Decisions on ambient noise suppression in a mobile communications handset device

• US 9,749,737 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2013
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Nicholson, Guy C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jamal, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US14/083,273
• Publication Number:
  US 20140072133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,380 Days
• Field of Search: 381 947, 381 92, 381 711
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/605 involving control of the receiver volume to provide a dual operational mode at close or far distance from the user
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/002 Damping circuit arrangements for transducers, e.g. motional feedback circuits

Abstract

A method in a communications device includes the following operations. During a call, a process automatically detects that the device has moved from an at-the-ear position to an away-from-the-ear position. Based on the detection, a noise suppressor that operates upon an uplink signal for the call is signaled to change its noise suppression performance. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for audio signal processing in a near end user'"'"'s communications device, comprising:

producing a plurality of audio signals that represent sound pick up at the user'"'"'s device;

performing a beam forming process using the audio signals to produce an uplink audio signal; and

detecting that the near-end user'"'"'s device has moved from an at-the-ear position to an away-from-the-ear position, and in response changing the beam forming process from omnidirectional microphone sensing to far-field microphone beam forming while a speakerphone function is turned off.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that the near-end user has moved the device from an at-the-ear position to an away-from-the-ear position and in response disabling an ambient noise suppression process.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting that the near-end user'"'"'s device has moved from an at-the-ear position to an away-from-the-ear position comprises reading a proximity sensor in the device.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that the near-end user has moved the device from an away-from-the-ear position to an at-the-ear position and in response enabling an ambient noise suppression process.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein changing the beam forming process occurs only if headset and speakerphone functions of the device are turned off.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

detecting that the near-end user has moved the device from an away-from-the-ear position to an at-the-ear position and in response changing the beam forming process from far-field microphone beam forming to omnidirectional microphone sensing.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

performing an ambient noise suppression process upon the uplink audio signal that is produced by the beamforming process; and

detecting that the near-end user has moved the device from an at-the-ear position to an away-from-the-ear position and in response reducing performance of the ambient noise suppression process.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising

detecting that the near-end user has moved the device back to the at-the-ear position and in response increasing performance of the ambient noise suppression process.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein detecting that the near-end user'"'"'s device has moved from an at-the-ear position to an away-from-the-ear position comprises reading an inertial sensor in the device and determining whether a detected movement pattern of the device indicates that the device has moved from the at-the-ear position to the away from the ear position.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein changing the beam forming process from omnidirectional microphone sensing to far-field microphone beam forming is in response to determining that a headset function and a speakerphone function are both turned off.

7. A user communications device, comprising:

a radio;

a plurality of microphones to produce a plurality of audio signals that represent sound pick up at the device;

an uplink audio signal processor to deliver an uplink audio signal to the radio, the processor having a microphone beam former whose input is coupled to receive the plurality of audio signals and whose output is to provide the uplink audio signal; and

decision logic to automatically detect that a user has moved the device between an at-the-ear position and an away-from-the-ear position, and to signal the beam former to change between omnidirectional microphone sensing and far-field microphone beam forming while a speakerphone function of the user communications device is turned off.

8. The device of claim 7 further comprising:

a proximity sensor, the decision logic being coupled to evaluate an output of the proximity sensor for detecting the at-the-ear or away-from-the-ear position of the device.

9. The device of claim 7 further comprising an inertial sensor, wherein the decision logic is configured to evaluate output of the inertial sensor by determining whether a detected movement pattern of the device indicates that the user has moved the device away from the user'"'"'s ear.

10. The device of claim 7 further comprising an ambient noise suppressor configured to reduce an amount of background or ambient sound that is in the uplink audio signal.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the decision logic is further configured to signal the ambient noise suppressor to reduce its noise suppression performance in response to detecting that the user has moved the device from the at-the-ear position to the away-from-the-ear position.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the uplink audio signal comprises speech and an increased amount of background or ambient sound when the noise suppression performance is reduced.

13. The device of claim 10, wherein the decision logic is further configured to

automatically detect that the user has moved the device back to the at-the-ear position, and;

signal the ambient noise suppressor to raise its noise suppression performance in response to detecting that the user has moved the device back to the at-the-ear position.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the uplink audio signal comprises speech and a decreased amount of background or ambient sound when the noise suppression performance is raised.

15. The device of claim 7, wherein the decision logic is to signal the beam former to change between omnidirectional microphone sensing and far-field microphone beam forming only if headset and speakerphone functions of the device are turned off.

16. The device of claim 7 further comprising a downlink audio signal processor to receive a downlink audio signal from the radio, wherein the radio is configured to receive the downlink audio signal and transmit the uplink audio signal during a call.