Acoustical in-cabin noise cancellation system for far-end telecommunications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11146887-B2
Application number	US-201816958010-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 31, 2018
Priority date	Dec 29, 2017
Publication date	Oct 12, 2021
Grant date	Oct 12, 2021

Abstract

An in-vehicle noise-cancellation system may optimize far-end user experience. The noise-cancellation system may incorporate real-time acoustic input from the vehicle, as well microphones from a telecommunications device. Audio signals from small, embedded microphones mounted in the vehicle can be processed and mixed into an outgoing telecom signal to effectively cancel acoustic energy from one or more unwanted sources in the vehicle. Multiple microphones may be mounted to headrests and spaced apart in one or more directions to give an indication of the direction of incoming sound from one or more listening zones so that sounds from certain zones may be suppressed. Unwanted noise captured by the embedded microphones may be used as direct inputs to the noise-cancellation system. As direct inputs, these streams can, therefore, be cancelled from the outgoing telecom signal, thus providing the user's far-end correspondent with much higher signal-to-noise ratio, call quality, and speech intelligibility.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A noise cancellation system for a vehicle comprising:
at least one microphone array having at least two microphones mounted to a first headrest and spaced apart in a longitudinal direction, wherein a distance separating the two microphones creates at least a first listening zone and a second listening zone, wherein the second listening zone is oriented in the longitudinal direction relative to the first listening zone; and
a digital signal processor programmed to:
receive microphone signals indicative of sound from the at least one microphone array; and
identify whether the sound is received from the first listening zone or the second listening zone based on the microphone signals by comparing the microphone signals from the two microphones; and localizing a direction of the sound from either the first listening zone or the second listening zone based on a time difference of arrival of the microphone signals at each of the two microphones.

2. The noise cancellation system of claim 1 , wherein the microphones are positioned within the first listening zone, and wherein the digital signal processor is further programmed to suppress sound received from the second listening zone.

3. The noise cancellation system of claim 2 , wherein the second listening zone is rearward of the first listening zone.

4. The noise cancellation system of claim 1 , wherein the microphones are omnidirectional.

5. The noise cancellation system of claim 1 , wherein the microphones are located on an inboard side surface of the first headrest.

6. The noise cancellation system of claim 1 , wherein the microphones are located on a bottom surface of the first headrest.

7. The noise cancellation system of claim 6 , wherein the two microphones are further separated in a lateral direction with respect to the vehicle, and wherein the first listening zone comprises two listening subzones oriented in the lateral direction relative to each other.

8. The noise cancellation system of claim 7 , wherein the digital signal processor is further programmed to suppress sound received from one of the listening subzones.

9. The noise cancellation system of claim 6 , further comprising:
a second microphone array including at least two microphones, the at least two microphones mounted to a bottom surface of a second headrest laterally adjacent to the first headrest, wherein the two microphones in the second headrest are spaced apart in both a longitudinal direction and a lateral direction relative to each other.

10. The noise cancellation system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second microphone array including at least two microphones mounted in a rearview mirror assembly, wherein the at least two microphones are spaced apart in a lateral direction with respect to the vehicle.

11. The noise cancellation system of claim 10 , wherein the at least two microphones in the rearview mirror assembly are directional microphones such that the first listening zone comprises two listening subzones oriented in the lateral direction with respect to the vehicle.

12. A microphone array for a communications system associated with a vehicle, the microphone array comprising:
a first microphone mounted adjacent to an external surface of a headrest;
a second microphone mounted adjacent to the external surface of the headrest and spaced-apart from the first microphone in a longitudinal direction;
wherein at least a longitudinal distance separates the first microphone from the second microphone to create at least a first listening zone and a second listening zone oriented in a longitudinal direction with respect to the vehicle
a digital signal processor programmed to:
receive microphone signals indicative of sound from the at least one microphone array; and
identify whether the sound is received from the first listening zone or the second listening zone based on the microphone signals by comparing the microphone signals from the two microphones; and localizing a direction of the sound from either the first listening zone or the second listening zone based on a time difference of arrival of the microphone signals at each of the two microphones.

13. The microphone array of claim 12 , wherein the first microphone and the second microphone are omnidirectional microphones.

14. The microphone array of claim 12 , wherein the first and second microphones are located on an inboard side surface of the headrest.

15. The microphone array of claim 12 , wherein the first and second microphones are located on a bottom surface of the first headrest.

16. The microphone array of claim 15 , wherein the first microphone and the second microphone are further separated by a lateral distance such that the first listening zone comprises two listening subzones oriented in a lateral direction with respect to the vehicle.

Assignees

• Harman Int Ind

Inventors

• Winton Riley
• Ludwig Chris
• Jorgensen Gorm H
• Goller Lars
• Lydolf Morten

Classifications

• H04R3/02

  for preventing acoustic reaction {, i.e. acoustic oscillatory feedback (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/453)} · CPC title

• H04R3/005 Primary

  for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407) · CPC title

• G10L2021/02166

  Microphone arrays; Beamforming · CPC title

• G10L21/0216 Primary

  characterised by the method used for estimating noise · CPC title

• H04R1/406

  microphones · CPC title