Patent Application
20090046868
The present invention relates to headphones, and particularly to active noise cancellation in headphones.
Many headphones having one or two headphones, particularly those that provide noise cancellation, generally include a cable mounted with an “in line” control pod. Such pods are necessarily small in size and weight, and, consequently, provide diminutive controls, levers, and switches for controlling operation of the headphones. These control elements may be so small that they provide poor visual and tactile feedback of the adjustment.
If control elements are mounted on the headphones, the operation of the headphones becomes even more difficult because the control elements are not visible and the operation may interfere with hairstyling, glasses, and ears. A user generally has to repeatedly take the headset on and off to adjust the controls.
In addition to the problem of using the controls, the control elements may add weight to a headphone, making a user wearing the headphone more uncomfortable. Adding controls to a headphone may have other undesirable effects. It may increase the size and cost of a headphone. At the same time, it may decrease the reliability of the headphone because these controls are generally small in size, making them less durable. As more controls are added to the design in the form of additional switches or knobs, the more complex the unit becomes, thereby decreasing the overall usability of the headphones. Users may be intimidated by the large number of controls. Furthermore, labeling the controls becomes an issue as well. As the space is limited, label space is also limited. As such, there is a need to reduce the number of input mechanisms for controlling a headphone, while supporting more control functions.
Another problem of a conventional noise reduction headphone is that fixed noise reduction filters are used, which limits the amount of noise reduction available, and does not allow a user to vary the noise canceling characteristics based on the external noise. For example, a user may wish that certain types of noise, such as voices or emergency sirens, not be canceled. The types of noise that should be canceled, and those that should not be canceled, may vary depending on the environment where the headphones are worn. Accordingly, filters that meet these needs would be desirable.
The present invention overcomes the problems mentioned above by providing a headphone that allows the user to enter commands for operating the headphone using a microphone included with headphone. Headphone that provide noise cancellation generally include a microphone for sensing ambient noise. The present invention enables a user to enter commands via the microphone for controlling the operation of the headphone.
According to an aspect, the invention provides a method comprising the steps of: detecting a signal via a microphone; determining a characteristic of the detected signal; and controlling the headphone in accordance with the characteristic of the detected signal. The characteristic may include, for example, but not limited to, audio signals generated by the user tapping the headphones a specified number of times, a specified number of times with intervals that exceed a threshold length, and a specified number of times on a front microphone and a back microphone. The audio signal produced by a user tapping on the microphone, or a microphone dedicated to receiving user input, will have a definite frequency output and may be used by the system to recognize the user input.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a headphone, comprising: a microphone for receiving noise; a controller coupled to the microphone, wherein, in response to detection of a signal having a specified characteristic, the controller controls operation of the headphone in response to detection of the specified characteristic.
According to another aspect, the invention provides a microphone for a headphone, comprising: an input positioned in a recess below a surface of the headphone; a plate adjacent the input; a striking member having proximal and distal ends, the striking member situated in a first position in the absence of an applied force in which the proximal end is positioned to be engaged by a finger of a user, the striking member mounted so that the distal end strikes the plate when the striking member is urged toward the plate.
Controller 130 instructs an audio processor and filter 140 to perform a function specified by the command. For example, if the command is to select a particular filter, the controller 130 instructs the audio processing and filter 140 to select that particular filter. If the command is to change the volume, the controller 130 instructs the audio processing and filter 140 to change the volume in accordance with the command.
The controller 130 can also provide a feedback to a user sending the command indicating that a command has been received or prompt a further command from the user. For example, the controller 130 may generate a beep, series of beeps, modulated tone, or synthesized voice into the headphones, indicating that a valid command has been received. In
Audio processing and filter 140 combines, in each channel, the audio source material signals and the ambient noise signals (which may be filtered), and outputs those signals to buffer amplifiers 170, 172. Signals from voice generator 150 are also coupled to buffer amplifiers 170, 172. Buffer amplifiers sum and amplify the received signals to provide driving signals to respective left and right speakers 180, 182.
The controller 130 can provide a feedback by prompting a user to confirm whether the user has entered a particular command. For example, referring to
The user can send a signal, for example, tapping the microphone once to indicate a “YES” or send another signal, for example, tapping the microphone twice to indicate a “NO.” The voice generator 150 may generate a prompt message such as “Tap once to confirm, tap twice to cancel.” If no discernable response is received within a selected time period after the prompt, the controller 130 may repeat the prompt once, as indicated at 206, 208 and 210, or simply disregard the command. If the command is rejected by the user, such as by inputting a “NO”, in response to the prompt, then the process is at an end, as indicated at 212. If the command is confirmed, such as by a “YES” received in response to the prompt, as indicated at 214, then controller 130 instructs audio processing and filters 140 to execute the command, such as increasing the volume.
The headset may be configured to transmit control signals to other apparatus remote from a headset user, such as a telephone, CD player, DVD, VCR, television, MP3 player, karaoke machine, and home security system. The step of operating the headphone, in response to the command, may thus include transmitting control signals. Control signals can be wirelessly sent from a wireless transmitter 160, which may operate employing an infrared, ultraviolet, radiofrequency, or other carrier, with suitable modulation. Wireless transmitter 160 may also be configured for reception of signals. For example, the remote apparatus may be configured to provide an acknowledgment signal to the headset, and the wireless transmitter may receive this signal and transmit the signal to the controller. Wired transmission to remote devices may also be employed.
Illustratively, several methods of inputting a command are possible, each creating a condition in the system that is not normally present. This condition can be used to trigger the controller 130 to indicate that an incoming command is being received.
In the first example, a user can create a signal having a predefined, or specified, characteristic using a finger to strike, tap, or touch a headphone on or near one of the microphones, one or more times in succession. The striking, tapping or touching of the headphone on or near one of the microphones creates a high-amplitude, short duration sound signal. The terms “tap” and “tapping” are used herein to designate the creation of such a high-amplitude, short duration sound pulse by striking, tapping, touching or otherwise contacting any portion of a headset on or near a microphone input, as well as the pulses themselves. One predefined characteristic of a signal may be the combination of high-amplitude and short duration. Other predefined characteristics may be the numbers of pulses received in an time interval, the duration of time intervals between such pulses, and the patterns of pulses provided at various microphones on headphones having more than one microphone. The control recognition means (CRM) 120 can decode this signal by looking for presence of the high amplitude pulses, with the command being determined by the timing and/or number of pulses received. As an example of the timing, a first tap followed by a second tap within a threshold time interval may have a different meaning than a first tap followed by a second tap after a time interval greater than the threshold.
Since two or more microphone inputs may exist in a headset, the variety of commands may be increased by providing different meanings to the same pattern of taps on different microphones, and as such, a number of different commands are possible. The CRM recognition abilities can be further improved by tapping or touching both microphone inputs to signal the CRM. For example, in a headphone having right and left microphone inputs, tapping on or near the right microphone input twice, then on or near the left microphone twice, might signal to the controller to increase the filter bandwidth, whereas tapping twice on or near the left microphone input first, then tapping twice on or near the right microphone input, might mean to decrease the filter bandwidth.
Additional microphones may be provided on the headset, suitably spaced from one another to reduce the possibility of the user inadvertently activating a microphone other than that intended. For example, microphones may be provided on the front and rear of a headphone on each side. This may permit the user to obtain the benefit of relatively complex commands afforded by multiple microphones, without the need to use both hands to provide inputs.
Table 1 shows an exemplary mapping between input tapping signals and commands.
Another method of providing commands using headphone microphone inputs is to cover one of the microphone inputs, such as with a finger. In a headphone with two inputs, the CRM may be configured to compare noise levels received at the two inputs, and only to accept control signals if the comparison indicates a threshold difference between the respective noise levels. This condition may only be operative if the higher detected ambient noise level is above a threshold, as covering one of the microphones will result in a relatively small difference in environments with very low ambient noise levels. The CRM then actively compares the received ambient noise on the higher noise channel with known patterns.
As with tapping a microphone, the number of possible commands is increased since there are two microphone in the system. For example, covering the left microphone and tapping twice on the right microphone might signal to the controller to increase the headset volume, whereas covering the right microphone and tapping twice on the left microphone might mean to decrease the volume.
Of course, other methods of providing commands using the microphone inputs on a headphone can be used as well. For example, quiet periods may be created by covering a microphone input. The CRM can detect the duration of a quiet period, the interval between two quiet periods, or the combination of both for each or both headphones, and map an input signal to a particular command.
The system and method described above obtains at least the following advantages over conventional designs that utilize external headphone controls. First, commands may be provided even in a high noise environment. Second, in some embodiments, no moving parts, such as mechanical switches or knobs, are needed, thereby increasing reliability and decreasing costs of fabrication. Third, no external headphone controls are needed, so no weight is added to the design, and no space is used on the headphone. Fourth, the user does not need to remove the headphones in order to change settings. Fifth, no openings in a headphone housing are needed to accommodate switches and knobs, the headphones remain better sealed against the environment. Sixth, less space is required for labels.
As an alternative or in addition to the techniques above, the CRM and controller (or an additional signal processor) may perform voice recognition. Recognized voice commands will result in prompts and/or commands issued to audio processing and filters as described above. Since the spectral characteristics of a voice message are quite different from that of a noise signal, the CRM may periodically sample signals received from the microphones, and, if the spectral characteristics match, pass the received signal to the controller or a DSP for voice recognition. If the CRM has sufficient processing capability, the CRM may perform voice recognition functions. The controller may translate the received voice message into a particular command, and either prompt the user or instruct a change in settings, as appropriate.
Referring now to
Striking member 320 may take other forms, such as a rod of narrow diameter relative to the diameter of bore 315, so that striking member 320 interferes as little as possible with transmission of sound to microphone 310. A strike plate 330, which may be of any suitable shape, is located near microphone 320. Strike plate 330 is preferably shaped suitably to provide a target for distal or striking end 322 of striking member 320. In the illustrated embodiment, striking member 320 is a hollow right circular cylinder, open at both ends, and strike plate 330 is a planar, circular member, so that the entire distal end of striking member 320 contacts strike plate 330. Both the distal end 322 of striking member 320 and strike plate 330 are preferably rigid materials, so that an impact of distal end 322 on strike plate 330 produces a short duration, high-intensity pulse. This pulse sound is consistent and hence may be easier to distinguish from ambient noise than the sound of a finger striking the surface of a headphone.
When no command is being provided to the microphone, ambient noise travels both through, as indicated by the arrows in
In another embodiment of the invention, a headphone is provided with active noise reduction including active noise reduction filters applicable to one or more predefined frequency bands selectable by a user, and filters with frequency bands and/or gains selectable by a user, as illustrated in
Referring to
Switchable frequency bands, and high pass, low pass, and mid pass filters, as shown in
The noise processing of the left and right headphone is similar. For simplicity,
As an example of constructing the filters, assume that the controller decides that first and second frequency bands of the ambient noise should be cancelled or reduced, the controller instructs a digital signal processor included in the DSP system to construct two band pass filters for passing the respective first and second bands. These two band pass filters should be arranged in parallel, so that both bands are present at the output.
If a programmable filter array is used, the programmable array should includes many filters, each having a different passing band, and capable of being connected in parallel or in series in any combination.
If a digital signal processor is used to construct the filters, the digital signal processor should also perform the DFT as discussed above. In this embodiment, the ambient noise received by the microphone is converted to a digital signal by a second analog to digital converter, the digital signal is transformed into frequency domain, the digital signal in frequency domain is passed through the constructed filters, the filtered signal is inversely transformed into time domain, the filtered signal in time domain is inverted by an inverter, the inverted signal is converted to analog signal by a digital to analog converter, and the converted analog signal is then sent to the summing amplifier. The second analog to digital converter and the digital to analog converter are not shown for simplicity. The filters constructed by the digital signal processor can be IIR or FIR filters as known in the art.
If a digital programmable filter array is used, the received ambient noise is converted into digital, transformed into time domain, and the filtered signal is inversely transformed to time domain, inverted, and converted in a analog signal, as described above for using a digital signal processor.
If an analog programmable filter array is used, no analog to digital converter, digital to analog converter, and transformation is needed.
According to another aspect of the invention, after characterizing the noise, the controller based on the spectrum and amplitude information of the ambient noise selects one of the predefined filters as shown in
The system preferably is automatic. However, the system may be started after receiving a particular user command. In addition, the system after deciding a filter or a set of filters in response to a user command can stop the processing, so that the determined filter arrangement is used until another user command for adjusting the filter arrangement has been received.
In one embodiment of the invention, a function and associated user command may be provided to have the system construct a filter to cancel noise received at a user-selected time. A function and associated user command may also be provided to have the system designate a certain frequency range as not to be cancelled, based on characterizing a sound received at a user-selected time. For construction, a user command is provided for construction of a filter. This command may be provided in any suitable manner, including through a special-purpose button, a pattern of controls, and/or a pattern of tapping. Upon receipt of the command, the system characterizes the sound received at the microphones. A filter is constructed to provide cancellation of sound within a frequency range determined by the received sound, such as a frequency range in which the received sound is above a threshold level. The constructed filter characteristics are stored in memory. The memory location is then associated with a user-defined command. For example, through voice prompts, the user may be able to select a name or set of commands for the memory location corresponding to the constructed filter.
In one example, a user might desire to optimize the system for driving in a car, and want to cancel road noise, but not voices. The user, while driving, with little sound other than road noise being received, would provide the appropriate command to the system by pressing an exemplary “CANCEL NOISE” button. In response to the command, the DSP would analyze the received acoustic signal, which, as noted, at least a majority of which is in the form of road noise. The DSP may determine that the noise associated with the acoustic signal is in a frequency band from 50 Hz to 400 Hz. The system then constructs a filter that operates to effectively cancel the noise corresponding to this frequency band associated with the received signal. Now the system stores the constructed filter, in the form of parameters defining the determined frequency band, in memory. The user may be provided a command that causes the constructed filter to be activated, thereby causing the system to cancel incoming microphone signals in this frequency band.
For selection of a frequency band to be passed through (i.e., frequency components of a received signal that are not intended to be subject to noise cancellation filtering), a user command is provided for designation of a band to be passed through. This command may be provided in any suitable manner, including through a special-purpose button, a pattern of controls, and/or a pattern of tapping. Upon receipt of the command, the system characterizes the sound received at the microphones. A pass-through band, defined by a frequency range determined by the received sound, such as a frequency range in which the received sound is above a threshold level, may be stored in memory. The user may be provided with an option to have received sound in this pass-through band always pass through, or pass through only when the user so selects. If this pass-through band is only to be passed through upon user selection, the memory location is then associated with a user-defined command. For example, through voice prompts, the user may be able to select a name or set of commands for the memory location corresponding to this pass-through band.
By way of example, a user might want to be able to hear an individual talking. The user may, while the individual is talking, and relatively little other sound is being received, communicate the command to create a pass-through band, such as through an exemplary “PASS THROUGH” button. In response to the command, the system would analyze the received sound, and determine that the sound is above a threshold level in a band, such as a band from 500 Hz to 1300 Hz. Now the system would store the pass-through band, in the form of parameters defining this frequency band, in memory. If desired, the system may then pass through all incoming microphone signals in this pass-through band. Alternatively, the user may be prompted to designate a command to selectively activate the pass through function for sounds in this pass-through band.
Pass-through bands may be predetermined as a default or as a feature that cannot be changed by the user. For example, a band corresponding to an emergency siren, such as 900 Hz to 1000 Hz, could be predetermined as a pass-through band. Such a pass-through band could be automatically activated when a particular custom filter, such as a car noise custom filter, is selected by the user. Alternatively, a command may be provided for the user to selectively activate pass through of such a band.
A pass-through band may, as a default, always override cancellation of frequencies in the pass-through band by an existing or constructed filter. Alternatively, the user may have the option of having a pass-through band override one or more cancellation filters. For example, if, in the example above relating to road noise, the constructed filter canceled received sound in the range from 50 Hz to 400 Hz, but the pass-through band created by receiving the individual's voice was from 300 Hz to 1300 Hz, the default could always select the overlap, in the 300 Hz to 400 Hz range, to be passed through. Alternatively, the default could always select the overlap to be canceled. In either case, the user may have the option of overriding the default.
The system can be implemented using discrete elements, or done entirely in a digital signal processor. That is the analog-to-digital conversion and discrete Fourier transform (DFT) calculation, applied filter, and summing function can all be performed in a DSP integrated circuit (IC). Additionally, any of these functions could be performed by the controller if the controller has the capabilities. That is, if the controller has an A/D input and has the processing power, and a digital-to-analog conversion (d/a) output, this could all be done by the controller.
An advantage of this invention is that the headphone may be controlled in response to user input, without adding control elements that require the addition of user adjustable elements to the headphone or a control pod associated with the headphone. A further advantage of this invention is that the programmable filters and the ability to characterize the noise, allow any noise spectra to be dynamically cancelled or reduced. This aspect of invention can be implemented completely by software or in one IC, and is operative with any noise environment. A major advantage of using programmable filters is that one could exclude filtering of signals in certain frequency bands or amplitudes, such as human speech and sirens, for safety, legal, or other reasons.
While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/US05/25062 | 7/14/2005 | WO | 00 | 3/14/2007 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60612626 | Sep 2004 | US |
