Smart Audio and Video Capture Systems for Data Processing Systems

• US 20130147923A1
• Filed: 12/12/2011
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kalker, Ton, Zhou, Jiong
• Granted Patent: US 9,246,543 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/47
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/20 Reducing echo effects or singing; Opening or closing transmitting path; Conditioning for transmission in one direction or the other
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/20 Image signal generators
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/239 using two 2D image sensors having a relative position equal to or related to the interocular distance H04N13/243 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/243 using three or more 2D image sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 13/296 Synchronisation thereof; Control thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2007/145 Handheld terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/142 Constructional details of the terminal equipment, e.g. arrangements of the camera and the display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A computation system comprising an orientation detection device configured to detect position information comprising a position and an orientation of the computation system, a multi-sensor system coupled to the orientation detection device, wherein the multi-sensor system is configured to capture environmental input data, wherein the multi-sensor system comprises at least one of an audio capturing system and a three-dimensional (3D) image capturing system, and wherein the environmental input data comprises at least one of audio and an image, and at least one signal processing component coupled to the orientation detection device and to the multi-sensor system, wherein the processor is configured to modify the captured environmental input data based on the position information.

Claims

1. A computation system comprising:

an orientation detection device configured to detect position information comprising a position and an orientation of the computation system;

a multi-sensor system coupled to the orientation detection device, wherein the multi-sensor system is configured to capture environmental input data, wherein the multi-sensor system comprises at least one of an audio capturing system and a three-dimensional (3D) image capturing system, and wherein the environmental input data comprises at least one of audio and an image; and

at least one signal processing component coupled to the orientation detection device and to the multi-sensor system, wherein the processor is configured to modify the captured environmental input data based on the position information.

2. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the audio capturing system is configured to detect a sound signal and the at least one signal processing component is configured to modify the sound signal based on the position information for the computation system.

3. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the 3D image capturing system is configured to capture an image and the at least one signal processing component is configured to modify the image based on the position information.

4. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the audio capturing system comprises:

at least two microphones configured to detect a sound signal, wherein the at least one signal processing component is coupled to the microphones and is configured to reduce noise in the detected sound signal.

5. The computation system of claim 4, wherein the two microphones are two uni-directional microphones.

6. The computation system of claim 4, wherein the two microphones correspond to at least one microphone array device.

7. The computation system of claim 4, wherein the detected sound signal is further processed by the at least one signal processing component to implement at least one of sound recognition, encoding, and transmission.

8. The computation system of claim 4, wherein the audio capturing system further comprises:

a microphone adjustment device coupled to the at least one signal processing component and configured to steer a maximum sensitivity angle of the microphones according to the position information.

9. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the orientation detection device comprises at least one of an accelerometer and an orientation/rotation detection device configured to provide orientation/rotation information.

10. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the 3D image capturing system comprises:

at least two cameras each configured to capture an image; and

a camera configuration device coupled to the cameras and configured to arrange or select the cameras to properly capture a 3D image.

11. The computation system of claim 10, wherein the cameras are cameras located proximate to different edges of the computation system.

12. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the audio capturing system and the 3D image capturing system are part of a tablet system and are configured to enable at least one of video conferencing, voice calling, a human computer interface, and a hearing aid.

13. The computation system of claim 1, wherein the position information is used to obtain at least one of substantially clean sound data substantially free from noise and substantially free from a reverberation effect and a 3D image at any one of a plurality of orientations of the tablet with respect to the user.

14. A sound recording system comprising:

a direction of arrival (DOA) estimation component coupled to one or more microphones and configured to estimate DOA for a detected sound signal using received orientation information;

a noise reduction component coupled to the DOA estimation component and configured to reduce noise in the detected sound signal using the DOA estimation; and

a de-reverberation component coupled to the noise reduction component and the DOA estimation component and configured to remove reverberation effects in the detected sound signal using the DOA estimation.

15. The sound recording system of claim 14, wherein the orientation information is provided by an orientation detection device coupled to the DOA estimation component.

16. The sound recording system of claim 14, wherein the DOA estimation component estimates DOA for the detected sound signal based on a Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) algorithm and the orientation information.

17. A three-dimensional (3D) video capturing system comprising:

a camera configuration device coupled to at least two cameras and configured to arrange at least some of the cameras to properly capture one of a 3D video and a 3D image based on detected orientation information for the 3D video capturing system; and

an orientation detection device coupled to the camera configuration device and configured to detect the orientation information.

18. The 3D video capturing system of claim 17, wherein the orientation information is provided by an orientation detection device coupled to the camera configuration device.

19. The 3D video capturing system of claim 17, wherein the selected cameras for capturing the 3D video or image comprise two cameras located proximate to opposite edges of a tablet device.

20. The video capturing system of claim 17, wherein at least one of the two cameras comprises a 3D camera.

21. A sound recording method implemented on a portable device, comprising:

detecting an orientation of the portable device;

adjusting a microphone array device based on the detected orientation;

recording a sound signal using the adjusted microphone array device; and

estimating a direction of arrival (DOA) for the sound signal based on the detected orientation.

22. The sound recording method implemented on the portable device of claim 21 further comprising:

reducing noise in the sound signal based on the DOA estimation;

canceling reverberation effect in the sound signal based on the DOA estimation; and

transmitting a resulting clean sound signal.

23. The sound recording method implemented on the portable device of claim 22 further comprising processing the clean sound before transmission for at least one of encoding, voice recognition, and sound enhancing.

24. The sound recording method implemented on the portable device of claim 21, wherein the microphone array device is adjusted by steering a maximum sensitivity angle of the microphone array device with respect to the face or mouth of a user of the portable device.

25. A three-dimensional (3D) video capturing method implemented on a portable device, comprising:

detecting an orientation of the portable device;

configuring a plurality of cameras based on the detected orientation; and

capturing a video or image using the configured cameras.

26. The 3D video capturing method of claim 25, further comprising:

processing the captured video or image using a 3D video or image processing scheme; and

transmitting the 3D video or image.

27. The 3D video capturing method of claim 25, wherein the cameras are configured by selecting a subset of the cameras to capture the video or image according to the detected orientation of the portable device to obtain a correct 3D video or image.