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US 7,983,907 B2Granted
Headset for separation of speech signals in a noisy environment
AssigneesSoftMax, Inc., The Regents of the University of California
InventorsErik Visser, Jeremy Toman, Tom Davis, Brian Momeyer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A headset is constructed to generate an acoustically distinct speech signal in a noisy acoustic environment. The headset positions a pair of spaced-apart microphones near a user's mouth. The microphones each receive the user's speech, and also receive acoustic environmental noise. The microphone signals, which have both a noise and information component, are received into a separation process. The separation process generates a speech signal that has a substantial reduced noise component. The speech signal is then processed for transmission. In one example, the transmission process includes sending the speech signal to a local control module using a Bluetooth radio.
Claims20
A headset, comprising:
- a housing;
- an ear speaker;
- a first microphone connected to the housing;
- a second microphone connected to the housing;
- a radio;
- and
- a processor coupled to the first and the second microphones, and configured to:
- receive a first signal from the first microphone, the first signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- receive a second signal from the second microphone, the second signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- separate the first and second signals into a first and a second channel using a blind-source separation process, wherein one of the channels provides a noise signal comprising substantially only noise components and the other channel provides a combination signal comprising both noise components and speech components;
- identify which of the first or second channels has the combination signal;
- process the combination signal to generate a speech signal;
- and
- transmit the speech signal,
- wherein the speech signal is transmitted to the radio, and wherein the radio operates according to a Bluetooth standard.
12 more elements
A wireless headset system comprising:
- an ear speaker;
- a first microphone generating a first transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a second microphone generating a second transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a processor;
- a radio;
- and
- a housing, the housing holding the ear speaker and only one of the microphones,
- the processor configured to:
- receive the first and second transducer signals;
- separate the first and second transducer signals into a first and a second channel using a blind-source separation process, wherein one of the channels provides a noise signal comprising substantially only noise components and the other channel provides a combination signal comprising both noise components and speech components;
- identify which of the first or second channels has the combination signal;
- process the combination signal to generate a speech signal;
- and
- transmit the speech signal.
11 more elements
A wireless headset system comprising:
- an ear speaker;
- a first microphone generating a first transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a second microphone generating a second transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a processor;
- a radio;
- and
- a housing, the housing holding the ear speaker and neither of the microphones,
- the processor configured to:
- receive the first and second transducer signals;
- separate the first and second transducer signals into a first and a second channel using a blind-source separation process, wherein one of the channels provides a noise signal comprising substantially only noise components and the other channel provides a combination signal comprising both noise components and speech components;
- identify which of the first or second channels has the combination signal;
- process the combination signal to generate a speech signal;
- and
- transmit the speech signal.
11 more elements
A wireless headset system comprising:
- an ear speaker;
- a first microphone generating a first transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a second microphone generating a second transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a processor;
- and
- a radio;
- the processor configured to:
- receive the first and second transducer signals;
- separate the first and second transducer signals into a first and a second channel using a blind-source separation process, wherein one of the channels provides a noise signal comprising substantially only noise components and the other channel provides a combination signal comprising both noise components and speech components;
- identify which of the first or second channels has the combination signal;
- process the combination signal to generate a speech signal;
- and
- transmit the speech signal,
- wherein the processor, the first microphone and the second microphone are in the same housing.
11 more elements
A wireless headset system comprising:
- an ear speaker;
- a first microphone generating a first transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a second microphone generating a second transducer signal having a noise component and a speech component;
- a processor;
- a radio;
- and a member for positioning the ear speaker and a second ear speaker, the member generally forming a stereo headset,
- the processor configured to:
- receive the first and second transducer signals;
- separate the first and second transducer signals into a first and a second channel using a blind-source separation process, wherein one of the channels provides a noise signal comprising substantially only noise components and the other channel provides a combination signal comprising both noise components and speech components;
- identify which of the first or second channels has the combination signal;
- process the combination signal to generate a speech signal;
- and
- transmit the speech signal.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.