IP Library Granted Patent US 11,218,796
Granted Patent B2
US 11,218,796 · App. 16/735,601 · Granted Jan 4, 2022

Annoyance noise suppression

Inventors: Gints Klimanis (Sunnyvale, CA); Anthony Parks (New York City, NY); Richard Fritz Lanman, III (San Francisco, CA); Noah Kraft (New York City, NY); Matthew J. Jaffe (San Francisco, CA); Jeffrey Ross Baker (Thousand Oaks, CA)
Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
H04R1/1083G10L21/0208G10L21/0232G10L25/84G10L25/90H04R29/004G10L2021/02085G10L2021/02163H04R2410/07H04R2460/01
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,218,796
App. No.
16/735,601
Granted
Jan 4, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Personal audio systems and methods are disclosed. A personal audio system includes a voice activity detector to determine whether or not an ambient audio stream contains voice activity, a pitch estimator to determine a frequency of a fundamental component of an annoyance noise contained in the ambient audio stream, and a filter bank to attenuate the fundamental component and at least one harmonic component of the annoyance noise to generate a personal audio stream. The filter bank implements a first filter function when the ambient audio stream does not contain voice activity, or a second filter function when the ambient audio stream contains voice activity.

Claims (55)

1. A method comprising:

at an electronic device including a user interface:

receiving a first audio stream;

detecting whether or not the first audio stream contains voice activity;

displaying, on the user interface, a plurality of context affordances;

after displaying the user interface, receiving a first user input corresponding to a selection of a first context affordance of the plurality of context affordances associated with a first context; and

in accordance with receiving the first user input:

retrieving a first set of processing parameters associated with the first context; and

generating a first personalized audio stream by processing the first audio stream based on the first set of processing parameters associated with the first context, wherein generating the first personalize audio stream includes:

processing the first audio stream through a filter bank configured to implement a first filter function when the first audio stream does not contain voice activity; and implement a second filter function, different from the first filter function, when the first audio stream contains voice activity.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second user input corresponding to a selection of a second context affordance of the plurality of context affordances associated with a second context different from the first context; and

in accordance with receiving the second user input:

retrieving a second set of processing parameters different from the first set of processing parameters that associated with the second context; and

generating a second personalized audio stream different than the first personalized audio stream by processing the first audio stream based on the second set of processing parameters associated with the second context.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second audio stream; and wherein generating the first personalized audio stream further includes processing the second audio stream.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

estimating, by a pitch estimator, a frequency of a fundamental component of an annoyance noise contained in the first audio stream, wherein the annoyance noise is distinct from ambient noise contained in the first audio stream and corresponds to a specific source; and

wherein the filter bank includes band-reject filters to attenuate the fundamental component and at least one harmonic component of the annoyance noise, wherein the filter bank is configured to:

in accordance with receiving a fundamental frequency value of the annoyance noise from the pitch estimator, adjust the band-reject filters to attenuate the fundamental component at the least one harmonic component of the annoyance noise; and

implement the second filter function when one or more of the fundamental component and the at least one harmonic component of the annoyance noise overlap with one or more harmonics of a voice associated with the voice activity, wherein the second filter function attenuates the annoyance noise in one or more frequency bands that the annoyance noise overlaps with the voice.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of processing parameters is retrieved from a sound knowledgebase stored in a memory included on the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of context affordances includes at least one context selected from the set of: a physical location, user activity, date, and/or time of day, an environment, and a situation.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying plurality of contexts is performed in response to receiving a user request.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to detecting a trigger event, automatically retrieving a third set of processing parameters different from the first set of processing parameters; and

generating a third personalized audio stream different than the first personalized audio stream by processing the first audio stream based on the third set of processing parameters.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the trigger event is based on a location.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

after generating the first personalized audio stream, causing audio based on the first personalized audio stream to be output by one of more audio transducers.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the user interface includes a touchscreen; and

the first user input corresponds to a touch input at a location on the touchscreen.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs configured to be executed by one or more processors of an electronic device with a user interface, the one or more programs including instructions for:

receiving a first audio stream;

detecting whether or not the first audio stream contains voice activity;

displaying, on the user interface, a plurality of context affordances;

after displaying the user interface, receiving a first user input corresponding to a selection of a first context affordance of the plurality of context affordances associated with a first context; and

in accordance with receiving the first user input:

retrieving a first set of processing parameters associated with the first context; and

generating a first personalized audio stream by processing the first audio stream based on the first set of processing parameters associated with the first context, wherein generating the first personalize audio stream includes:

processing the first audio stream through a filter bank configured to implement a first filter function when the first audio stream does not contain voice activity; and implement a second filter function, different from the first filter function, when the first audio stream contains voice activity.

13. An electronics device, comprising:

a user interface;

one or more processors; and

a memory storing one or more programs configured to by executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:

receiving a first audio stream;

detecting whether or not the first audio stream contains voice activity;

displaying, on the user interface, a plurality of context affordances;

after displaying the user interface, receiving a first user input corresponding to a selection of a first context affordance of the plurality of context affordances associated with a first context; and

in accordance with receiving the first user input:

retrieving a first set of processing parameters associated with the first context; and

generating a first personalized audio stream by processing the first audio stream based on the first set of processing parameters associated with the first context, wherein generating the first personalize audio stream includes:

processing the first audio stream through a filter bank configured to implement a first filter function when the first audio stream does not contain voice activity; and implement a second filter function, different from the first filter function, when the first audio stream contains voice activity.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 6, 2020
From: KLIMANIS, GINTS; PARKS, ANTHONY
To: DOPPLER LABS, INC.
Reel/Frame 053989/0608 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 6, 2020
From: DOPPLER LABS, INC.
To: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 053992/0646 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 15775153
Continuation 14952761 · Nov 25, 2015
Continuation 14941458 · Nov 13, 2015
Related Publication 20200389718A1 · Dec 10, 2020
Cited By (2)
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