IP Library Granted Patent US 12,293,753
Granted Patent B2
US 12,293,753 · App. 18/409,693 · Granted May 6, 2025

Adaptive noise cancellation and speech filtering for electronic devices

Inventors: Yang Lu (San Jose, CA); Andrew P. Bright (Los Gatos, CA); Fatos Myftari (San Jose, CA); Vasu Iyengar (Pleasanton, CA)
Assignee: Apple Inc.
G10K11/17853
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,293,753
App. No.
18/409,693
Granted
May 6, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Aspects of the subject technology provide for generation of a self-voice signal by an electronic device that is operating in an active noise cancellation mode. In this way, during a phone call, a video conference, or while listening to audio content, a user of the electronic device may benefit from active cancellation of ambient noise while still being able to hear their own voice when they speak. In various implementations described herein, the concurrent self-voice and automatic noise cancellation features are facilitated by accelerometer-based control of sidetone and/or active noise cancellation operations.

Claims (37)

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining an audio signal with a microphone of a device, the audio signal including a voice component and an ambient noise component;

generating, with a sidetone filter of the device based on the audio signal, a sidetone signal including the voice component and a residual portion of the ambient noise component, wherein the residual portion is a remaining portion of the ambient noise component that has been processed based at least in part on an accelerometer signal from an accelerometer; and

generating, with an active noise cancellation filter of the device, a noise cancellation signal configured to suppress the residual portion of the ambient noise component of the sidetone signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a gain based at least in part on the accelerometer signal from the accelerometer of the device, and applying the gain to the sidetone signal.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising determining one or more coefficients for the sidetone filter based at least in part on the accelerometer signal.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising generating one or more additional coefficients for the active noise cancellation filter based at least in part on the accelerometer signal.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein generating the sidetone signal including the voice component and the residual portion of the ambient noise component with the sidetone filter comprises generating the sidetone signal including the voice component and the residual portion of the ambient noise component with the sidetone filter using the one or more coefficients, and wherein generating the noise cancellation signal configured to suppress the residual portion of the ambient noise component of the sidetone signal comprises generating, with the active noise cancellation filter, the noise cancellation signal using the one or more additional coefficients.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising generating an uplink signal including the voice component of the audio signal for transmission to a remote device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sidetone filter is implemented, along with the active noise cancellation filter, in a low latency signal processing path.

8. A device, comprising:

a microphone;

an accelerometer;

memory; and

processing circuitry configured to:

obtain an audio signal with the microphone, the audio signal including a voice component and an ambient noise component;

generate, with a sidetone filter based on the audio signal, a sidetone signal including the voice component and a residual portion of the ambient noise component, wherein the residual portion is a remaining portion of the ambient noise component that has been processed based at least in part on an accelerometer signal from the accelerometer; and

generate, with an active noise cancellation filter, a noise cancellation signal configured to suppress the residual portion of the ambient noise component of the sidetone signal.

9. The device of claim 8 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine a gain based at least in part on the accelerometer signal from the accelerometer of the device, and apply the gain to the sidetone signal.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine one or more coefficients for the sidetone filter based at least in part on the accelerometer signal.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate one or more additional coefficients for the active noise cancellation filter based at least in part on the accelerometer signal.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

generate the sidetone signal including the voice component and the residual portion of the ambient noise component with the sidetone filter using the one or more coefficients, and

generate the noise cancellation signal configured to suppress the residual portion of the ambient noise component of the sidetone signal at least in part by generating, with the active noise cancellation filter, the noise cancellation signal using the one or more additional coefficients.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to generate an uplink signal including the voice component of the audio signal for transmission to a remote device.

14. The device of claim 8 , wherein the sidetone filter is implemented, along with the active noise cancellation filter, in a low latency signal processing path.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

obtaining an audio signal with a microphone of a device, the audio signal including a voice component and an ambient noise component;

generating, with a sidetone filter of the device based on the audio signal, a sidetone signal including the voice component and a residual portion of the ambient noise component, wherein the residual portion is a remaining portion of the ambient noise component that has been processed based at least in part on an accelerometer signal from an accelerometer; and

generating, with an active noise cancellation filter of the device, a noise cancellation signal configured to suppress the residual portion of the ambient noise component of the sidetone signal.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:

determining a gain based at least in part on the accelerometer signal from the accelerometer of the device; and

applying the gain to the sidetone signal.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , the operations further comprising determining one or more coefficients for the sidetone filter based at least in part on the accelerometer signal.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , the operations further comprising generating one or more additional coefficients for the active noise cancellation filter based at least in part on the accelerometer signal.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein generating the sidetone signal including the voice component and the residual portion of the ambient noise component with the sidetone filter comprises generating the sidetone signal including the voice component and the residual portion of the ambient noise component with the sidetone filter using the one or more coefficients, and wherein generating the noise cancellation signal configured to suppress the residual portion of the ambient noise component of the sidetone signal comprises generating, with the active noise cancellation filter, the noise cancellation signal using the one or more additional coefficients.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the sidetone filter is implemented, along with the active noise cancellation filter, in a low latency signal processing path.

Continuity (2)
Division 17746930 · May 17, 2022
Related Publication 20240144906A1 · May 2, 2024
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