IP Library Granted Patent US 11,146,909
Granted Patent B1
US 11,146,909 · App. 16/870,752 · Granted Oct 12, 2021

Audio-based presence detection

Inventors: Stephen E. Pinto (Sunnyvale, CA); Chad Himeda (Dublin, CA)
Assignee: APPLE INC.
H04S7/304G10L25/06H04R1/1091H04R2460/13
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,146,909
App. No.
16/870,752
Filed
May 8, 2020
Granted
Oct 12, 2021
Kind
B1
Art Unit
2653
USPC
381/309
Abstract

A device can receive an audio signal and determine a measure of correlation between the audio signal and a microphone signal. The audio signal can be attenuated based on the measure of correlation. The audio signal can be used to drive one or more speakers of the device. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Claims (46)

1. A method for processing audio for a device, comprising

receiving an audio signal that is used to drive one or more speakers of the device;

determining a measure of correlation between a microphone signal and the audio signal; and

attenuating the audio signal based on the measure of correlation between the microphone signal and the audio signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein attenuation of the audio signal increases as the measure of correlation increases.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein

determining the measure of correlation includes calculating an impulse response based on the microphone signal and the audio signal, and

the measure of correlation is an energy of the calculated impulse response.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein attenuating the audio signal based on the measure of correlation comprises:

if the measure of correlation satisfies a threshold criterion:

attenuating the audio signal to an inaudible level over the one or more speakers; and

driving the one or more speakers with the microphone signal.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising boosting a level of the microphone signal prior to driving the one or more speakers with the microphone signal.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using the audio signal or an attenuated version of the audio signal as a reference to perform echo cancelation on the microphone signal prior to determining the measure of correlation between the microphone signal and the audio signal.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the microphone signal is a beamformed signal generated from a plurality of microphone signals received from a plurality of microphones.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein

the beamformed signal is selected from a plurality of beamformed signals formed from the plurality of microphone signals, the selection being based on having a highest correlation to the audio signal.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising spatializing the audio signal in a direction associated with the beamformed signal having the highest correlation, wherein a resulting spatialized version of the audio signal is used to drive the one or more speakers.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device is a headworn device that does not have a sealed enclosure that fits over an ear of a user.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more speakers includes a bone conduction speaker.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the device is a headworn device that allows sound to pass to a user's ear.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio signal is received over a network from another device.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio signal contains data representing speech of another user and the method further comprises communicating data from the microphone signal to the other user.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising spatializing the audio signal, wherein a spatialized version of the audio signal is used to drive the one or more speakers.

16. A system, including:

a processor;

one or more speakers of a headworn device;

a microphone that senses sound in a user environment and generates a microphone signal; and

non-transitory computer-readable memory having stored therein instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to perform the following:

receiving an audio signal that is used to drive the one or more speakers of the headworn device;

determining a measure of correlation between the microphone signal, and the audio signal; and

attenuating the audio signal based on the measure of correlation between the microphone signal and the audio signal.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the headworn device does not have a soundproof enclosure that fits over an ear of a user.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein

determining the measure of correlation includes calculating an impulse response based on the microphone signal and the audio signal, and

the measure of correlation is an energy of the calculated impulse response.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein attenuating the audio signal based on the measure of correlation comprises:

if the measure of correlation satisfies a threshold criterion:

attenuating the audio signal to an inaudible level over the one or more speakers; and

driving the one or more speakers with the microphone signal.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising boosting a level of the microphone signal prior to driving the one or more speakers with the microphone signal.

21. The system of claim 16 , further comprising using the audio signal or an attenuated version of the audio signal as a reference to perform echo cancelation on the microphone signal prior to determining the measure of correlation between the microphone signal and the audio signal.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable program instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform the following:

receiving an audio signal that is used to drive one or more speakers of a device;

determining a measure of correlation between a microphone signal, and the audio signal; and

attenuating the audio signal based on the measure of correlation between the microphone signal and the audio signal.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jun 9, 2020
From: PINTO, STEPHEN E.; HIMEDA, CHAD
To: APPLE INC.
Reel/Frame 052885/0060 →
Continuity (1)
Provisional Application 62850332 · May 20, 2019
Cited By (28)
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