Speech communication system for combined voice recognition, hands-free telephony and in-car communication

Abstract

A multi-mode speech communication system is described that has different operating modes for different speech applications. A speech service compartment contains multiple system users, multiple input microphones that develop microphone input signals from the system users to the system, and multiple output loudspeakers that develop loudspeaker output signals from the system to the system users. A signal processing module is in communication with the speech applications and includes an input processing module and an output processing module. The input processing module processes the microphone input signals to produce a set user input signals for each speech application that are limited to currently active system users for that speech application. The output processing module processes application output communications from the speech applications to produce loudspeaker output signals to the system users, wherein for each different speech application, the loudspeaker output signals are directed only to system users currently active in that speech application. The signal processing module dynamically controls the processing of the microphone input signals and the loudspeaker output signals to respond to changes in currently active system users for each application.