Minimizing nuisance audio in an interior space

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9922635-B2
Application number	US-201615085744-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2016
Priority date	Mar 30, 2016
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

One embodiment provides a method, including: detecting, using one or more audio capture devices, nuisance audio; receiving, from one or more device sensors, contextual information; determining a mitigating audio signal based on the nuisance audio and contextual information; thereafter, emitting, from one or more audio source devices, mitigating audio into an interior space. Other aspects are described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
detecting, using one or more audio capture devices, nuisance audio within at least one of a plurality of spaces;
detecting at least one user within another of the plurality of spaces;
receiving, from one or more device sensors, contextual information, wherein the contextual information comprises information related to a presence of the at least one user and additional information related to an activity of the at least one user;
determining a mitigating audio action based on the nuisance audio, the detected user, and the contextual information;
thereafter, emitting, from one or more audio source devices, mitigating audio based upon the determined mitigating audio action into another of the plurality of spaces.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mitigating audio comprises at least one of
white noise, pink noise, brownian noise, blue noise, violet noise, grey noise, active noise cancellation, and audio associated with media being consumed by a user.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying the phase of the nuisance audio;
wherein the mitigating audio comprises audio having inverted phase from the nuisance audio.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the contextual information comprises user information, wherein the mitigating audio is modified based on the user information.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
identifying, based on the user information, a current activity associated with at least one of: the interior space and the at least one adjacent interior space;
wherein the mitigating audio is modified based on the current activity.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the one or more device sensors detect data selected from the group consisting of: user presence data, user activity data, light condition data, noise type data, and noise level data.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the modifying of the mitigating audio comprises terminating the emitting of the mitigating audio if no user is detected.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the modifying of the mitigating audio comprises: adjusting the type of mitigating audio being emitted, wherein the adjustment is selected from the group consisting of: emitting white noise, emitting active noise cancellation, and emitting both white noise and active noise cancellation.

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the device sensors comprise a device sensor selected from the group consisting of: an equipment monitoring device, an environmental monitoring device, and a user monitoring device.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more audio capture devices and the one or more audio source devices communicate over a network.

11. An information handling device, comprising:
a processor;
a memory device that stores instructions executable by the processor to:
detect, using one or more audio capture devices, nuisance audio within at least one of a plurality of spaces;
detect at least one user within another of the plurality of spaces;
receiving, from one or more device sensors, contextual information, wherein the contextual information comprises information related to a presence of the at least one user and additional information related to an activity of the at least one user;
determine a mitigating audio action based on the nuisance audio, the detected user, and the contextual information;
thereafter, emitting, from one or more audio source devices, mitigating audio based upon the determined mitigating audio signal into another of the plurality of spaces.

12. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the mitigating audio comprises at least one of white noise, pink noise, brownian noise, blue noise, violet noise, grey noise, active noise cancellation, and audio associated with media being consumed by a user.

13. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
identify the phase of the nuisance audio;
wherein the mitigating audio comprises audio having inverted phase from the nuisance audio.

14. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the contextual information comprises user information, wherein the opposing audio is modified based on the user information.

15. The information handling device of claim 14 , wherein the instructions are further executable by the processor to:
identify, based on the user information, a current activity associated with at least one of: the interior space and the at least one adjacent interior space;
wherein the mitigating audio is modified based on the current activity.

16. The information handling device of claim 14 , wherein the one or more device sensors detect data selected from the group consisting of: user presence data, user activity data, light condition data, noise type data, and noise level data.

17. The information handling device of claim 14 , wherein the modifying of the mitigating audio comprises terminating the emitting of the mitigating audio if no user is detected.

18. The information handling device of claim 14 , wherein the modifying of the mitigating audio comprises: adjusting the type of mitigating audio being emitted, wherein the adjustment is selected from the group consisting of: adjusting a volume level of an audio output device, emitting white noise, emitting active noise cancellation, and emitting both white noise and active noise cancellation.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the device sensors comprise a device sensor selected from the group consisting of: an equipment monitoring device, an environmental monitoring device, and a user monitoring device.

20. A product, comprising:
a storage device having code stored therewith, the code being executable by the processor and comprising:
code that detects, using one or more audio capture devices, nuisance audio within at least one of a plurality of spaces;
code that detects at least one user within another of the plurality of spaces;
code that receives, from one or more device sensors, contextual information, wherein the contextual information comprises information related to a presence of the at least one user and additional information related to an activity of the at least one user;
code that determines a mitigating audio action based on the nuisance audio, the detected user, and the contextual information;
code that thereafter, emits, from one or more audio source devices, mitigating audio based upon the determined mitigating audio signal into another of the plurality of spaces.

Assignees

• Lenovo Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Stewart Aaron Michael
• Waltermann Rod D

Classifications

• G10K2210/3044

  Phase shift, e.g. complex envelope processing · CPC title

• H04R3/04

  for correcting frequency response · CPC title

• H04R29/001

  for loudspeakers (H04R29/007 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G10K11/178 Primary

  by electro-acoustically regenerating the original acoustic waves in anti-phase · CPC title

• G10K2210/12

  Rooms, e.g. ANC inside a room, office, concert hall or automobile cabin · CPC title