Method for providing sound to persons during a talk and system for performing the method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11032654-B2
Application number	US-201816486807-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 5, 2018
Priority date	Feb 23, 2017
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

A method for the broadcasting of sound to persons ( 10, 20, 30 ) with mobile hearing systems ( 11, 21, 31 ) at a meeting with a speaker ( 1 ) and with an audiovisual system ( 2, 3, 4 ), the audiovisual system having a computer ( 2 ), a screen ( 3 ) and a microphone ( 4 ). The method comprises the steps: receiving first data from a first mobile hearing system ( 11 ) which is carried by a first person ( 10 ), wherein the first data reference an image ( 12 ) of the first person ( 10 ); receiving second data from a second mobile hearing system ( 21 ) which is carried by a second person ( 20 ), wherein the second data reference an image ( 22 ) of the second person ( 20 ); depicting the image ( 12 ) of the first person ( 10 ) and the image ( 22 ) of the second person ( 20 ) on the screen ( 3 ) for perception by the speaker ( 1 ); selecting a person ( 10, 20 ) by the speaker ( 1 ) by choosing one of the depicted images ( 12, 22 ); generating a speech signal by recording speech of the speaker ( 1 ) with the microphone ( 4 ); wireless transmission of the speech signal to the mobile hearing system ( 11, 21 ) of the selected person ( 10, 20 ); and presentation of the speech signal by a loudspeaker of the mobile hearing system ( 11, 21 ) for perception by the selected person ( 10, 20 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for broadcasting sound to persons with mobile hearing systems at a meeting with a speaker using an audiovisual system, the audiovisual system having a computer, a screen and a microphone, the method comprising:
receiving first data from a first mobile hearing system which is carried by a first person, wherein the first data contains an identifier that is used to access an image of the first person from a database, wherein the image of the first person is stored in the first mobile hearing system;
receiving second data from a second mobile hearing system which is carried by a second person, wherein the second data contains an identifier that is used to access an image of the second person from the database, wherein the image of the second person is stored in the second mobile hearing system;
depicting the image of the first person and the image of the second person on the screen for perception by the speaker;
selecting one of the first person or the second person by the speaker by choosing one of the depicted images;
generating a speech signal by recording speech of the speaker with the microphone;
wirelessly transmitting the speech signal to the mobile hearing system of the selected person;
presenting the speech signal using a loudspeaker of the mobile hearing system for perception by the selected person.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the image of the first person and the image of the second person are stored together with a respective identifier in a database which is accessible via the Internet.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first data and the second data each comprise a Bluetooth identifier or contain such as a Bluetooth identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless transmission of the speech signal is carried out according to a Bluetooth protocol.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the audiovisual system comprises a camera and the method further comprises:
recording a region in front of the speaker using the camera; and
generating a camera image using the camera.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
a camera image is analyzed as to which person is standing opposite the speaker, wherein face detection is carried out; and
the image of the first person and the image of the second person are used for this purpose.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein hash values of the image of the first person and of the image of the second person are used for comparison with the camera image.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the audiovisual system comprises a personal microphone; and
the personal microphone records sound from a region in front of the speaker.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
a signal of a personal microphone is analyzed as to which person is standing opposite the speaker using voice detection; and
speech recordings of the first and second person are used for the voice detection.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein hash values of the speech recordings are used for the voice detection.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether there is a correlation of a predetermined minimum magnitude between a signal of a microphone of a mobile hearing system and a signal of the microphone and
in dependence of this, presentation of the signal of the microphone by the mobile hearing system.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program which, when executed by a processor, performs a method comprising:
receiving first data from a first mobile hearing system which is carried by a first person, wherein the first data contains an identifier that is used to access an image of the first person from a database, wherein the image of the first person is stored in the first mobile hearing system;
receiving second data from a second mobile hearing system which is carried by a second person, wherein the second data reference contains an identifier that is used to access an image of the second person from the database, wherein the image of the second person is stored in the second mobile hearing system;
depicting the image of the first person and the image of the second person on the screen for perception by the speaker;
selecting a person by the speaker by choosing one of the depicted images;
generating a speech signal by recording speech of the speaker with the microphone;
wirelessly transmitting the speech signal to the mobile hearing system of the selected person; and
presenting the speech signal by a loudspeaker of the mobile hearing system for perception by the selected person.

13. A sound-broadcasting system for broadcasting sound to persons with mobile hearing systems at a meeting with a speaker, the sound-broadcasting system comprising:
an audiovisual system comprising a computer, a screen and a microphone;
a first mobile hearing system configured to be carried by a first person; and
a second mobile hearing system configured to be carried by a second person;
wherein the sound-broadcasting system is configured to:
receive first data from the first mobile hearing system, wherein the first data contains an identifier that is used to access an image of the first person from a database, wherein the image of the first person is stored in the first mobile hearing system;
receive second data from the second mobile hearing system, wherein the second data contains an identifier that is used to access an image of the second person from the database, wherein the image of the second person is stored in the second mobile hearing system;
depict the image of the first person and the image of the second person on the screen for perception by a speaker;
select one of the first person or the second person by the speaker by choosing one of the depicted images;
generate a speech signal by recording speech of the speaker with the microphone;
transmit wirelessly the speech signal to the mobile hearing system of the selected person;
present the speech signal to the selected person by a loudspeaker of either the first mobile hearing system upon selection of the first person or the second mobile hearing system upon selection of the second person.

Assignees

• Sonova Ag

Inventors

• Röck Hans-Ueli
• Meier Hilmar
• Krueger Harald
• Feilner Manuela

Classifications

• H04W12/02

  Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] · CPC title

• H04R25/554 Primary

  using a wireless connection, e.g. between microphone and amplifier or using Tcoils · CPC title

• H04L12/189

  in combination with wireless systems (selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06) · CPC title

• H04L65/60

  Network streaming of media packets · CPC title

• H04W12/033

  of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic · CPC title