Location based storage and upload of acoustic environment related information

• US 9,516,413 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2014
• Issued: 12/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Iyengar, Vasu, Lindahl, Aram M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Agustin, Peter Vincent
• Application Number:
  US14/503,175
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02082 the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0224 Processing in the time domain
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/54 for retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2227/007 Electronic adaptation of audio signals to reverberation of the listening space for PA
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/12 for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/301 Automatic calibration of stereophonic sound system, e.g. with test microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/305 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic audio signals to reverberation of the listening space H04S7/301 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for storing and reusing previously generated/calculated acoustic environment data. By reusing acoustic environment data, the systems and methods described herein may avoid the increased overhead in generating/calculating acoustic environment data for a location when this data has already been generated and is likely accurate. In particular, the time and complexity involved in determining reverberation/echo levels, noise levels, and noise types may be avoided when this information is available in storage. This previously stored acoustic environment data may not be limited to data generated/calculated by the same audio device. Instead, in some embodiments an audio device may access a centralized repository to leverage acoustic environment data generated/calculated by other audio devices.

Claims

1. A method for processing an audio signal, comprising:

determining a current location of an audio device;

querying a set of acoustic environment data using the determined current location of the audio device, wherein each piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data describes acoustic characteristics of a location and is associated with location data describing a location that the piece of acoustic environment data represents;

in response to locating a match between the current location of the audio device and location data associated with a queried piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data, determining whether an age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is greater than a threshold value; and

when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is determined to be greater than the threshold value, generating a new piece of acoustic environment data and processing the audio signal using the generated new piece of acoustic environment data, and when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is determined to be less than the threshold value, retrieving the queried piece of acoustic environment and processing the audio signal using the retrieved piece of acoustic environmental data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the piece of acoustic environment data comprises one or more of a reverberation level of the location, a noise level at the location, and a noise type at the location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, in response to failing to locate a match between the current location of the audio device and location data associated with a piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data based on the query, a further new piece of acoustic environment data for the current location of the audio device; and

storing the generated further new piece of acoustic environment data along with the current location of the audio device.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

processing the audio signal using the generated further new piece of acoustic environment data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein generating the further new piece of acoustic environment data for the current location of the audio device comprises:

generating a set of raw microphone signals by a set of microphones integrated within the audio device;

transmitting the set of raw microphone signals along with the determined current location of the audio device to a device external to the audio device; and

generating, by the external device, the further new piece of acoustic environment data for the current location of the audio device based on the raw microphone signals received from the audio device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein one or more pieces of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data were previously generated by devices separate and distinct from the audio device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of acoustic environment data is stored on a device external to the audio device.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein processing the audio signal comprises adapting an echo cancellation system using the reverberation level at the location of the audio device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein adapting the echo cancellation system comprises activating a non-linear echo suppression unit in response to determining that a span of a linear echo canceller is smaller than a length of an impulse response of the location of the audio device described by the reverberation level.

10. An audio device for processing an audio signal, comprising:

a sensor to determine a current location of the audio device;

an acoustic environment data manager to

     1) query a set of acoustic environment data using the determined current location of the audio device, wherein each piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data describes acoustic characteristics of a location and is associated with location data describing a location that the piece of acoustic environment data represents,

     2) in response to locating a match between the current location of the audio device and location data associated with a queried piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data, determine whether an age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is greater than a threshold value, and

     3) when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is determined to be less than the threshold value, retrieve the queried piece of acoustic environment data;

an acoustic environment data generator to generate a new piece of acoustic environment data when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is determined to be greater than the threshold value; and

a set of circuitry to process the audio signal using a) the retrieved piece of acoustic environment data when the queried piece of acoustic environment data is less than the threshold value or b) the generated new piece of acoustic environment data when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is greater than the threshold value.

11. The audio device of claim 10, wherein the piece of acoustic environment data includes one or more of a reverberation level of the location, a noise level at the location, and a noise type at the location.

12. The audio device of claim 11, wherein the set of circuitry includes:

circuitry for noise reduction, wherein the noise type and the noise level at the location are used to calibrate the circuitry for noise reduction.

13. The audio device of claim 11, wherein the set of circuitry includes:

circuitry for automatic speech recognition, wherein the noise type, the noise level, and the reverberation level of the location are used to calibrate the circuitry for automatic speech recognition.

14. The audio device of claim 10, further comprising:

a set of microphones to detect sound at the current location of the audio device; and

wherein the acoustic environment data generator is to, in response to failing to locate a match between the current location of the audio device and location data associated with a piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data based on the query, generate a further new piece of acoustic environment data for the current location of the audio device using the set of microphones,

wherein the acoustic environment data manager is to store the generated further new piece of acoustic environment data along with the current location of the audio device.

15. The audio device of claim 14, wherein the set of circuitry is to process the audio signal using the generated further new piece of acoustic environment data.

16. The audio device of claim 10, wherein one or more pieces of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data were previously generated by devices separate and distinct from the audio device.

17. The audio device of claim 10, wherein the set of acoustic environment data is stored on a device external to the audio device.

18. The audio device of claim 11, wherein the set of circuitry includes:

a linear echo canceller;

a non-linear echo suppressor; and

an echo controller, wherein the echo controller activates the non-linear echo suppressor in response to determining that a span of the linear echo canceller is smaller than a length of an impulse response of the location of the audio device described by the reverberation level.

19. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that stores instructions which, when executed by a processor in a computing device,

determine a current location of an audio device;

query a set of acoustic environment data using the determined current location of the audio device, wherein each piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data describes acoustic characteristics of a location and is associated with location data describing a location that the piece of acoustic environment data represents;

in response to locating a match between the current location of the audio device and location data associated with a queried piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data, determine whether an age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is greater than a threshold value; and

when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is greater than the threshold value, generate a new piece of acoustic environment data and process an audio signal using the generated new piece of acoustic environment data, and when the age of the queried piece of acoustic environment data is less than the threshold value, retrieve the queried piece of acoustic environment data and process the audio signal using the retrieved piece of acoustic environment data.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the piece of acoustic environment data includes one or more of a reverberation level of the location, a noise level at the location, and a noise type at the location.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes further instructions that when executed by the processor:

generate, in response to failing to locate a match between the current location of the audio device and location data associated with a piece of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data based on the query, a further new piece of acoustic environment data for the current location of the audio device; and

store the generated further new piece of acoustic environment data along with the current location of the audio device.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes further instructions that when executed by the processor:

process the audio signal using the generated further new piece of acoustic environment data.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein one or more pieces of acoustic environment data in the set of acoustic environment data were previously generated by devices separate and distinct from the audio device.