Optimizing audio processing functions by dynamically compensating for variable distances between speaker(s) and microphone(s) in an accessory device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9654609-B2
Application number	US-201213664639-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 31, 2012
Priority date	Dec 16, 2011
Publication date	May 16, 2017
Grant date	May 16, 2017

Abstract

An accessory device having multiple speakers and/or microphones to perform a number of audio functions, for use with mobile devices, are provided. The audio transducers (e.g., microphones and/or speakers) may be housed in one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms. To compensate for the unwanted signal feedback between the speakers and microphones, acoustic echo cancellation may be implemented to determine the proper distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones. Acoustic echo cancellation removes the echo from voice communications to improve the quality of the sound. The removal of the unwanted signals captured by the microphones may be accomplished by characterizing the audio signal paths from the speakers to the microphones (speaker-to-microphone path distance profile), including the distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones. The optimal distance and relative location between the speakers and microphones is provided to the user to optimize performance.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An accessory device comprising:
a housing;
one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms secured to the housing, at least one of the one or more adjustable arms coupled to an audio transducer from a first plurality of audio transducers;
an audio module, in communication with the first plurality of audio transducers, for ascertaining distances from at least two of the first plurality of audio transducers to at least two of a second plurality of audio transducers to obtain a transducer-to-transducer path distance profile, wherein the transducer-to-transducer path distance profile is based on at least a distance between a first microphone and a first speaker, a distance between the first microphone and a second speaker, a distance between a second microphone and the first speaker, and a distance between the second microphone and the second speaker;
a speaker driving circuit to send higher than audible frequency sound, through at least one audio transducer from the first plurality of audio transducers and the second plurality of audio transducers, at a higher volume than audible sound to raise the higher than audible frequency sound above an ambient noise floor; and
a communication interface, coupled to the audio module, for sending the transducer-to-transducer path distance profile to a mobile device.

2. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the first plurality of audio transducers includes at least one of: microphones, speakers, or microphones and speakers.

3. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the audio module ascertains the distances automatically by:
sending an audible sound or the higher than audible frequency sound, and
measuring a shortest time delay between when the audible sound or the higher than audible frequency sound was sent and when it was received between a first audio transducer from the first plurality of audio transducers and a second audio transducer from the second plurality of audio transducers.

4. The accessory device of claim 3 , wherein the audio module is further adapted to:
encode the audible sound or the higher than audible frequency sound into an encoded signal that reduces an impact of noise sources during transmission, and
monitor for a code correlation between the encoded signal and received signals, by audio transducers from the first plurality of audio transducers and the second plurality of audio transducers, to ascertain a match.

5. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the audio module further refines at least one of the distances by using temperature and humidity information to select a speed of sound propagation from a lookup table.

6. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the second plurality of audio transducers includes at least one of: internal speakers, external speakers, or internal and external speakers.

7. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein at least one audio transducer from the first plurality of audio transducers is adjustable relative to the second plurality of audio transducers by extension and/or rotation of the adjustable arms.

8. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein predefined detents in the one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms are used to determine at least one of the distances.

9. The accessory device of claim 8 , wherein one or more sensors located on the one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms are used to detect a position of the one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms.

10. The accessory device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a visual indicator located within the housing for indicating to a user to adjust a transducer-to-transducer spacing between the audio transducers in the first plurality and second plurality of audio transducers.

11. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein a digital gain and an analog gain of sound propagation paths for at least some of the audio transducers from the first plurality of audio transducers and second plurality of audio transducers are dynamically adjusted by the mobile device.

12. The accessory device of claim 11 , wherein the digital gain and analog gain of sound propagation paths for at least some of the audio transducers from the first plurality of audio transducers and second plurality of audio transducers are adjusted to ensure audio output from speaker audio transducers does not saturate input into microphone audio transducers.

13. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the transducer-to-transducer path distance profile is transmitted to the mobile device wirelessly.

14. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein at least one or more other audio transducers from the second plurality of transducers are detachable from the accessory device.

15. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms is independently adjustable.

16. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the audio module further ascertains a volume for audio transducers in at least one of the first plurality of audio transducers or the second plurality of audio transducers and sends the volume to the mobile device to determine a signal to noise ratio.

17. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the audio module further adjusts a maximum volume limit of one or more speaker audio transducers, from at least one of the first plurality or second plurality of audio transducers, based on at least one of the distances.

18. The accessory device of claim 1 , wherein the audio module further controls other functions of the accessory device or mobile device based on at least one of the distances.

19. The accessory device of claim 1 , further comprising a slot extending horizontally along a top surface of the housing and wherein a first end of a first section of a plurality of sections of the one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms is slideably engaged with the slot allowing the one or more extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms to move horizontally across the housing.

20. A method operational on an accessory device for optimizing audio processing functions, comprising:
ascertaining distances from at least two of a first plurality of audio transducers, coupled to extendable and/or rotationally adjustable arms of the accessory device, to at least two of a second plurality of audio transducers to obtain a transducer-to-transducer path distance profile, wherein the transducer-to-transducer path distance profile is based on at least a distance between a first microphone and a first speaker, a distance between the first microphone and a second speaker, a distance between a second microphone and the first speaker, and a distance between the second microphone and the second speaker, wherein ascertaining the distances comprises:
sending higher than audible frequency sound, through at least one audio transducer from the first plurality of audio transducers and the second plurality of audio transducers, at a higher volume than audible sound to raise the higher than audible frequency sound above an ambient noise floor; and
sending the transducer-to-transducer path distance profile to a mobile device.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein ascertaining the distances further comprises:
automatically ascertaining the distances by sending an audible sound or the higher than audible frequency sound and measuring a shortest time delay between when the audible sound or the higher than audible frequency sound was sent and when it was received between

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Visser Erik
• Contour Michael Joseph
• Mattis Eric S
• Fitzgerald Joseph Robert
• Chan Kwokleung

Classifications

• H04R2499/11

  Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's · CPC title

• H04R2201/401

  2D or 3D arrays of transducers · CPC title

• H04M1/20

  Arrangements for preventing acoustic feed-back (H04M1/62 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04M9/082

  using echo cancellers (echo cancellers per se H04B3/23) · CPC title

• H03G3/20

  Automatic control ({H03G3/005 takes precedence;} combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00) · CPC title