to buffer data representative of the electrical signal, the buffered data having a delay time with respect to real-time data representative of the electrical signal; a voice activity detector (VAD) coupled to the digital output of the converter, wherein the VAD is configured to detect whether voice activity is present in the electrical signal while data is buffered in the buffer; and a multiplexer coupled to the buffer and to the converter, the multiplexer coupled to an interface of the microphone apparatus, wherein a multiplexed data stream is provided, by the microphone apparatus, at the interface after voice activity is detected, the multiplexed data stream including a buffered data stream and a real-time data stream, the buffered data stream and the real-time data stream based on the electrical signal, the buffered data stream including non-real-time buffered data and real-time buffered data, a portion of the real-time buffered data of the buffered data stream temporally overlapping a portion of the real-time data stream, and wherein the real-time data stream is provided, by the microphone apparatus, at the interface after the buffered data stream is no longer provided at the interface. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification