Granted Patent B2

US 12,591,407 · App. 18/111,671 · Granted Mar 31, 2026

Inventor: John Usher (Beer, GB)

Assignee: ST R&DTech, LLC

G06F3/165G10L15/22G10L21/034G10L25/78H03G3/341H04R1/406H04R3/005H04R1/1083H04R29/006

Abstract

Claims (29)

1 . An earphone comprising:

a first ambient microphone configured to generate a first microphone signal;

a second ambient microphone configured to generate a second microphone signal;

a third microphone configured to generate a third microphone signal;

an ear canal microphone configured to generate a fourth microphone signal;

a sound isolating barrier, wherein the first microphone and second microphone sample the environment on a first side of the sound isolating barrier and the ear canal microphone samples an environment on a second side of the sound isolating barrier where the first side and second side are separated by the sound isolating barrier;

memory configured to store instructions;

a processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving the first microphone signal;

receiving the second microphone signal;

receiving the third microphone signal;

receiving the fourth microphoned signal;

generating a modified first microphone signal by applying a first filter to the first microphone signal;

generating a modified second microphone signal by applying a second filter to the second microphone signal;

generating a modified third microphone signal by applying a third filter to the third microphone signal;

generating a modified fourth microphone signal by applying a fourth filter to the fourth microphone signal;

generating a first ratio of a time weighted power estimate of the first microphone signal to the a time weighted power estimate of the second microphone signal;

generating a second ratio of the time weighted power estimate of the first microphone signal to a time weighted power estimate of the third microphone signal;

generating a third ratio of the time weighted power estimate of the first microphone signal to a time weighted power estimate of the fourth microphone signal;

detecting if there is voice activity, wherein there is voice activity when the first ratio is above a first threshold and the second ratio is above a second threshold and the third ratio is above a third threshold; and

generating a binary voice activity status, where a value of 0 refers to no voice activity and a 1 refers to detected voice activity.

2 . The earphone according to claim 1 , wherein a first filter is applied to the first microphone signal prior to generating the first, second and third ratios, wherein the first filter is a bandpass filter.

3 . The earphone according to claim 2 , wherein the bandpass filter is configured to pass frequencies primarily between 100 Hz to 2 kHz.

4 . The earphone according to claim 1 , wherein a second filter is applied to the second microphone signal prior to generating the first, second and third ratios, wherein the second filter is a bandpass filter.

5 . The earphone according to claim 4 , wherein the bandpass filter is configured to pass frequencies primarily between 100 Hz to 2 kHz.

6 . The earphone according to claim 1 , wherein a third filter is applied to the third microphone signal prior to generating the first, second and third ratios, wherein the third filter is a bandpass filter.

7 . The earphone according to claim 6 , wherein the bandpass filter is configured to pass frequencies primarily between 100 Hz to 2 kHz.

8 . The earphone according to claim 1 , wherein a fourth filter is applied to the fourth microphone signal prior to generating the first, second and third ratios, wherein the fourth filter is a bandpass filter.

9 . The earphone according to claim 8 , wherein the bandpass filter is configured to pass frequencies primarily between 100 Hz to 2 kHz.

Assignments (6)

Continuity (5)

References Cited (400)