Avnera Corporation

Other

David B Wurtz

Michael Jon Wurtz

Amit Kumar

Manpreet Singh Khaira

Eric Sorensen

Shankar Rathoud

Shawn O'Connor

Jiajin An

Colin Doolittle

James E Scanlan

Many headsets include automatic noise cancellation (ANC) which dramatically reduces perceived background noise and improves user listening experience. Unfortunately, the voice microphones in these devices often capture ambient noise that the headsets output during phone calls or other communication sessions to other users. In response, many headsets and communication devices provide manual muting circuitry, but users frequently forget to turn the muting on and/or off creating further problems as they communicate. To address this, the present inventors devised, among other things, an exemplary headset that detects the absence or presence of user speech, automatically muting and unmuting the voice microphone without user intervention. Some embodiments leverage relationships between feedback and feedforward signals in ANC circuitry to detect user speech, avoiding the addition of extra hardware to the headset. Other embodiments also leverage the speech detection function to activate and deactivate keyword detectors, and/or sidetone circuits, thus extending battery.

User voice activity detection

The disclosure includes a voice isolation system comprising an acoustic echo-cancelation subsystem configured to receive a plurality of input signals, subtract an interference component from the input signals, and provide a plurality of output signals. The system also includes an adaptive beamformer subsystem configured to receive the plurality of output signals from the acoustic echo-cancelation subsystem and compute a signal-to-noise ratio enhanced signal based on the received output signals. The system also includes a residual noise suppressor subsystem configured to attenuate at least one portion of the SNR enhanced signal received from the adaptive beamformer subsystem based on the at least one portion having an SNR below a predetermined SNR threshold. The system also includes an automatic gain control subsystem configured to process a signal outputted from the residual noise suppressor subsystem and transmit a resulting signal as an output signal.

Voice isolation system

Many headsets include automatic noise cancellation (ANC) which dramatically reduces perceived background noise and improves user listening experience. Unfortunately, the voice microphones in these devices often capture ambient noise that the headsets output during phone calls or other communication sessions to other users. In response, many headsets and communication devices provide manual muting circuitry, but users frequently forget to turn the muting on and/or off, creating further problems as they communicate. To address this, the present inventors devised, among other things, an exemplary headset that detects the absence or presence of user speech, automatically muting and unmuting the voice microphone without user intervention. Some embodiments leverage relationships between feedback and feedforward signals in ANC circuitry to detect user speech, avoiding the addition of extra hardware to the headset. Other embodiments also leverage the speech detection function to activate and deactivate keyword detectors, and/or sidetone circuits, thus extending battery.

User voice activity detection methods, devices, assemblies, and components

An audio speaker system for a home theater including a number of microphones, a number of speakers, each speaker located at a different location in a room, and a processor electrically connected to the plurality of microphones and wirelessly connected to the plurality of speakers. The processor is configured to generate an audio signal to send to each speaker of the plurality of speakers, output audio from each speaker of the plurality of speakers based on the audio signal, receive the audio at each microphone from each speaker of the plurality of speakers, determine a location of each speaker relative to the plurality of microphones based on the received audio at each microphone, and assign an audio channel to each speaker based on the determined location.

Automatic speaker relative location detection

A frame assembly is mounted on a pickup truck for selectively removably attaching a flexible cover over an open bed of the truck. The truck bed is defined by a pair of spaced, parallel upright sidewalls and a pair of spaced, parallel upright front and rear walls which extend transversely between the sidewalls. The rear wall is a hingedly mounted tailgate pivotable between an upright closed position and a horizontal open position. Fastening means is located on the cover and the frame assembly for removably attaching the cover to the frame. A pair of elongated side frame members are mounted on and extend along a top edge of the truck sidewalls, and an elongated front frame member is mounted on and extends along a top edge of the truck front wall between a front end of the side frame members. A generally elongated box channel is attached to a rear end of each of the side frame members and forms a slide channel therebetween. An elongated rear frame member extends along a top edge of the closed tailgate and between the rear ends of the side frame members, and is slideably engageable within the slide channels formed between the side frame members and the box channel, so that subsequent to detachment of the cover from the frame assembly, the rear frame member is slideably disengaged from the slide channels to provide unobstructed access to the truck bed upon movement of the tailgate to the open position.

Growing community of inventors

Dalton, OH, United States of America

David B Wurtz