Techniques for acoustic management of entertainment devices and systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11223882-B2
Application number	US-202016846920-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2020
Priority date	Aug 27, 2010
Publication date	Jan 11, 2022
Grant date	Jan 11, 2022

Abstract

Techniques for acoustic management of entertainment devices and systems are described. Various embodiments may include techniques for acoustically determining a location of a remote control or other entertainment device. Some embodiments may include techniques for controlling one or more entertainment components using voice commands or other acoustic information. Other embodiments may include techniques for establishing a voice connection using a remote control device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
an entertainment device, including first wireless interconnect circuitry; and
a remote control, including:
second wireless interconnect circuitry,
a plurality of microphones including a first microphone and a second microphone,
a processor circuit coupled to the plurality of microphones; and
memory coupled to the processor circuit, the memory including instructions that when executed by the processor circuit, cause the processor circuit to:
receive acoustic information from at least two of the plurality of microphones, the acoustic information including a first acoustic input from the first microphone and a second acoustic input from the second microphone, the first acoustic input including a voice command signal and the second acoustic input including an ambient noise signal,
subtract the ambient noise signal from the voice command signal to generate an isolated voice command signal, and
transmit, to the entertainment device via the second wireless interconnect circuitry, the isolated voice command signal, the entertainment device operative to receive the isolated voice command signal via the first wireless interconnect circuitry and to adjust one or more entertainment parameters based on the isolated voice command signal.

2. The system of claim 1 , the first microphone including a directional microphone, the second microphone including an omnidirectional microphone, or the first microphone including a directional microphone and the second microphone including an omnidirectional microphone.

3. The system of claim 1 , further including one or more sensors communicatively coupled to the processor circuit, the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to receive the acoustic information based on information received from the one or more sensors.

4. The system of claim 3 , the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to receive the acoustic information based on a sensed direction of an axis of sensitivity for the plurality of microphones, based on an arrangement of the remote control, based on a position of the remote control, or based on a location of the remote control, wherein the one or more sensors include at least one of an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a tilt sensor, an optical sensor, a pressure sensor, a thermal sensor, or an image sensor.

5. The system of claim 1 , the acoustic information including a content acoustic signal and the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to compare the content acoustic signal to a volume threshold.

6. The system of claim 5 , the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to send a volume increase request to the entertainment device if the content acoustic signal is less than or equal to the volume threshold or send a volume decrease request to the entertainment device if the content acoustic signal is greater than or equal to the volume threshold.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the volume threshold is established based on a previously selected volume level.

8. The system of claim 1 , the acoustic information including a content acoustic signal, the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to:
subtract the ambient noise signal from the content acoustic signal to generate an adjusted content acoustic signal;
determine whether the adjusted content acoustic signal is greater than or equal to a volume threshold; and
send a volume increase request to the entertainment device based on a determination that the adjusted content acoustic signal is not greater than or equal to the volume threshold; or
send a volume decrease request to the entertainment device based on a determination that the adjusted content acoustic signal is greater than or equal to the volume threshold.

9. The system of claim 1 , the acoustic information including a content acoustic signal, the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to:
compare the ambient noise signal to the content acoustic signal;
determine whether a magnitude of the content acoustic signal is greater than or greater than or equal to a magnitude of the ambient noise signal; and
send a volume increase request to the entertainment device based on a determination that the magnitude of the content acoustic signal is not greater than or equal to the magnitude of the ambient noise signal; or
send a volume decrease request to the entertainment device based on a determination that the magnitude of the content acoustic signal is greater than or equal to the magnitude of the ambient noise signal.

10. A system, comprising:
a remote control, including:
first wireless interconnect circuitry, and
a plurality of microphones including a first microphone and a second microphone; and

an entertainment device, including:
second wireless interconnect circuitry,
a processor circuit coupled to the second wireless interconnect circuitry; and
memory coupled to the processor circuit, the memory including instructions that when executed by the processor circuit, cause the processor circuit to:
receive, from the remote control via the second wireless interconnect circuitry, acoustic information from at least two of the plurality of microphones, the acoustic information including a first acoustic input from the first microphone and a second acoustic input from the second microphone, the first acoustic input including a voice command signal and the second acoustic input including an ambient noise signal,
subtract the ambient noise signal from the voice command signal to generate an isolated voice command signal, and
adjust one or more entertainment parameters based on the isolated voice command signal.

11. The system of claim 10 , the first microphone including a directional microphone, the second microphone including an omnidirectional microphone, or the first microphone including a directional microphone and the second microphone including an omnidirectional microphone.

12. The system of claim 10 , including one or more sensors communicatively coupled to the processor circuit, the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to receive the acoustic information based on information received from the one or more sensors.

13. The system of claim 12 , the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to receive the acoustic information based on a sensed direction of an axis of sensitivity for the plurality of microphones, based on an arrangement of the remote control, based on a position of the remote control, or based on a location of the remote control, wherein the one or more sensors including at least one of an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, a tilt sensor, an optical sensor, a pressure sensor, a thermal sensor, or an image sensor.

14. The system of claim 10 , the acoustic information including a content acoustic signal and the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to compare the content acoustic signal to a volume threshold.

15. The system of claim 14 , the memory including instructions, which when executed by the processor circuit cause the processor circuit to send a volume increase request to the entertainment device if the content

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Ferren Bran
• Booth Cory J
• Andersen David B

Classifications

• H04N21/8133

  specifically related to the content, e.g. biography of the actors in a movie, detailed information about an article seen in a video programme · CPC title

• H04N21/4755

  for defining user preferences, e.g. favourite actors or genre (retrieval personalisation and generation of user profiles for the retrieval of video data G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306) · CPC title

• G06V20/635

  Overlay text, e.g. embedded captions in a TV programme · CPC title

• H04N21/4508

  Management of client data or end-user data · CPC title

• H04N21/632 Primary

  using a connection between clients on a wide area network, e.g. setting up a peer-to-peer communication via Internet for retrieving video segments from the hard-disk of other client devices (broadcast-related systems characterised by transmission among terminal devices H04H60/80; distributed application using peer-to-peer [P2P] networks H04L67/104) · CPC title