METHOD FOR CANCELLING NOISE AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE THEREOF

• US 20140369516A1
• Filed: 05/30/2014
• Published: 12/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: RHEE, Min-Su
• Granted Patent: US 9,412,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/71.7
• CPC Class Codes: G10K 11/002 Devices for damping, suppressing, obstructing or conducting sound in acoustic devices G10K1/06 - G10K1/10 take precedence; for electro-mechanical transducers for communication H04R3/002
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02165 Two microphones, one receiving mainly the noise signal and the other one mainly the speech signal
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0216 characterised by the method used for estimating noise

Abstract

An apparatus and method for cancelling a noise of an audio signal in an electronic device is provided. The method includes recording audio signals using a plurality of microphones and changing an audio signal which is introduced into a first microphone during a noise generation interval to an audio signal which is introduced into a second microphone, wherein the first microphone includes one or more microphones which are influenced by the noise among the plurality of microphones.

Claims

1. A method in an electronic device, the method comprising:

recording audio signals using a plurality of microphones; and

changing a first section of an audio signal which is introduced into a first microphone to a second section of an audio signal which is introduced into a second microphone,

wherein the first section of the audio signal comprises a noise above a predetermined level.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to changing the first section to the second section, identifying a noise generation section.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying the noise generation section comprises determining a driving interval of one or more driving bodies as the noise generation section.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more driving bodies includes a zoom lens.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether a noise is generated while the audio signals are recorded, before identifying the noise generation section; and

inactivating the first microphone when the noise is generated,

wherein the first microphone holds an inactivation state until the generation of the noise is ended.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining whether to cancel a noise which is introduced into the first microphone using volume levels of audio signals which are introduced into one or more of the plurality of microphones during the noise generation section,

wherein the audio signal which is introduced into the first microphone is changed to the audio signal which is introduced into the second microphone when it is determined that the noise which is introduced into the first microphone is cancelled.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether to cancel the noise comprises determining whether to cancel the noise which is introduced into the first microphone using an average volume level of audio signals which are introduced into the first microphone during the noise generation section.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether to cancel the noise comprises determining whether to cancel the noise which is introduced into the first microphone using a length of an interval where a volume level of an audio signal which is introduced into the first microphone during the noise generation section is greater than a reference level.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein changing the audio signal comprises copying the audio signal which is introduced into the second microphone into the audio signal of the first microphone.

10. An electronic device comprising:

a plurality of microphones; and

a processor operatively coupled to the plurality of microphones, the processor configured to perform operations comprising;

recording audio signals using the plurality of microphones; and

changing a first section of an audio signal which is introduced into a first microphone among the plurality of microphones to a second section of an audio signal which is introduced into a second microphone among the plurality of microphones,

wherein the first section of the audio signal comprises a noise above a predetermined level.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to identify a noise generation interval when recording the audio signals using the microphones.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, further comprising one or more driving bodies,

wherein the processor is configured to determine a driving interval of the one or more driving bodies as the noise generation interval.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the one or more driving bodies includes a zoom lens.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the first microphone includes one or more microphones which are adjacent to the zoom lens and are influenced by a noise generated by a zoom operation of the zoom lens.

15. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to inactivate the first microphone during the noise generation interval.

16. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to cancel a noise which is introduced into the first microphone using volume levels of audio signals which are introduced into one or more microphones during the noise generation interval.

17. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to cancel the noise which is introduced into the first microphone using an average volume level of audio signals which are introduced into the first microphone during the noise generation interval.

18. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to cancel the noise which is introduced into the first microphone using a length of a section where a volume level of an audio signal which is introduced into the first microphone during the noise generation interval is greater than a reference level.

19. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to copy the audio signal which is introduced into the second microphone during the noise generation interval into the audio signal of the first microphone.

20. The electronic device of claim 10, wherein the first microphone and the second microphone are located in both side surfaces or both sides of a front surface of the electronic device.