IP Library Granted Patent US 11,729,549
Granted Patent B2
US 11,729,549 · App. 17/130,175 · Granted Aug 15, 2023

Voice ducking with spatial speech separation for vehicle audio system

Inventors: Christopher Michael Trestain (Livonia, MI); Riley Winton (Opelika, AL); Christopher Ludwig (Bloomfield Hills, MI)
Assignee: Harman International Industries, Incorporated
H04R3/005G10L15/22H04R3/12G10L2015/225G10L2015/228H04R2499/13
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,729,549
App. No.
17/130,175
Granted
Aug 15, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

A vehicle loudspeaker system, including at least two microphones forming a microphone array, at least one loudspeaker configured to emit non-human sound, a processor programmed to receive incoming audio signals from the microphone array. The processor further programmed to apply beamforming to the incoming audio signals, determine whether human generated sound is detected within the audio signal, and instruct the loudspeaker to adjust the non-human sound in response to human generated sound being detected.

Claims (26)

1. A vehicle loudspeaker system, comprising:

at least two microphones forming a microphone array;

at least one loudspeaker configured to emit sounds that include non-human sound;

a processor programmed to:

receive incoming audio signals from the microphone array;

apply beamforming to the incoming audio signals;

determine whether human generated sound is detected within the incoming audio signals based at least in part on an acoustic input of at least one of the incoming audio signals being above a threshold, wherein the acoustic input is associated with a specific region within the vehicle; and

decrease a volume of the non-human sound to be produced by the loudspeaker system in response to human generated sound being detected.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the microphone array is arranged adjacent an occupant's head within the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to apply at least one of noise suppression or echo cancelation to at least one incoming audio signal with the beamforming.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is programmed to detect human generated sound at the microphone array in response to the microphone array detecting acoustic signals.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the microphone array includes four microphones.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions tar a loudspeaker system that generates audio in a vehicle, comprising:

receiving incoming audio signals from a vehicle microphone array;

applying beamforming to the incoming audio signals;

determining whether human generated sound is detected within the incoming audio signals based at least in part on an acoustic input within the audio signal being above a threshold, wherein the acoustic input is associated with a specific region within the vehicle via the beamforming; and

decreasing a volume of the non-human sound to be produced by the loudspeaker system in response to human generated sound being detected.

7. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the acoustic input is associated with the specific region via the beamforming.

8. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the microphone array is arranged adjacent an occupant's head within the vehicle.

9. The medium of claim 6 , further comprising applying at least one of noise suppression or echo cancelation to at least one audio signal with the beamforming.

10. The medium of claim 6 , further comprising detecting human generated sound at the microphone array in response to the microphone array detecting acoustic signals.

11. A method for generating audio via a loudspeaker system in a vehicle, the comprising:

receiving incoming audio signals from a vehicle microphone array;

applying beamforming to the incoming audio signals;

determining whether human generated sound is detected within the incoming audio signals based at least in part on an acoustic input within the audio signal being above a threshold, wherein the acoustic input is associated with a specific region within the vehicle via the beamforming; and

decreasing a volume of the non-human sound to be produced by the loudspeaker system in response to human generated sound being detected.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 15, 2021
From: TRESTAIN, CHRISTOPHER MICHAEL; WINTON, RILEY; LUDWIG, CHRISTOPHER
To: HARMAN INTERNATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INCORPORATED
Reel/Frame 055259/0033 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 62954991 · Dec 30, 2019
Related Publication 20210204059A1 · Jul 1, 2021