Granted Patent B2

US 8,625,819 · App. 12/169,386 · Granted Jan 7, 2014

Inventors: Steven Wayne Goldstein (Delray Beach, FL); John Usher (Montreal, CA); Marc Andre Boillot (Plantation, FL)

Assignee: Personics Holdings, Inc

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. An earpiece, comprising:

an Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to capture ambient sound;

an Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to capture internal sound in an ear canal;

an Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) configured to deliver audio content to the ear canal;

a processor operatively coupled to the ASM, the ECM and the ECR, where the processor is configured to detect a spoken voice generated by a wearer of the earpiece based on a non-difference comparison of the ambient sound captured by the ASM and the internal sound captured by the ECM, where an output signal indicating that the spoken voice is detected is generated when the non-difference comparison is greater than a threshold; and

a voice operated control (VOX) operatively coupled to receive the output signal of the processor and configured to mix the ambient sound and the internal sound to produce a mixed signal and control production of the mixed signal based on at least one of one or more aspects of the audio content or one or more aspects of the spoken voice,

wherein the VOX is configured to increase a first gain of one of the ambient sound and the internal sound and decrease a second gain of a remaining one of the ambient sound and the internal sound, such that the mixed signal includes a combination of the ambient sound and the internal sound, and

wherein the non-difference comparison is at least one among a correlation, a cross-correlation and a comparison that uses coherence.

2. The earpiece of claim 1 , wherein the one or more aspects of the spoken voice include at least one of a volume level, a voicing level, or a spectral shape of the spoken voice.

3. The earpiece of claim 1 , wherein the one or more aspects of the audio content include at least one of a spectral distribution, a duration, or a volume of the audio content.

4. The earpiece of claim 1 , wherein the VOX comprises:

a level detector configured to compare a sound pressure level (SPL) of the ambient sound and the internal sound for detecting the spoken voice;

a correlation unit configured to access the correlation of the ambient sound and the internal sound for detecting the spoken voice;

a coherence unit configured to determine whether the spoken voice originates from the wearer; and

a spectral analysis unit configured to detect whether spectral portions of the spoken voice are similar in the ambient sound and the internal sound.

5. A dual earpiece, comprising:

a first earpiece comprising:

a first Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to measure a first ambient sound, and

a first Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to measure a first internal sound in a first ear canal;

a second earpiece comprising:

a second Ambient Sound Microphone (ASM) configured to measure a second ambient sound, and

a second Ear Canal Microphone (ECM) configured to measure a second internal sound in a second ear canal;

a processor operatively coupled to the first earpiece and the second earpiece, where the processor is configured to detect a spoken voice generated by a wearer of the dual earpiece based on a non-difference comparison of at least one of the first and second ambient sounds and at least one of the first and second internal sounds, where the spoken voice of the wearer is detected when the non-difference comparison is greater than a threshold; and

a voice operated control (VOX) configured to mix a first signal and a second signal to produce a mixed signal and control production of the mixed signal based on one or more aspects of the spoken voice, the first signal including at least one of the first and second ambient sounds, the second signal including at least one of the first and second internal sounds,

wherein the VOX is configured to increase a first gain of one of the first signal and the second signal and decrease a second gain of a remaining one of the first signal and the second signal, such that the mixed signal includes a combination of the first signal and the second signal, and

wherein the non-difference comparison is at least one among a correlation, a cross-correlation and a comparison that uses coherence.

6. The dual earpiece of claim 5 , further comprising:

a first Ear Canal Receiver (ECR) in the first earpiece for receiving first audio content from an audio interface; and

a second ECR in the second earpiece for receiving a second audio content, wherein the VOX controls a further mixing of the mixed signal with at least one of the first and second audio content to produce a further mixed signal and controls a delivery of the further mixed signal to at least one of the first ECR and the second ECR.

7. The dual earpiece of claim 5 , wherein the VOX receives the first ambient sound from the first earpiece and the second internal sound from the second earpiece for controlling the mixing.

8. The dual earpiece of claim 5 , wherein the dual earpiece is coupled to a remote device, the remote device including at least one microphone configured to measure at least one acoustic signal, the non-difference comparison being further determined using the at least one acoustic signal.

9. The dual earpiece of claim 8 , wherein the remote device includes at least one of an earpiece, a cell phone, a media player, a portable computing device or a personal digital assistant.

10. A method for voice operated control, the method comprising the steps of:

measuring a first sound received from a first microphone (FM);

measuring a second sound received from a second microphone (SM);

detecting a spoken voice based on a non-difference comparison of the first and second sounds where the spoken voice is detected when the non-difference comparison exceeds a threshold;

mixing the first sound and the second sound to produce a mixed signal and controlling the production of the mixed signal based on one or more aspects of the spoken voice, by increasing a first gain of one of the first sound and the second sound and decreasing a second gain of a remaining one of the first sound and the second sound, such that the mixed signal includes a combination of the first sound and the second sound; and

controlling at least one voice operation if the spoken voice is detected,

wherein the non-difference comparison is at least one among a correlation, a cross-correlation and a comparison that uses coherence.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of detecting the spoken voice is performed if an absolute sound pressure level of the first sound or the second sound is above a predetermined threshold.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising performing a further non-difference comparison of the first sound measured by the first microphone in a first earpiece and a third sound measured by a third microphone in a second earpiece.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising performing a further non-difference comparison of the second sound measured by the second microphone in a first earpiece and an additional sound measured by an additional microphone in a second earpiece.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first sound is received from the first microphone in an earpiece and the second sound is received from the second microphone in a remote device.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the remote device includes at least one of a further earpiece, a cell phone, a media player, a portable computing device or a personal digital assistant.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the earpiece and the further earpiece are configured to be worn by a same individual.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the earpiece and the further earpiece are configured to be worn by different individuals.

Assignments (13)

Continuity (3)