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US 8,477,961 B2Granted
Microphone array with rear venting
AssigneeAliphCom
InventorGregory C. Burnett
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Microphone arrays (MAs) are described that position and vent microphones so that performance of a noise suppression system coupled to the microphone array is enhanced. The MA includes at least two physical microphones to receive acoustic signals. The physical microphones make use of a common rear vent (actual or virtual) that samples a common pressure source. The MA includes a physical directional microphone configuration and a virtual directional microphone configuration. By making the input to the rear vents of the microphones (actual or virtual) as similar as possible, the real-world filter to be modeled becomes much simpler to model using an adaptive filter.
Claims51
A device comprising:
- a headset including a housing;
- a speaker connected to the housing;
- a first microphone;
- a second microphone;
- and
- a third microphone,
- wherein the third microphone is omnidirectional and is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second microphones,
- wherein the first micro is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
- wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are configured to be summed to form a first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are configured to be summed to form a second virtual microphone.
6 more elements
A device comprising:
- a housing that is portable and attaches to a region of a human head;
- a speaker connected to the housing;
- a first microphone connected to a first side of the housing;
- a second microphone connected to a second side of the housing;
- and
- a third microphone connected to the second side of the housing, the third microphone coupled to the first microphone and the second microphone,
- wherein the third microphone is omnidirectional and is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second microphones,
- wherein the first microphone is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
- wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are configured to be summed to form a first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are configured to be summed to form a second virtual microphone.
6 more elements
A headset comprising:
- a housing including a speaker, a first physical microphone, a second physical microphone and a third physical microphone;
- a first virtual microphone comprising a combination of a first microphone signal and a third microphone signal, wherein the first microphone signal is generated by the first physical microphone and the third microphone signal is generated by the third physical microphone;
- and
- a second virtual microphone comprising a combination of a second microphone signal and the third microphone signal, wherein the second microphone signal is generated by the second physical microphone, wherein the third physical microphone is omnidirectional and is configured to function as a common rear vent for the first and the second virtual microphones,
- wherein the first physical microphone is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second physical microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third physical microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
- wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are configured to be summed to form the first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are configured to be summed to form the second virtual microphone.
3 more elements
A headset comprising:
- a speaker, a first microphone outputting a first microphone signal, a second microphone outputting a second microphone signal, and a third microphone outputting a third microphone signal;
- and
- a processing component coupled to the first, second and third microphone signals, the processing component generating a virtual microphone array comprising a first virtual microphone and a second virtual microphone,
- wherein the first virtual microphone comprises a combination of the first microphone signal and the third microphone signal,
- wherein the second virtual microphone comprises a combination of the second microphone signal and the third microphone signal,
- wherein the third microphone is omnidirectional and functions as a common rear vent for the first and the second virtual microphones,
- wherein the first microphone is coupled to a first processing path with a first processing path output, the second microphone is coupled to a second processing path with a second processing path output, and the third microphone is coupled to a third processing path with a third processing path output and a fourth processing path with a fourth processing path output,
- wherein the first processing path output and the third processing path output are summed to form a first virtual microphone, and the second processing path output and the fourth processing path output are summed to form a second virtual microphone,
- wherein the first virtual microphone and the second virtual microphone have substantially similar responses to noise and substantially dissimilar responses to speech.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.