Electronic device and method for converting call type therof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10085180-B2
Application number	US-201715408895-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 18, 2017
Priority date	Feb 16, 2016
Publication date	Sep 25, 2018
Grant date	Sep 25, 2018

Abstract

An electronic device and a method for converting a call type of the electronic device are provided. Accordingly, it is possible to provide optimal sound quality and impression of space to a user while providing an optimal stereo call service by upmixing a mono signal to a stereo signal even if stereo call is converted into mono call due to the environment change like a handover while the electronic device performs stereo call with an external electronic device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device, comprising:
a communication circuit configured to communicate an audio signal transmitted from an external electronic device by a network supporting a first type and a second type, the first type being a stereo call type and the second type being a mono call type; and
at least one processor configured to:
receive the audio signal through the network in a stereo type using the communication circuit,
confirm condition information associated with the network,
generate other audio signals corresponding to the first type using an audio signal converted from the first type into the second type from the network based on the condition information corresponding to a set condition, the set condition corresponding to a handover being generated while the communication circuit communicates the audio signals corresponding to the first type, and
output the other audio signals through a speaker functionally connected to the electronic device.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a memory,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to store parameters associated with the first type in the memory based on at least an operation of receiving the audio signal by the first type.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the other audio signals based on at least one parameter.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to generate the other audio signals using parameters associated with the first type that are received from the network and the audio signal changed to the second type, when the condition information belongs to the set condition.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
confirm whether another network supports the first type based on the condition information when a connection between the electronic device and the external electronic device is changed from one network to the other network, and
generate the other audio signals when the network does not support the first type.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the audio signal is transmitted while the electronic device communicates with an external electronic device.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the first type is a stereo type and the second type is a mono type.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the condition information associated with the network includes at least one of a change from a first network supporting a stereo type to a second network that does not support the stereo type, a change in a communication state of the network of received sensitivity and throughput, or a change in network of a handover.

9. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the other audio signals include a virtual stereo audio signal.

10. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the parameters associated with the first type are at least one of a parameter generated while the electronic device performs stereo call with the external electronic device, a parameter generated at a handover timing of the network, a parameter corresponding to a stereo signal from the network at the time of a handover, a parameter set in a server, or a parameter stored in a memory.

11. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the parameters associated with the first type are parameters associated with the stereo type and a plurality of parameters for supporting a plurality of different modes that are generated before the parameters are generated.

12. A method for converting a call type of an electronic device, the method comprising:
receiving a stereo signal from an external electronic device through a wireless communicator;
extracting parameters from the stereo signal received by at least one processor of the electronic device;
based on a handover being detected while the electronic device communicates with the external electronic device through the stereo signal, converting the received stereo signal into a mono signal;
upmixing, by the at least one processor of the electronic device, the extracted parameters to convert the converted mono signal into the stereo signal; and
outputting the stereo signal.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising using a characteristic relationship between two received channel signals to extract parameters required for stereo upmixing, comprising:
an interchannel phase difference (IPD),
an interchannel level difference (ILD),
an interchannel coherence (IC), and
an overall phase difference (OPD).

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising storing, by the at least one processor, the parameters extracted from the received stereo signal in a memory.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising using stereo parameters stored in a memory to convert the mono signal into the stereo signal when a handover from a network that supports a stereo call to a network that does not support the stereo call is generated.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
confirming whether the electronic device continues to be in a mono call network region after a predetermined time elapses at the time of the generation of the handover; and
continuously maintaining a mono call to improve a computation of the electronic device if the electronic device continues to be in the mono call network region.

17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, when the electronic device receives the mono signal from the external electronic device through the wireless communicator:
receiving a request signal to convert the mono signal into the stereo signal; and
reading stereo parameters stored in a memory to convert the mono signal into the stereo signal and output the stereo signal, according to the request signal.

18. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, when the electronic device receives an audio signal and a parameter field from the external electronic device through the wireless communicator:
using a parameter extractor to extract the parameter field; and
using the extracted parameter field to convert the mono signal into a virtual stereo signal and output the virtual stereo signal if the handover is generated while the electronic device communicates with the external electronic device.

19. The method of claim 12 , further comprising, when the electronic device receives the mono signal from the external electronic device through the wireless communicator:
reading stereo parameters stored in a memory; and
upmixing stereo parameters read from the memory to convert the mono signal into the stereo signal and output the stereo signal.

20. A non-volatile recording medium having stored thereon a program to configure at least on processor to perform a method of an electronic device comprising, when the electronic device uses a communication circuit to receive an audio signal through a network by a stereo type:
confirming condition information associated with the network,
generating other audio signals corresponding to the stereo type using an audio signal converted from the stereo type into a mono type from the network when the condition information belongs to a set condition, the set condition corresponding to a handover being generated while the communication circuit communicates the audio signals corresponding to the first type, and
outputting the other audio signals through a speaker functionally connected to the electronic device.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Jinwoo
• Yang Jaemo
• Kim Gangyoul
• Son Beakkwon
• Choi Chulmin
• Hwang Hochul

Classifications

• G10L19/008

  Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing · CPC title

• H04W36/0016 Primary

  Hand-off preparation specially adapted for end-to-end data sessions · CPC title