Wireless telephone having multiple microphones
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorsJuin-Hwey Chen, James Bennett
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to a wireless telephone having a first microphone and a second microphone and a method for processing audio signal in a wireless telephone having a first microphone and a second microphone. The wireless telephone includes a first microphone, a second microphone, and a signal processor. The first microphone outputs a first audio signal, the first audio signal comprising a voice component and a background noise component. The second microphone outputs a second audio signal. The signal processor increases a ratio of the voice component to the noise component of the first audio signal based on the content of at least one of the first audio signal and the second audio signal to produce a third audio signal.
Claims20
An audio-processing engine for use in a telephone, comprising:
- a first input configured to receive a first audio signal from a first microphone, wherein the first audio signal includes a first voice signal and a first noise signal;
- a second input configured to receive a second audio signal from a second microphone, wherein the second audio signal includes a second voice signal and a second noise signal;
- and
- a signal-processing module coupled to the first and second inputs and configured to compare an energy of the first audio signal to an energy of the second audio signal in order to discriminate between voice activity and noise in the first audio signal, wherein an energy of the first voice signal exceeds an energy of the first noise signal, or an energy of the second voice signal exceeds an energy of the second noise signal, and
- wherein the signal-processing module is further configured to identify time intervals of the first audio signal during which voice activity is present based on the comparison between the energy of the first audio signal and the energy of the second audio signal.
A telephone, comprising:
- a first microphone configured to provide a first audio signal, wherein the first audio signal includes a first voice signal and a first noise signal;
- a second microphone configured to provide a second audio signal, wherein the second audio signal includes a second voice signal and a second noise signal;
- and
- a signal-processing module coupled to the first and second microphones and configured to compare an energy of the first audio signal to an energy of the second audio signal in order to discriminate between voice activity and noise in the first audio signal, wherein an energy of the first voice signal exceeds an energy of the first noise signal, or an energy of the second voice signal exceeds an energy of the second noise signal, and
- wherein the signal-processing module is further configured to identify time intervals of the first audio signal during which voice activity is present based on the comparison between the energy of the first audio signal and the energy of the second audio signal.
A method for processing audio signals in a telephone, comprising:
- receiving a first audio signal from a first microphone, wherein the first audio signal includes a first voice signal and a first noise signal;
- receiving a second audio signal from a second microphone, wherein the second audio signal includes a second voice signal and a second noise signal;
- comparing an energy of the first audio signal to an energy of the second audio signal in order to discriminate between voice activity and noise in the first audio signal, wherein an energy of the first voice signal exceeds an energy of the first noise signal, or an energy of the second voice signal exceeds an energy of the second noise signal, and
- identifying time intervals of the first audio signal during which voice activity is present based on the comparison between the energy of the first audio signal and the energy of the second audio signal.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.