WIRELESS MULTI-MICROPHONE SYSTEM FOR VOICE COMMUNICATION
A wireless communication system includes a wireless terminal and a host device. The wireless terminal includes a transceiver and a processor. The transceiver of the wireless terminal transmits electrical audio signals output from a plurality of microphones over a wireless communication link for enhancement processing, such as noise-cancellation processing, echo-cancellation processing, and/or sidetone processing, at the host device. The wireless communication link can be an electromagnetic-based wireless communication link, a light-based wireless communication link and/or a magnetic-induction-based wireless communication link. The transceiver of the wireless terminal further receives from the wireless communication link enhancement-processed signals based on the electrical audio signals. The processor of the wireless terminal uses the enhancement-processed signals to output an enhanced audio output signal from the terminal device.
1 . A wireless terminal, comprising:
a transceiver transmitting electrical audio signals over a wireless communication link for enhancement processing at a location that is remote from the wireless terminal, the electrical audio signals being output from a plurality of microphone transducer devices, the transceiver further receiving from the wireless communication link enhancement-processed signals based on the electrical audio signals; and
a processor using the enhancement-processed signals to output an enhanced audio output signal from the terminal device.
2 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the enhancement processing is one of a noise-cancellation processing, an echo-cancellation processing, a sidetone processing, equalization processing, vocoding processing, voice-activity detection processing, sibilance removal processing, ducking processing, harmonization processing, and feedback processing.
3 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , further comprising a plurality of microphone transducer devices.
4 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , further comprising at least one speaker transducer device coupled to the enhanced audio output signal.
5 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless transceiver further receives control signals for controlling the processor.
6 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the wireless communication link is one of an electromagnetic-based wireless communication link, a light-based wireless communication link and a magnetic-induction-based wireless communication link.
7 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor performs one of a portion of the enhancement processing and none of the enhancement processing.
8 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the enhanced audio output signal is one of an audio output signal and an audio/visual output signal.
9 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the enhancement-processed signals are based at least one of the electrical audio signals transmitted by the transceiver over the wireless communication link, electrical audio signals received from a telephone network, electrical audio signals received from a content source, and electrical audio/video signals received from a content source.
10 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is one of an analog-based processor, a microprocessor-based device, a microcontroller-based device, an embedded processing device, and a state-machine processing device.
11 . The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , further comprising a host device remotely located from the wireless terminal and coupled to the terminal device through the wireless communication link, the host device comprising:
a host wireless transceiver receiving the electrical audio signals from the wireless terminal over the wireless communication link; and
a host processor enhancement processing the received electrical audio signals for generating enhancement-processed signals based on the received electrical audio signals,
the host wireless transceiver further transmitting the enhancement-processed signals to the wireless terminal over the wireless communication link.
12 . The wireless terminal according to claim 11 , wherein the enhancement processing is one of a noise-cancellation processing, an echo-cancellation processing, a sidetone processing, equalization processing, vocoding processing, voice-activity detection processing, sibilance removal processing, ducking processing, harmonization processing and feedback processing.
13 . The wireless terminal according to claim 11 , wherein the host wireless transceiver further transmits control signals over the wireless communication link for controlling the wireless terminal.
14 . The wireless terminal according to claim 11 , wherein the wireless communication link is one of an electromagnetic-based wireless communication link, a light-based wireless communication link and a magnetic-induction-based wireless communication link.
15 . The wireless terminal according to claim 11 , wherein the enhancement-processed signals are based at least one of the electrical audio signals transmitted by the transceiver over the wireless communication link, electrical audio signals received from a telecommunications network, electrical audio signals received from a content source, and electrical audio/video signals received from a content source.
16 . The wireless terminal according to claim 11 , wherein the host processor further uses the enhancement-processed signals to output an enhanced audio output signal to one of a telecommunications network, an audio content source and an audio/video content source.
17 . The wireless terminal according to claim 11 , wherein the host processor is one of an analog-based processor, a microprocessor-based device, a microcontroller-based device, an embedded processing device, and a state-machine processing device.
18 . A wireless host device, comprising
a host wireless transceiver receiving the electrical audio signals from a wireless terminal over a wireless communication link, the wireless terminal being located remotely from the wireless host device, the electrical audio signals being generated by a plurality of microphone transducer devices associated with the wireless terminal; and
a host processor enhancement processing the received electrical audio signals for generating enhancement-processed signals based on the received electrical audio signals,
the host wireless transceiver further transmitting the enhancement-processed signals to the wireless terminal over the wireless communication link.
19 . The wireless host device according to claim 18 , wherein the enhancement processing is one of a noise-cancellation processing, an echo-cancellation processing, a sidetone processing, equalization processing, vocoding processing, voice-activity detection processing, sibilance removal processing, ducking processing, harmonization processing and feedback processing.
20 . The wireless host device according to claim 18 , wherein the host wireless transceiver further transmits control signals over the wireless communication link for controlling the wireless terminal.
21 . The wireless host device according to claim 18 , wherein the wireless communication link is one of an electromagnetic-based wireless communication link, a light-based wireless communication link and a magnetic-induction-based wireless communication link.
22 . The wireless host device according to claim 18 , wherein the enhancement-processed signals are based at least one of the electrical audio signals transmitted by the transceiver over the wireless communication link, electrical audio signals received from a telecommunications network, electrical audio signals received from a content source, and electrical audio/video signals received from a content source.
23 . The wireless host device according to claim 18 , wherein the host processor further uses the enhancement-processed signals to form an enhanced audio output signal for one of a telecommunications network, an audio content source and an audio/video content source.
24 . The wireless host device according to claim 18 , wherein the processor is one of an analog-based processor, a microprocessor-based device, a microcontroller-based device, an embedded processing device, and a state-machine processing device.
25 . A method, comprising
generating electrical audio signals using a plurality of microphone transducer devices associated with a wireless terminal;
sending the electrical audio signals from the wireless terminal to a host device over a wireless communication link for enhancement processing at a location that is remote from the wireless terminal,
enhancement processing the received electrical audio signals at the host device for generating enhancement-processed signals based on the received electrical audio signals,
receiving from the wireless communication link at the wireless terminal the enhancement-processed signals based on the electrical audio signals; and
using the enhancement-processed signals at the wireless terminal to form an enhanced audio output signal for the terminal device.
26 . The method according to claim 25 , wherein the enhancement processing is one of a noise-cancellation processing, an echo-cancellation processing, a sidetone processing, equalization processing, vocoding processing, voice-activity detection processing, sibilance removal processing, ducking processing, harmonization processing and feedback processing.
27 . The method according to claim 25 , wherein the wireless communication link is one of an electromagnetic-based wireless communication link, a light-based wireless communication link and a magnetic-induction-based wireless communication link.
28 . The method according to claim 25 , wherein the enhancement-processed signals are based at least one of the electrical audio signals transmitted by the transceiver over the wireless communication link, electrical audio signals received from a telecommunications network, electrical audio signals received from a content source, and electrical audio/video signals received from a content source.
29 . The method according to claim 25 , further comprising using the enhancement-processed signals to form an enhanced audio output signal for use with one of a telecommunications network, an audio content source and an audio/video content source.
30 . The method according to claim 25 , wherein the enhancement processing is performed by one of an analog-based processor, a microprocessor-based device, a microcontroller-based device, an embedded processing device, and a state-machine processing device.