Suppressing ambient sounds

• US 10,616,681 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 04/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Thakkar, Ticky, Allen, Will, Sweet, Richard, Brooks, Robert C., Athreya, Madhu Sudan
• Primary Examiner(s): Krzystan, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US15/765,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20180220231A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,651 Days
• Field of Search: 381306, 381 712, 381 718, 381 57, 381387
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/16 Human faces, e.g. facial parts, sketches or expressions
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17821 characterised by the analysis of the input signals only
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/1785 Methods, e.g. algorithms; Devices G10K11/1781, G10K11/1783 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17857 Geometric disposition, e.g. placement of microphones
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17873 using a reference signal without an error signal, e.g. pure feedforward
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/17881 the reference signal being an acoustic signal, e.g. recorded with a microphone
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/111 Directivity control or beam pattern
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 2210/12 Rooms, e.g. ANC inside a room, office, concert hall or automobile cabin
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/568 audio processing specific to telephonic conferencing, e.g. spatial distribution, mixing of participants echo suppression in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/02; sound field processing per se H04S7/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/05 Noise reduction with a separate noise microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 27/00 Public address systems circuits for preventing acoustic reaction H04R3/02; circuits for distributing signals to loudspeakers H04R3/12; monitoring or testing arrangements for public address systems H04R29/007; amplifiers H03F
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

In example implementations, a system is disclosed for suppressing ambient sounds. In one example, the system includes a camera, a plurality of microphones, a plurality of speakers and a processor. The camera captures an image of a target, the plurality of microphones receives ambient sounds and a plurality of speakers outputs an audio signal to suppress the ambient sounds. The processor is in communication with the camera, the plurality of microphones and the plurality of speakers. The processor can identify a location on the target based on the image that is captured, determine a direction and a frequency of the ambient sounds, and generate the audio signal based on the direction and the frequency of the ambient sounds, the audio signal is directed towards the location on the target.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a camera to capture an image of pupils of a target;

a plurality of microphones to receive ambient sounds;

a plurality of speakers located around a perimeter of a zone of operation to output an audio signal to suppress the ambient sounds; and

a processor in communication with the video camera, the plurality of microphones and the plurality of speakers, wherein the processor automatically begins operation to identify a location on the target and generate an audio signal to suppress the ambient sounds when the target is detected to be within the zone of operation by the camera, identifies a location on the target based on a direction of the pupils that is estimated from the image of the pupils that is captured, determines a direction and a frequency of the ambient sounds, generates the audio signal based on the direction and the frequency of the ambient sounds, and the processor is to move a speaker of the plurality of speakers in three different axes to control a position of the speaker of the plurality of speakers towards the direction of the ambient sounds and to emit the audio signal towards the location on the target in the direction of the ambient sounds.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the target comprises a user and the location comprises each ear of the user, wherein the processor continuously tracks the location of the each ear of the user as the user moves.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each one of the plurality of speakers comprises a directional speaker.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of microphones is arranged around the perimeter of the zone of operation.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera comprises a pair of infrared cameras.

5. A method comprising:

detecting, by a processor, a target within a zone of operation by a pair of infrared cameras to automatically begin an operation to identify a location on the target and generate an audio signal to suppress ambient sounds;

capturing, by a processor, an image of pupils of the target;

identifying, by a processor, the location on the target based on a direction of the pupils that is estimated from the image of the pupils that is captured;

determining, by the processor, a direction, an amplitude, and a frequency of the ambient sounds within the zone of operation;

calculating, by the processor, a counter soundwave based on the direction, the amplitude, and the frequency to suppress the ambient sounds;

moving, by the processor, a position of a speaker of a plurality of speakers located around a perimeter of the zone of operation in three different axes to control a position of the speaker towards the direction of the ambient sounds and to be directed towards the location on the target; and

transmitting, by the processor, the counter soundwave to the speaker to be emitted towards the location on the target in the direction of the ambient sounds.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the location on the target comprises each ear on a user, wherein the identifying the location of the each ear of the user comprises:

detecting, by the processor, a face of the user;

detecting, by the processor, landmark points on the face of the user;

calculating, by the processor, a rotation matrix that represents a transformation between the landmark points that are detected and standard landmark points; and

estimating, by the processor, a roll, a pitch and a yaw angle from the rotation matrix to identify the location of the each ear of the user.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the counter soundwave is calculated to suppress the ambient sounds at the location on the target.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying, by the processor, a location on an additional target;

calculating, by the processor, a second counter soundwave to suppress the ambient sounds at the location on the additional target; and

transmitting, by the processor, the second counter soundwave to at least one second speaker to be emitted towards the location on the additional target.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the image of the pupils of the target is captured by a pair of infrared cameras.