Granted Patent B2

US 12,341,931 · App. 18/144,395 · Granted Jun 24, 2025

Inventors: Daniel John Jones (London, GB); James Andrew Nesfield (Edinburgh, GB)

Assignee: Sonos Experience Limited

H04M9/082H04B11/00H04R3/02

Abstract

Claims (64)

1. An apparatus comprising:

a microphone;

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the apparatus to:

receive, via the microphone, an acoustically transmitted audio signal encoding data;

process the received acoustically transmitted audio signal to produce a particular processed signal;

decode the particular processed signal using a first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal, wherein the first plurality of voters comprise differing values for a first acoustic characteristic to address environmental interference and the first data comprises a first encoding format;

decode the particular processed signal using a second plurality of voters to extract second data from the particular processed signal, wherein the second plurality of voters comprise differing values for a second acoustic characteristic to address environmental interference and the second data comprises a second encoding format;

apply error correction to the first encoding format and the second encoding format;

determine that the first encoding format has the fewest errors compared to the second encoding format; and

based on determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors, select the first data extracted using the first plurality of voters.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein decoding the particular processed signal using the first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal comprises:

decoding the particular processed signal using a first voter of the first plurality of voters to extract third data; and

decoding the particular processed signal using a second voter of the first plurality of voters to extract fourth data.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the non-transitory, computer-readable medium stores further instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the apparatus to:

determine the third data is associated a highest confidence measure; and

based on the determination that the third data is associated with the highest confidence measure, select the third data extracted using the first voter.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the first acoustic characteristic comprises reverberation cancellation, and wherein the first voter and the second voter have different reverb rolloff exponent parameter values or reverb cancellation magnitude parameter values.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the particular processed signal comprises a plurality of audio frames, and wherein decoding the particular processed signal using the first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal comprises:

decoding each audio frame of the plurality of audio frames using a first voter of the first plurality of voters; and

decoding each audio frame of the plurality of audio frames using a second voter of the first plurality of voters.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first acoustic characteristic comprises reverberation cancellation, and wherein the second acoustic characteristic comprises timing offset.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first encoding format comprises a header, error correction, and a payload, and wherein determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors further comprises:

based on the error correction, determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium configured for storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause one or more processors to:

receive, via a microphone, an acoustically transmitted audio signal encoding data;

process the received acoustically transmitted audio signal to produce a particular processed signal;

decode the particular processed signal using a first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal, wherein the first plurality of voters comprise differing values for a first acoustic characteristic to address environmental interference and the first data comprises a first encoding format;

decode the particular processed signal using a second plurality of voters to extract second data from the particular processed signal, wherein the second plurality of voters comprise differing values for a second acoustic characteristic to address environmental interference and the second data comprises a second encoding format;

apply error correction to the first encoding format and the second encoding format;

determine that the first encoding format has the fewest errors compared to the second encoding format; and

based on determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors, select the first data extracted using the first plurality of voters.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein decoding the particular processed signal using the first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal comprises:

decoding the particular processed signal using a first voter of the first plurality of voters to extract third data; and

decoding the particular processed signal using a second voter of the first plurality of voters to extract fourth data.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the non-transitory computer readable medium stores further instructions that when executed by the one or more processors cause the one or more processors to:

determine the third data is associated with a highest confidence measure; and

based on the determination that the third data is associated with the highest confidence measure, select the third data extracted using the first voter.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first acoustic characteristic comprises reverberation cancellation, and wherein the first voter and the second voter have different reverb rolloff exponent parameter values or reverb cancellation magnitude parameter values.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the particular processed signal comprises a plurality of audio frames, and wherein decoding the particular processed signal using the first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal comprises:

decoding each audio frame of the plurality of audio frames using a first voter of the first plurality of voters; and

decoding each audio frame of the plurality of audio frames using a second voter of the first plurality of voters.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first acoustic characteristic comprises reverberation cancellation, and wherein the second acoustic characteristic comprises timing offset.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the first encoding format comprises a header, error correction, and a payload, and wherein determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors further comprises:

based on the error correction, determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, a microphone, an acoustically transmitted audio signal encoding data;

processing the received acoustically transmitted audio signal to produce a particular processed signal;

decoding the particular processed signal using a first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal, wherein the first plurality of voters comprise differing values for a first acoustic characteristic to address environmental interference and the first data comprises a first encoding format;

decoding the particular processed signal using a second plurality of voters to extract second data from the particular processed signal, wherein the second plurality of voters comprise differing values for a second acoustic characteristic to address environmental interference and the second data comprises a second encoding format;

applying error correction to the first encoding format and the second encoding format;

determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors compared to the second encoding format; and

based on determining that the first encoding format has the fewest errors, selecting the first data extracted using the first plurality of voters.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein decode the particular processed signal using the first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal comprises:

decoding the particular processed signal using a first voter of the first plurality of voters to extract third data; and

decoding the particular processed signal using a second voter of the first plurality of voters to extract fourth data.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

determining the third data is associated with a highest confidence measure; and

based on the determination that the third data is associated with the highest confidence measure, selecting the third data extracted using the first voter.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first acoustic characteristic comprises reverberation cancellation, and wherein the first voter and the second voter have different reverb rolloff exponent parameter values or reverb cancellation magnitude parameter values.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the particular processed signal comprises a plurality of audio frames, and wherein decode the particular processed signal using the first plurality of voters to extract first data from the particular processed signal comprises:

decoding each audio frame of the plurality of audio frames using a first voter of the plurality of voters; and

decoding each audio frame of the plurality of audio frames using a second voter of the first plurality of voters.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the first acoustic characteristic comprises reverberation cancellation, and wherein the second acoustic characteristic comprises timing offset.

Assignments (3)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (266)