Microphone array with automated adaptive beam tracking

1. A method, comprising:

combining, by a processor, local acoustic energy map locations for each of a plurality of sub-regions into an acoustic energy map representative of a defined space; and

creating, by the processor, a modified beamform tracking configuration based on the combining;

wherein, the locations are determined based on time delay of arrival or steered response power related to one or more sound instances.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

designating each of the plurality of sub-regions as a desired sound sub-region or an unwanted noise sub-region based on the sound instances received by a plurality of microphone arrays during scanning of the plurality of sub-regions of the defined space for one or more sound instances.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sound instances comprise a human voice.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

saving the modified beamform tracking configuration in a memory of a microphone array controller.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

re-scanning each of the plurality of sub-regions for new desired sound instances;

creating a new modified beamform tracking configuration based on new locations of the new desired sound instances; and

saving the new modified beamform tracking configuration in a memory of a microphone array controller.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a preliminary beamform tracking configuration for each sub-region and the modified beamform tracking configuration comprises a beamform center steering location and a beamforming steering region range.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more sound instances are determined by performing microphone array localization based on the time delay of arrival or the steered response power.

8. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor configured to:

combine local acoustic energy map locations for each of a plurality of sub-regions into an acoustic energy map representative of a defined space; and

create a modified beamform tracking configuration based on the combination;

wherein, the locations are determined based on time delay of arrival or steered response power related to one or more sound instances.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

designate each of the plurality of sub-regions as a desired sound sub-region or an unwanted noise sub-region based on the sound instances received by a plurality of microphone arrays during a scan of the plurality of sub-regions of the defined space for one or more sound instances.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more sound instances comprise a human voice.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

save the modified beamform tracking configuration in a memory of a microphone array controller.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

re-scan each of the plurality of sub-regions for new desired sound instances;

create a new modified beamform tracking configuration based on new locations of the new desired sound instances; and

save the new modified beamform tracking configuration in a memory of a microphone array controller.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein a preliminary beamform tracking configuration for each sub-region and the modified beamform tracking configuration comprise a beamform center steering location and a beamforming steering region range.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the one or more sound instances are determined by a microphone array localization being performed based on the time delay of arrival or the steered response power.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store at least one instruction that when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform:

combining local acoustic energy map locations for each of a plurality of sub-regions into an acoustic energy map representative of a defined space; and

creating a modified beamform tracking configuration based on the combining;

wherein, the locations are determined based on time delay of arrival or steered response power related to one or more sound instances.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , further configured to store at least one instruction that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform:

designating each of the plurality of sub-regions as a desired sound sub-region or an unwanted noise sub-region based on the sound instances received by a plurality of microphone arrays during scanning of the plurality of sub-regions of the defined space for one or more sound instances.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more sound instances comprise a human voice.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , further configured to store at least one instruction that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform:

saving the modified beamform tracking configuration in a memory of a microphone array controller.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , further configured to store at least one instruction that when executed by the processor causes the processor to perform:

re-scanning each of the plurality of sub-regions for new desired sound instances;

creating a new modified beamform tracking configuration based on new locations of the new desired sound instances; and

saving the new modified beamform tracking configuration in a memory of a microphone array controller.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the one or more sound instances are determined by performing microphone array localization based on the time delay of arrival or the steered response power, and wherein a preliminary beamform tracking configuration for each sub-region and the modified beamform tracking configuration comprises a beamform center steering location and a beamforming steering region range.