Google Inc.

Motorola Mobility LLC

Google Technology Holdings LLC

Snehitha Singaraju

Plamen A Ivanov

Kevin J Bastyr

Joel A Clark

Rivanaldo S Oliveira

Robert A Zurek

Jincheng Wu

Joseph C Dwyer

Mark A Jasiuk

Tenkasi Vaideeswaran Ramabadran

Giles T Davis

Adrian M Schuster

Juan C Garcia

Seungyoon Lee

John Ross Meloney

John R Meloney

One method of operation includes beamforming a plurality of microphone outputs to obtain a plurality of virtual microphone audio channels. Each virtual microphone audio channel corresponds to a beamform. The virtual microphone audio channels include at least one voice channel and at least one noise channel. The method includes performing voice activity detection on the at least one voice channel and adjusting a corresponding voice beamform until voice activity detection indicates that voice is present on the at least one voice channel. Another method beamforms the plurality of microphone outputs to obtain a plurality of virtual microphone audio channels, where each virtual microphone audio channel corresponds to a beamform, and with at least one voice channel and at least one noise channel. The method performs voice recognition on the at least one voice channel and adjusts the corresponding voice beamform to improve a voice recognition confidence metric.

Apparatus and method for beamforming to obtain voice and noise signals

Systems and methods for controlling a portable electronic communication device use device operational context to provide user trigger or command input. When user input is received from a user of the device, a set of user input options is selected based on an operational context of the device, including an identification of at least one running application. Each user input option is associated with a device action, and the received user input is mapped to a matching user input option within the selected set of user input options. The device action associated with the matching user input option is then executed.

Device control based on its operational context

A method and apparatus are for determining one or more background noise characteristics, determining one or more incoming audio characteristics; and generating a combined audio signal comprising an active noise cancellation (ANC) component and a modified incoming audio (MIA) component. The ANC component is determined based on at least one of the one or more incoming audio characteristics and the background noise characteristics. Each of a limit of the ANC component and a limit of the MIA component is dynamically controlled to be less than or equal to a system limit, wherein a limit of the combined signal is approximately at the system limit.

Background noise reduction in an audio device

An apparatus includes a group of microphones and a surface compensator that is operatively coupled to switch logic and to a signal conditioner that provides a control channel to voice recognition logic. The surface compensator may detect surfaces in proximity to the apparatus as well as the surface's acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity and may accordingly configure the group of microphones including selecting appropriate signal conditioning and beamforming based on the surface acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity and the orientation of the apparatus. Voice recognition performance is thus improved when microphones are impeded or occluded by proximate surfaces. A group of sensors of the apparatus is used by the surface compensator to detect surfaces and surface type, and to determine apparatus orientation and motion.

Apparatus with adaptive microphone configuration based on surface proximity, surface type and motion

A method includes detecting a surface in proximity to a mobile device using sensor data and determining an acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity of the surface using the sensor data. The method may further compensate for the acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity by controlling a configurable group of microphones of the mobile device. Compensating for the surface acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity may include beamforming the outputs of the configurable group of microphones to obtain one of an omnidirectional beamform pattern or a directional beamform pattern. An apparatus that performs the method include a configurable group of microphones, a signal conditioner, and a surface compensator. The surface compensator is operative to detect a surface in proximity to the apparatus and determine a surface acoustic reflectivity or acoustic absorptivity.

Apparatus with adaptive audio adjustment based on surface proximity, surface type and motion

An electronic device digitally combines a single voice input with each of a series of noise samples. Each noise sample is taken from a different audio environment (e.g., street noise, babble, interior car noise). The voice input/noise sample combinations are used to train a voice recognition model database without the user having to repeat the voice input in each of the different environments. In one variation, the electronic device transmits the user's voice input to a server that maintains and trains the voice recognition model database.

Method and apparatus for training a voice recognition model database

A method and apparatus for adapting acoustic processing in a communication device, and capturing at least one acoustic signal using acoustic hardware of the communication device, characterizing an acoustic environment external to the communication device using the at least one captured acoustic signal, adapting acoustic processing within the communication device based on the characterized acoustic environment.

Method and apparatus for acoustically characterizing an environment in which an electronic device resides

An audio/visual (A/V) electronic device includes a display and an integrated visual angular limitation device employed to limit a viewable angular area of the display. One or more directional acoustic transducers that have an associated characteristic acoustic pattern will include at least a portion of the associated characteristic acoustic pattern in cooperative alignment with the limited viewable angular area of the display.

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Gurnee, IL, United States of America

Snehitha Singaraju