Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

Lifeline Systems Company

Nxp B.v.

Patrick Kechichian

Warner Rudolph Theophile Ten Kate

Cornelis Pieter Janse

Ronaldus Maria Aarts

Jeroen Gerardus Henricus Koppens

Wilhelmus Andreas Martinus Arnoldus Maria Van Den Dungen

Mark Thomas Johnson

Okke Ouweltjes

Rene Martinus Maria Derkx

Wouter Joos Tirry

Wilhelmus Andreas Marinus Arnoldus Maria Van Den Dungen

Sriram Srinivasan

Sam Martin Jelfs

Leonardus Cornelis Antonius Van Stuivenberg

Brian Brand Antonius Johannes Bloemendal

Rik Jozef Martinus Janssen

Cornelis Pieter Jansen

Cornelis Pieternella Janse

Brian Brand Antonius Johannes Bloememdal

Wilhelmus Andreas Marinus Van Den Dungen

An audio apparatus for generating a flutter echo audio signal comprises a receiver () arranged to receive room metadata indicative of properties of a room. The room metadata may e.g. indicate dimensions of the room and/or acoustic reflection data for boundaries of the room. An estimator () determines a flutter echo estimate for the room in response to the room metadata where the flutter echo estimate is indicative of a level of a flutter echo in the room. A signal generator () includes a feedback delay network comprising a plurality of feedback loops. The signal generator () is arranged to generate the flutter echo audio signal from output signals of a set of feedback loops of the plurality of feedback loops being fed an audio source signal. An adapter () adapts a first parameter for a first feedback loop of the set of feedback loops in response to the flutter echo estimate.

Audio apparatus and method therefor

An audio apparatus for generating a diffuse reverberation signal comprises a receiver () receiving audio signals representing sound sources and metadata comprising a diffuse reverberation signal to total source relationship indicative of a level of diffuse reverberation sound relative to total emitted sound in the environment. The metadata also for each audio signal comprises a signal level indication and a directivity data indicative of directivity of sound radiation from the sound source represented by the audio signal. A circuit () determines a total emitted energy indication based on the signal level indication and the directivity data, and a downmix coefficient based on the total emitted energy and the diffuse reverberation signal to total signal relationship. A downmixer () generates a downmix signal by combining signal components for each audio signal generated by applying the downmix coefficient for each audio signal to the audio signal. A reverberator () generates the diffuse reverberation signal for the environment from the downmix signal component.

Apparatus and method for generating a diffuse reverberation signal

According to an aspect, there is provided a fall detection apparatus for detecting a fall by a user, the fall detection apparatus comprising a processing unit configured to: receive measurements of movements of the user over time from a first movement sensor that is to be worn or carried by the user, determine if any of one or more objects are being carried or used by the user, and determine whether the user has fallen by processing the received measurements of the movements of the user and measurements of movements of any object that is being carried or used by the user.

Method and apparatus for detecting a fall by a user

In one embodiment, an apparatus () that samples a signal obtained or derived from an accelerometer, filters the samples, accumulates the filtered samples, and determines which limb the apparatus is associated with based on a comparison of the filtered accumulated samples and a threshold set.

System and method for detecting wrist-device wearing location

There is provided a device and a method of operating the device for determining whether the device is immersed in a fluid. An acceleration signal for the device is acquired () and a pressure within the device is detected (). It is determined whether the device is immersed in a fluid based on a comparison of the acquired acceleration signal with the detected pressure ().

Device and a method for determining whether the device is immersed in a fluid

According to an aspect, there is provided a fall detection apparatus for detecting a fall by a user, the fall detection apparatus comprising a processing unit configured to: receive measurements of movements of the user over time from a first movement sensor that is to be worn or carried by the user; determine if any of one or more objects are being carried or used by the user; and determine whether the user has fallen by processing the received measurements of the movements of the user and measurements of movements of any object that is being carried or used by the user.

An audio capture apparatus comprises a microphone array () and a beamformer () arranged to generate a beamformed audio output signal and a noise reference signal. A first and second transformer () generates a first and second frequency domain signal from a frequency transform of the beamformed audio output signal and noise reference signal respectively. A difference processor () generates time frequency tile difference measures which for a given frequency is indicative of a difference between a monotonic function of a norm (magnitude) of a time frequency tile value of the first frequency domain signal and a monotonic function of a norm of a time frequency tile value of the second frequency domain signal for the first frequency. An estimator () generates an estimate indicative of whether the audio output signal comprises a point audio source in response to a combined difference value for time frequency tile difference measures for frequencies above a frequency threshold.

Audio capture using beamforming

An apparatus for capturing audio comprises a first beamformer () coupled to a microphone array () and arranged to generate a first beamformed audio output. A plurality of constrained beamformers () each generates a constrained beamformed audio output. A first adapter () adapts beamform parameters of the first beamformer () and a second adapter () adapts constrained beamform parameters for the plurality of constrained beamformers (). A difference processor () determines a difference measure for the constrained beamformers () where the difference measure is indicative of the difference between beams formed by the first beamformer () and the constrained beamformers (). The second adapter () is arranged to adapt constrained beamform parameters with the constraint that beamform parameters are adapted only for constrained beamformers of the plurality of constrained beamformers () for which a difference measure has been determined that meets a similarity criterion.

Method and apparatus for audio capture using beamforming

A noise suppressor comprises a first () and a second transformer () for generating a first and second frequency domain signal from a frequency transform of a first and second microphone signal. A gain unit () determines time frequency tile gains in response to a difference measure for magnitude time frequency tile values of the first frequency domain signal and magnitude time frequency tile values of the second frequency domain signal. A scaler () generates a third frequency domain signal by scaling time frequency tile values of the first frequency domain signal by the time frequency tile gains; and the resulting signal is converted to the time domain by a third transformer (). A designator () designates time frequency tiles of the first frequency domain signal as speech tiles or noise tiles; and the gain unit () determines the gains in response to the designation of the time frequency tiles as speech tiles or noise tiles.

Noise suppression

There is provided a method and device () for providing an alarm () on request of a person (). The person is wearing the device that is attached with attachment means () to the wrist or other part of the body. A pulling force () of the person acting on the device causes a change in an electrical characteristic of a component () included in the device. The change of the electrical characteristic is measured and when detected will result in an activation of the alarm.

Method and device for providing an alarm

Communications equipment for use by a call center to enable communications between the call center and one or more user devices is provided, with the communications equipment comprising audio processing circuitry for processing audio signals received from the user devices over a communications network, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform acoustic echo cancellation and/or noise suppression and/or dereverberation processing on the received audio signals to cancel acoustic echoes and/or suppress noise and/or suppress reverberation that is present in the audio signals received from the user device.

Audio signal processing in a communication system

There is provided a method of generating a signal representing the speech of a user, the method comprising obtaining a first audio signal representing the speech of the user using a sensor in contact with the user; obtaining a second audio signal using an air conduction sensor, the second audio signal representing the speech of the user and including noise from the environment around the user; detecting periods of speech in the first audio signal; applying a speech enhancement algorithm to the second audio signal to reduce the noise in the second audio signal, the speech enhancement algorithm using the detected periods of speech in the first audio signal; equalizing the first audio signal using the noise-reduced second audio signal to produce an output audio signal representing the speech of the user.

System and method for generating an audio signal representing the speech of a user

An audio echo suppressor includes a first receiver for receiving a first audio signal for rendering by a loud-speaker and a second receiver for receiving a microphone signal. A linear echo-cancellation filter generates a first compensation signal from the first audio signal and a compensator generates a residual signal by compensating the microphone signal for the first compensation signal. A first adapter determines filter parameters for the linear echo-cancellation filter. An estimator generates distortion measures where each distortion measure is indicative of the contribution to the residual signal in a frequency interval outside a first frequency interval. The residual signal results from rendering of signal components of the first audio signal that are within the first frequency interval. An echo reducer performs echo suppression based on the distortion measures.

Echo cancellation

There is provided a fall detection system comprising a user device configured to be worn or carried by a user, the user device comprising a proximity sensor for measuring the proximity of the user device to the ground or a floor; and a movement sensor for measuring the movements of the user; the fall detection system further comprising a processing unit configured to process the measurements from the movement sensor to detect a potential fall; activate the proximity sensor if a potential fall is detected; and process the measurements from the proximity sensor to determine if the user has fallen.

Method for detecting falls and a fall detection system

An audio apparatus including a circuit for applying a dynamic range adjustment processing to an input signal to generate an output signal for rendering by a loudspeaker. The dynamic range adjustment processing is dependent on a set of dynamic range adjustment parameters. A first linear echo-cancellation filter generates a first compensated signal from the input signal and a first adapter determines a set of filter parameters for the first linear echo-cancellation filter in response to the first compensated signal and a microphone signal. An audio circuit generates a second compensated signal by applying the dynamic range adjustment processing and a second echo-cancellation filter to the input signal where the second echo-cancellation filter corresponding to the first echo-cancellation filter. A second adapter determines the set of dynamic range adjustment parameters in response to the second compensated signal and the microphone signal.

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Patrick Kechichian