Granted Patent B2

US 12,610,184 · App. 18/116,148 · Granted Apr 21, 2026

Inventor: Sangheon Kim (Suwon-si, KR)

Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

H04R3/005G06F3/162H04N23/63H04R1/028H04R1/326H04R5/027H04R29/008H04S3/008H04M1/72412H04R2499/11H04S2400/01H04S2400/13

Abstract

Claims (75)

1 . An electronic device comprising:

a communication interface configured to communicate with an external device using ultra-wide band (UWB);

a microphone configured to receive an audio signal;

a camera configured to capture an image including a subject adjacent to the external device;

a sensor configured to detect a direction of the camera;

a display configured to display the captured image;

at least one memory configured to store at least one instruction; and

at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is in operative communication with the communication interface, the microphone, the camera, the sensor, the display, and the memory, and is configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

acquire ranging information and angle information with respect to the external device based on data received from the external device,

acquire image capture direction information based on the direction of the camera detected by the sensor,

identify the external device for acquiring an audio signal of the subject based on the acquired image capture direction information, ranging information, and angle information,

control the microphone to acquire an audio signal of the subject when a distance to the external device is less than a predetermined distance,

control the communication interface to acquire the audio signal of the subject from the external device when the distance to the external device is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance, wherein the audio signal acquired by the communication interface is received through at least one of a microphone of the external device or a wireless device that is communicatively connected to the external device, and

control the display to display a user interface (UI) indicating a magnitude of the acquired audio signal together with the captured image,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

identify whether a record thread is in an active state, and

based on identifying the record thread as being in the active state, generate a plurality of record tracks related to the acquired audio signal, and connect the plurality of record tracks related to the acquired audio signal to the record thread in the active state to form multiple record threads.

2 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

based on identifying the record thread as being in an inactive state, perform an initial recording setting process to store the acquired audio signal, generate the record thread, generate a plurality of record tracks for the generated record thread, store data related to the acquired audio signal in the at least one memory based on the plurality of generated record tracks, and display the data on the display.

3 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the initial recording setting process comprises at least one of a codec setting process, an audio DSP setting process, a kernel driver setting process, or an audio hardware abstraction layer (HAL) setting process.

4 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to identify a peak level of the acquired audio signal using at least one record track related to the audio signal from the plurality of generated record tracks.

5 . The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to control the display to display the identified peak level as a magnitude of the acquired audio signal.

6 . The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

determine whether the acquired audio signal satisfies a beamforming condition,

based on determining that the acquired audio signal satisfies the beamforming condition, separate the acquired audio signal into a plurality of channels based on directionality and store the plurality of channels in the at least one memory, and

based on determining that the acquired audio signal does not satisfy the beamforming condition, separate the acquired audio signal into a plurality of channels based on a number of microphones and store the plurality of channels in the at least one memory.

7 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to control a volume of the audio signal for each record track or each channel.

8 . The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

control the communication interface to transmit a response request signal to the external device and to receive a response signal, and

acquire the ranging information based on an elapsed time between a time at which the response request signal is transmitted to a time at which the response signal is received.

9 . The electronic device of claim 1 ,

wherein the microphone comprises a directional microphone, and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least on instruction to: mute an audio signal acquired through the microphone from a direction other than a direction in which the directional microphone is directed.

10 . A method of controlling an electronic device comprising:

capturing an image including a subject adjacent to an external device;

acquiring ranging information and angle information with respect to the external device based on data received from the external device via ultra-wide band (UWB) communications;

acquiring image capture direction information based on a direction of a camera detected by a sensor;

identifying the external device for acquiring an audio signal of the subject based on the acquired image capture direction information, ranging information, and angle information;

controlling a microphone to acquire an audio signal of the subject when a distance to the external device is less than a predetermined distance;

acquiring the audio signal of the subject through the external device when the distance to the external device is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance, wherein the audio signal of the subject acquired through the external device is received through at least one of a microphone of the external device or a wireless device that is communicatively connected to the external device; and

displaying a user interface (UI) indicating a magnitude of the acquired audio signal together with the captured image,

wherein the method further comprises:

identifying whether a record thread is in an active state; and

based on identifying the record thread as being in the active state, generating a plurality of record tracks related to the acquired audio signal, and connecting the plurality of record tracks related to the acquired audio signal to the record thread in the active state to form multiple record threads.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

based on identifying the record thread as being in an inactive state, performing an initial recording setting process to store the acquired audio signal in a memory, generating the record thread, generating a plurality of record tracks for the generated record thread, and storing and displaying data related to the acquired audio signal based on the plurality of generated record tracks.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the initial recording setting process comprises at least one of a codec setting process, an audio DSP setting process, a kernel driver setting process, or an audio hardware abstraction layer (HAL) setting process.

13 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

identifying a peak level of the acquired audio signal using at least one record track related to the audio signal from the plurality of generated record tracks.

14 . An electronic device comprising:

a camera configured to capture an image including a subject adjacent to one or more external devices;

a sensor configured to detect a direction of the camera;

a communication interface configured to communicate with an external device from among the one or more external devices using ultra-wide band (UWB);

a microphone configured to receive an audio signal;

a display configured to display the captured image;

at least one memory configured to store at least one instruction; and

at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is in operative communication with the communication interface, the microphone, the camera, the sensor, the display, and the memory, and is configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

identify, based on the captured image, an external device that is adjacent to the subject from among the one or more external devices,

acquire ranging information and angle information with respect to the identified external device based on data received from the identified external device,

acquire image capture direction information based on the direction of the camera detected by the sensor,

control the microphone to acquire an audio signal of the subject when a distance to the identified external device is less than a predetermined distance,

control the communication interface to acquire the audio signal of the subject from the identified external device when the distance to the identified external device is greater than or equal to a predetermined distance, wherein the audio signal acquired by the communication interface is received through at least one of a microphone of the external device or a wireless device that is communicatively connected to the external device, and

control the display to display a user interface (UI) indicating a magnitude of the acquired audio signal together with the captured image,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

identify whether a record thread is in an active state, and

based on identifying the record thread as being in the active state, generate a plurality of record tracks related to the acquired audio signal, and connect the plurality of record tracks related to the acquired audio signal to the record thread in the active state to form multiple record threads.

15 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

based on identifying the record thread as being in an inactive state, perform an initial recording setting process to store the acquired audio signal, generate the record thread, generate a plurality of record tracks for the generated record thread, store data related to the acquired audio signal in the at least one memory based on the plurality of generated record tracks, and display the data on the display.

16 . The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

determine whether the acquired audio signal satisfies a beamforming condition,

based on determining that the acquired audio signal satisfies the beamforming condition, separate the acquired audio signal into a plurality of channels based on directionality and store the plurality of channels in the at least one memory, and

based on determining that the acquired audio signal does not satisfy the beamforming condition, separate the acquired audio signal into a plurality of channels based on a number of microphones and store the plurality of channels in the at least one memory.

17 . The electronic device of claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the at least one instruction to:

control the communication interface to transmit a response request signal to the identified external device and to receive a response signal, and

acquire the ranging information based on an elapsed time between a time at which the response request signal is transmitted to a time at which the response signal is received.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (58)