1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to wireless devices and more particularly, to wireless devices that capture multiple channel audio signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The mechanical and electrical aspects of a speaker are well known by those having ordinary skill in the art. In its normal use, a speaker is a transducer which converts electrical signals to audio waves. Most speakers are constructed of an electromagnet surrounded by a natural permanent magnet. Coiled wire on the electromagnet is connected to a positive speaker wire on one end and a negative speaker wire on the other end. When an electrical current is sent through the wire, the electromagnet becomes magnetized and acts like a second natural magnet. Changing the orientation of the poles causes the electromagnet to become attracted to, or repelled by, the permanent natural magnet, causing the electromagnet to move back and forth, causing a speaker cone to move and, as a result, push air. This movement of air particles, known as a sound wave, is the sound we hear.
The human brain has the ability to automatically detect the location of a source of sound waves by measuring even very small time delay and amplitude differences between the waves when received in one ear compared to the same wave received in the other ear. Because the brain is used to determine signal sources in this manner, the recreation of sounds on a single source, such as a single speaker, or multiple speakers broadcasting the same audio signal, do not seem realistic. For instance, when a single microphone records a conversation between two people, a single audio channel is captured. The channel can record the audio signals received, but cannot detect and record the phase difference between separate audio sources, i.e., the two people. This is called “single channel” audio capture. When the single channel audio capture is played back, the recording sounds as though both people are standing in the same location without any perceivable acoustical separation between the audio sources.
Recording audio onto multiple channels has been known for quite some time. Recording on multiple channels allows for a more realistic recreation of the original audio sources to recreate the separation between the audio sources along with the attendant phase differences. A few common uses of a multi-channel recording include home stereo systems and movie theater sound systems, where multiple speakers are utilized. For instance, when watching a movie in a theater, multiple speakers are distributed throughout the room. When an actor in the center of the screen speaks, his voice emanates from the front speakers. When an actor on the left speaks, his voice emanates from speakers on the left side of the theater. The opposite takes place for an actor on the right side of the screen. This type of playback is commonly called “surround sound.”
A surround-sound recording can be created with two or more channels. Examples can be found at online URL electronics.howstuffworks.com. For example, when recording on only two channels, four streams of information can be derived. The four streams are:
In this way, a center channel can be realized even though only the right and left channels were originally recorded. The signal for the center channel is recorded on both the A stream and the B stream. The center signals recorded on both streams are identical in amplitude and frequency, and they are synchronized exactly. When the sounds are recreated, stream A can be played on a first speaker, stream B can be played on a second speaker, and the difference between the information in stream A and stream B can be played back on a center speaker to recreate the center channel. Of course, having a third input channel allows a center channel to be recorded directly and produces a three-channel output with the advantage of not having to mathematically manipulate two other signals. Thus, the more input channels available, the better the playback quality will be. Because the playback of surround sound is so realistic, the capture of multiple channels is becoming desirable in many applications.
Radio frequency communication systems, such as portable telephone systems, permit a user to communicate from locations within a broad geographic coverage area. Portable telephones generally have a compact size so that the user may more easily carry the telephone, and typically include a housing, or “handset,” containing a transceiver circuit, a user interface, a speaker at one end and a microphone at the other. The user interface includes a keypad and a display. The speaker and microphone are positioned so that the handset can be held with the speaker adjacent to the user's ear and the microphone in proximity to the user's mouth. The speaker is employed to convert electrical signals into sound waves in the human-audible frequency range of 20 Hertz (Hz) to 20,000 kilo-Hertz (kHz). When positioned against the user's ear during private operation, the speaker enables a user of the telephone to hear a representation of a caller's voice, as well as other sounds such as dial tones. The microphone is employed to do the opposite; it converts sound waves into electrical signals so they can be transmitted to the receiving device and converted back into sound waves.
Some wireless devices, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,101B1, incorporate both cellular and dispatch (two-way) modes of operation to provide the user with the option of using either duplex communications through the cellular mode or simplex communications through the dispatch mode. The dispatch and cellular modes may be offered through the use of two separate speakers (transducers), one for each mode of operation. Other wireless devices port the audio through a single speaker by internally switching between dispatch and cellular operating modes.
Most cellular phones are also provided with an external jack, with which to attach an additional small speaker, called an earpiece. The earpiece is attached to a wire connecting the small speaker to the phone. This setup provides a distance between the speaker and the microphone in the handset.
Currently, cellular phones capture sound with a single microphone and transmit audio information as at least one channel. Other wireless devices, such as PDA's, computers, and more suffer from the same disadvantage. Thus, the capture of high quality, multi-channel audio is not currently possible from prior art wireless devices.
Accordingly, a need exists for a wireless device that captures multi-channel audio.
The present invention concerns a wireless device for capturing multiple channel audio. The wireless device includes a microphone for capturing a first audio channel and at least one speaker for capturing additional audio channels. Each speaker has a switch to enable the speaker to operate as an additional microphone for capturing at least one additional audio channel. The device also has a comparator, connected to a plurality of audio channels including the first audio channel and any additional audio channels, so that the comparator identifies which of the audio channels has a predetermined signal strength so as to identify one of the audio channels as a reference audio channel. Additionally, the comparator identifies which of the audio channels has a predetermined phase and identifies one of the audio channels as reference phase channel. The device also has an encoder for receiving the plurality of audio channels to produce an output over at least one channel where the reference audio channel forms a reference signal and the audio channels other than the reference signal each form a delta signal from the reference channel.
The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views and which together with the detailed description below are incorporated in and form part of the specification, serve to further illustrate various embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages all in accordance with the present invention, in which:
General:
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which can be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Further, the terms and phrases used herein are not intended to be limiting; but rather, to provide an understandable description of the invention.
The terms a or an, as used herein, are defined as one or more than one. The term plurality, as used herein, is defined as two or more than two. The term another, as used herein, is defined as at least a second or more. The terms including and/or having, as used herein, are defined as comprising (i.e., open language). The term coupled, as used herein, is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The terms program, software application, and the like as used herein, are defined as a sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system. A program, computer program, or software application may include a subroutine, a function, a procedure, an object method, an object implementation, an executable application, an applet, a servlet, a source code, an object code, a shared library/dynamic load library and/or other sequence of instructions designed for execution on a computer system.
Reference throughout the specification to “one embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, the appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment” in various places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Moreover these embodiments are only examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings herein. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed inventions. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In general, unless otherwise indicated, singular elements may be in the plural and visa versa with no loss of generality.
While the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel, it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals are carried forward.
Exemplary Speaker
A speaker is an electoacoustic transducer mainly used for radiating acoustic energy into the air, the acoustic waveform being equivalent to the electrical input waveform. Referring first to
When operated in a reverse mode, speaker 100 becomes a microphone and converts a physical disturbance in the air, or sound wave, to an electrical signal. When operating in the reverse mode, or receive mode, sound waves impact the speaker cone 104, causing the cone 104 to move, thereby causing the electromagnet 103 to move relative to the permanent magnet 102. The movement relative to the permanent magnet 102 causes induction in the coil of the electromagnet 103 and creates a current flow. By measuring the amount and polarity of current flow, the movement of the speaker cone 104 can be determined and captured. When operating a speaker in a reverse mode, it functions similar to a microphone to capture audio. Using this principle of operating a speaker in a reverse mode, a wireless device with one or more speakers is used to capture multi-channel high-quality audio. In some embodiments, the wireless device includes microphones, as well as speakers, to capture multi-channel audio.
Exemplary Wireless Telephone
Referring to
Exemplary Wireless Device Hardware Platform
Described now is an exemplary hardware platform for carrying out the present invention. Referring to
The device 300, in this example is a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device transmits and receives signals for enabling a wireless communication such as for a cellular telephone, in a manner well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, when the wireless communication device 300 is in a “receive” mode, the controller 302 controls a radio frequency (RF) transmit/receive switch 314 that couples an RF signal from an antenna 316 through the RF transmit/receive (TX/RX) switch 314 to an RF receiver 304, in a manner well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The RF receiver 304 receives, converts, and demodulates the RF signal, and then provides a baseband signal, for example, to audio output module 303 and a transducer 305, such as speakers 305 and 306, in the device 300 to provide received audio to a user. The speakers 305 and 306 in one embodiment are high audio (e.g., dispatch audio in two-way radios) and low audio (e.g., cellular earpiece audio) speakers. A microphone 319 is electrically coupled to an audio input module 317 for transmitting audio from the user. The receive operational sequence is under control of the controller 302, in a manner well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. In one embodiment, the controller 302 includes a DSP, a D/A and A/D converter.
In a “transmit” mode, the controller 302, for example responding to a detection of a user input (such as a user pressing a button or switch on a user interface 307 of the device 300), controls the audio circuits and a microphone interface (not shown), and the RF transmit/receive switch 314 to couple audio signals received from a microphone to transmitter circuits 312 and thereby the audio signals are modulated onto an RF signal and coupled to the antenna 316 through the RF TX/RX switch 314 to transmit a modulated RF signal into a wireless communication system (not shown). This transmit operation enables the user of the device 300 to transmit, for example, audio communication into the wireless communication system in a manner well known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The controller 302 operates the RF transmitter 312, RF receiver 304, the RF TX/RX switch 314, and the associated audio circuits (not shown), according to instructions stored in the program memory 311.
Further, the controller 302 is communicatively coupled to a user input interface 307 (such as a key board, buttons, switches, and the like) for receiving user input from a user of the device 300. It is important to note that the user input interface 307 in one embodiment is incorporated into the display 309 as “GUI (Graphical User Interface) Buttons” as known in the art. The user input interface 307 preferably comprises several keys (including function keys) for performing various functions in the device 300. In another embodiment the user interface 307 includes a voice response system for providing and/or receiving responses from the device user. In still another embodiment, the user input interface 307 includes one or more buttons used to generate a button press or a series of button presses such as received from a touch screen display or some other similar method of manual response initiated by the device user. The user input interface 307 couples data signals (to the controller 302) based on the keys depressed by the user. The controller 302 is responsive to the data signals thereby causing functions and features under control of the controller 302 to operate in the device 300. The controller 302 is also communicatively coupled to a display 309 (such as a liquid crystal display) for displaying information to the user of the device 300.
The present invention can be realized in hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The present invention can also be embedded in a computer program product, which comprises all the features enabling the implementation of the methods described herein, and which—when loaded in the device 300—is able to carry out these methods.
Although wireless devices are described as one of the embodiments of the present invention, it is within the true scope and spirit of the present invention to include “wired” devices also. To those of average skill in the art, the transmission of audio packets over wired (i.e. telephone wire, coaxial, twisted pair wire, multi-conductor wire and more) in lieu of wireless is known.
Exemplary Two-Channel Input/One-Channel Output Embodiment
Described now is an exemplary hardware platform for carrying out the present invention using the flow diagram of
Exemplary Encoder
The outputs of the two filters, 405 and 406, are input to an encoder 407, which outputs a discrete-time, discrete-amplitude representation of the original analog audio signal. Encoders are well known by those of ordinary skill in the art.
Exemplary Output Stream
Referring back to
Exemplary Flow Diagram
A flow diagram of a two-channel input/one-channel output system is shown in
Exemplary Three-Channel Input/One-Channel Output
Described now is an exemplary hardware platform for carrying out the present invention using the flow diagram of
Comparator 805 identifies which of the audio channels has a predetermined signal strength so as to identify one of the audio channels as a reference audio channel. In one embodiment, the predetermined signal strength is the signal with the greatest amplitude, but does not necessarily have to be the strongest signal. Based on the comparison of the three channels, a value signal is sent to one of the three filters, 406, 405, and 803. Filters 406, 405, and 803 will act upon their respective input signals received from microphone 401, speaker 402, and speaker 801 according to the output of the comparator 805. For instance, if the signal received from the second channel (speaker 402) has a larger amplitude than the signal received from the first channel (microphone 401) and the third channel (speaker 801), the comparator 404 outputs a value signal to filter 405, which, in turn, causes filter 405 to multiply the input signal by a corresponding value. In one embodiment, this value is the inverse of the input amplitude, resulting in a value of one. In another embodiment, the reference audio channel amplitude is set to unity while the amplitude of the two remaining audio channels are set to 0.79 and 0.42 respectively. Similarly, comparator 404 also compares the phase difference between the three channels and outputs a corresponding value to the filters 405, 406, and 803. In this manner, the phase value of one of the channels will be set to zero and the others will be the value of the phase difference compared to zero.
Exemplary Output Stream Embodiment
The encoder outputs a stream of data 914 consisting of sequential binary packets of information. Each packet is made of a specific number of bits. The final format of the encoder output is shown in
Exemplary Flow Diagram
A flow diagram of a three-channel input/one-channel output system is shown in
It is important to note, that for each of multiple audio channel capture examples provided above, e.g. Two Input/One Channel Output and Three Input/One Channel Output, there is a corresponding multiple channel output. The multiple channel output received at a receiver (not shown) reconstructs each of the captured channels. Further, as described in the background of the invention, it is possible to construct more channels of output at a receiver than the number of streams being transmitted. For example, it is possible to use one channel to mathematically construct using filters, two or more channels. Likewise as discussed in the Background of the Invention, it is possible to create three or more channels from two output channels. Accordingly, the reconstruction can produce simulated stereo, stereo, quadraphonic, surround sound and a like to those of average skill in the art.
While the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it will be clear that the invention is not so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims.