In-vehicle media vocal suppression

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10540985-B2
Application number	US-201815884708-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2018
Priority date	Jan 31, 2018
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

An audio processor generates a vocal-free audio signal from an audio signal received from an audio source, directs a cross-fader to fade from the audio signal to the vocal-free audio signal responsive to occurrence of a trigger condition indicated by a status signal, and directs the cross-fader to fade from the vocal-free audio signal to the audio signal responsive to the trigger condition no longer being present.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
an audio processor programmed to
generate a vocal-free audio signal from an audio signal received from an audio source by removing vocal energy from the audio signal,
direct a cross-fader to fade from the audio signal to the vocal-free audio signal responsive to occurrence of a trigger condition indicated by a status signal, the trigger condition indicating that a prompt including vocal content is to be provided,
provide the prompt summed to the vocal-free audio signal for playback, and
direct the cross-fader to fade from the vocal-free audio signal to the audio signal responsive to the trigger condition no longer being present.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the audio processor is further programmed to provide platform audio summed to the vocal-free audio signal responsive to the platform audio being identified as available.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the audio processor is further programmed to lower a volume of the vocal-free audio signal being summed to the platform audio responsive to the platform audio being identified as available.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the audio processor is further programmed to identify the platform audio as being available responsive to the status signal being set to indicate a navigation application is to provide or is providing the prompt via the platform audio.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the audio processor is further programmed to identify the platform audio as being available responsive to identifying that the platform audio includes an audio signal having at least a minimum predefined threshold volume.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the audio processor is further programmed to generate the vocal-free audio signal by using one or more of center content cancellation, equalization, or principal component analysis.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the audio processor is further programmed to identify the trigger condition per a status signal indicative of a presence of in-vehicle conversation, and identify the trigger condition no longer being present per the status signal being indicative of a lack of presence of in-vehicle conversation.

8. A method comprising:
generating a vocal-free audio signal from an audio signal received from an audio source by removing vocal energy from the audio signal;
directing a cross-fader to fade from the received audio signal to the vocal-free audio signal responsive to occurrence of a trigger condition indicating a prompt is to be provided;
providing the prompt summed to the vocal-free audio signal for playback; and
directing the cross-fader to fade from the vocal-free audio signal to the audio signal responsive to the prompt being provided.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
receiving a signal from a computing platform indicating that the prompt is to be provided to cause the occurrence of the trigger condition; and
receiving the prompt to be provided as audio output from the computing platform.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising lowering a volume of the vocal-free audio signal being summed to the prompt responsive to receiving the prompt.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the vocal-free audio signal by using center content cancellation of the received audio signal.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the vocal-free audio signal by using equalization of the received audio signal.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising generating the vocal-free audio signal by using principal component analysis of the received audio signal.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to:
generate a vocal-free audio signal from an audio signal received from an audio source by removing vocal energy from the audio signal;
direct a cross-fader to fade from the audio signal to the vocal-free audio signal responsive to occurrence of a trigger condition indicated by a status signal, the trigger condition indicating that a prompt including vocal content is to be provided;
provide the prompt summed to the vocal-free audio signal for playback; and
direct the cross-fader to fade from the vocal-free audio signal to the audio signal responsive to trigger condition no longer being present.

15. The medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to provide platform audio summed to the vocal-free audio signal responsive to the platform audio being identified as available.

16. The medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to lower a volume of the vocal-free audio signal being summed to the platform audio responsive to the platform audio being identified as available.

17. The medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to identify the platform audio as being available responsive to receipt of a platform prompt signal set when a computing platform of a vehicle is to provide or is providing a prompt via the platform audio.

18. The medium of claim 15 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to identify the platform audio as being available responsive to identifying that the platform audio includes an audio signal having at least a minimum predefined threshold volume.

19. The medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to generate the vocal-free audio signal by using one or more of center content cancellation, equalization, or principal component analysis.

20. The medium of claim 14 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by an audio processor, cause the audio processor to identify the trigger condition per a status signal indicative of a presence of in-vehicle conversation, and identify the trigger condition no longer being present per the status signal being indicative of a lack of presence of in-vehicle conversation.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Norton Alan
• Buczkowski James

Classifications

• G06F3/165

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• G10L21/0272 Primary

  Voice signal separating · CPC title

• G10L21/034

  Automatic adjustment · CPC title