DETERMINING THE DISTANCE AND/OR ACOUSTIC QUALITY BETWEEN A MOBILE DEVICE AND A BASE UNIT

• US 20140024317A1
• Filed: 03/27/2012
• Published: 01/23/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Kechichian, Patrick
• Granted Patent: US 9,338,278 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/67.13
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/69 for evaluating synthetic or decoded voice signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6775 by providing access to preprogrammed keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72424 with manual activation of emergency-service functions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72502 with one base station connected to a single line
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/73 Battery saving arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/082 using echo cancellers echo cancellers per se H04B3/23

Abstract

There is provided a method of determining the distance and/or acoustic quality between a mobile device and a base unit, the method comprising receiving an acoustic signal by a microphone in one of said mobile device and base unit; determining a correlation of a second signal with the received acoustic signal; and determining the acoustic quality and/or the distance between the mobile device and the base unit based on one or more peaks in the result of the step of determining the correlation.

Claims

1. A method of determining the distance and/or acoustic quality between a mobile device having a microphone and a speaker and a base unit comprising a microphone and a speaker, wherein the mobile device is configured to wirelessly communicate with the base unit and the base unit is configured to connect to a remote monitoring station via a communication network, the method comprising:

receiving an acoustic signal by a microphone in one of said mobile device and base unit;

determining a correlation of a second signal with the received acoustic signal, the second signal corresponding to (a) an acoustic signal received by the microphone in the other one of said mobile device and base unit, or (b) a control signal used to control the speaker in the other one of said mobile device and base unit to output the acoustic signal; and

determining the acoustic quality and/or the distance between the mobile device and the base unit based on one or more peaks in the result of the step of determining the correlation.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the acoustic signal received by the microphone in said one of said mobile device and base unit is received from the speaker in the other one of said mobile device and base unit, wherein the speaker outputs the acoustic signal in response to a control signal.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the second signal corresponds to the signal used to control the speaker in said other one of said mobile device and base unit to output the acoustic signal.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2, the method further comprising the step of:

receiving the acoustic signal in the microphone in said other one of said mobile device and base unit.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the second signal corresponds to the acoustic signal received by the microphone in said other one of said mobile device and base unit.

6. A method as claimed in claim 2, the method further comprising the step of:

controlling the speaker in said one of said mobile device and base unit to also output the acoustic signal;

wherein the step of receiving an acoustic signal by the microphone in one of said mobile device and base unit comprises receiving the acoustic signal from the speaker in said mobile device and said base unit.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the step of determining the acoustic quality and/or the distance between the mobile device and the base unit comprises:

detecting a first peak in the result of the step of determining corresponding to the acoustic signal from the speaker in said one of said mobile device and base unit and a second peak corresponding to the acoustic signal from the speaker in said other one of said mobile device and base unit and determining the distance between the mobile device and the base unit from the distance between the first and second peaks in the result of the step of determining; and

/or

determining the acoustic quality between the mobile device and the base unit from (i) the ratio of the magnitudes of the detected peaks;

(ii) the dispersion around the second peak; and

/or (iii) the reverberation time around the second peak.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6, wherein the second signal corresponds to the signal used to control the speaker in said other one of said mobile device and base unit to output the acoustic signal.

9. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the control signal used to control the speaker in said other one of said mobile device and base unit comprises a speech signal received from a remote monitoring station or a signal derived from an audio file stored locally in said mobile device and/or said base unit.

10. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of receiving an acoustic signal comprises receiving an acoustic signal by a microphone in the base unit, the method further comprising the step of:

receiving an acoustic signal by the microphone in the mobile device, wherein the acoustic signal received by the microphone in the mobile device is used as the second signal in the step of determining a correlation of a second signal with the received acoustic signal.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, wherein the acoustic signal received by the microphones in the mobile device and the base unit is the speech of a user of the mobile device.

12. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of determining comprises determining the distance between the mobile device and the base unit from the timing of the peak detected in the result of the step of determining.

13. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the step of determining comprises determining the acoustic quality between the mobile device and the base unit from (i) the dispersion around a detected peak;

and/or (ii) the reverberation time around a detected peak.

14. A method of reducing the power consumption of a mobile device, the method comprising:

determining the distance and/or acoustic quality between the mobile device and a base unit according to the method according to claim 1; and

deactivating a speaker of the mobile device if it is determined that the mobile device is closer than a threshold distance to the base unit or the acoustic quality is greater than a threshold value.

15. A system, comprising:

a mobile device having a microphone and a speaker;

a base unit having a microphone and a speaker; and

a processor;

wherein one of the mobile device and base unit is arranged to receive, by its microphone, an acoustic signal;

and wherein the processor is configured to

determine a correlation of a second signal with the received acoustic signal, the second signal corresponding to (a) an acoustic signal received by the microphone in the other one of said mobile device and base unit, or (b) a control signal used to control the speaker in the other one of said mobile device and base unit to output the acoustic signal; and

determine the acoustic quality and/or the distance between the mobile device and the base unit based on one or more peaks in the result of the step of determining.