# US 9,753,311 B2 · Eye glasses with microphone array > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,753,311 B2 - Document ID: US9753311B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/180,994 - Filed: 2014-02-14 - Published: 2014-09-18 - Granted: 2017-09-05 - Earliest claimed: 2013-03-13 - Assignees: Kopin Corporation - Applicants: Kopin Corporation - Inventors: Dashen Fan - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9753311B2 ## CPC - G02C 11/10: {Electronic devices other than hearing aids} - G10K 11/002: {Devices for damping, suppressing, obstructing or conducting sound in acoustic devices (G10K1/06 - G10K1/10 take precedence; for electro-mechanical transducers for communication H04R3/002)} - H04R 1/028: {associated with devices performing functions other than acoustics, e.g. electric candles} - H04R 3/005: {for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} - H04R 5/0335: {Earpiece support, e.g. headbands or neckrests (for monophonic headphones H04R1/105)} - G02C 11/06: Hearing aids (construction of electric hearing aids H04R25/00) - G10L 21/0208: Noise filtering - G10L 2021/02166: {Microphone arrays; Beamforming} - Y10T 29/49826: Assembling or joining - G02C: SPECTACLES; SUNGLASSES OR GOGGLES INSOFAR AS THEY HAVE THE SAME FEATURES AS SPECTACLES; CONTACT LENSES (trial frames for testing the eyes A61B3/04; goggles or eyeshields not having the same features as spectacles A61F9/00) - G10K: SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICES; METHODS OR DEVICES FOR PROTECTING AGAINST, OR FOR DAMPING, NOISE OR OTHER ACOUSTIC WAVES IN GENERAL; ACOUSTICS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K) - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - Y10T: TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION ## Abstract An eyewear device includes a noise cancelling microphone array, and corresponding method for the same. The eyewear device and its method of use facilitates human-machine interaction using speech recognition by reducing unwanted noise that corrupts the desired speech and thereby reduces errors in speech. The eyewear device includes an eyeglasses frame, an array of microphones coupled to the eyeglasses frame, the array of microphones including at least a first microphone and a second microphone, the first microphone coupled to the eyeglasses frame about a temple region, the temple region can be located approximately between a top corner of a lens opening and a support arm, and providing a first audio channel output, and the second microphone coupled to the eyeglasses frame about an inner edge of the lens opening, and providing a second audio channel output. Embodiments can further include a third and fourth omni-directional microphone, providing a third and fourth audio channel, respectively. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An eyewear device, comprising: a) a front frame member defining opposite ends and a lens opening, wherein the lens opening includes at least one top corner proximate to at least one of the opposite ends and an inner edge; b) a side frame member extending from each of the opposite ends; c) an array of microphones, the array including at least: i) a first microphone coupled to at least one of the front frame member and a side frame member at a temple region, the temple region being proximate to a juncture between the front frame member and the side frame member, ii) a second microphone coupled to and proximate to the inner edge of the lens opening; iii) a third microphone coupled to the front frame member at an outer lower corner of the lens opening below the first microphone, and iv) a fourth microphone coupled to the front frame member at a bridge support region above the second microphone; and d) a first audio channel output extending from the first microphone; e) a second audio channel output extending from the second microphone; f) a third audio channel output extending from the third microphone; and g) a fourth audio channel output extending from the fourth microphone. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The eyewear device of claim 1, further including a digital signal processor having: a) a beam-former electronically linked to the first and second microphones, for receiving at least the first and second audio channels and outputting a main channel and one or more reference channels; b) a voice activity detector electronically linked to the beam-former, for receiving the main and reference channels and outputting a desired voice activity channel; c) an adaptive noise canceller electronically linked to the beam-former and the voice activity detector for receiving the main, reference, and desired voice activity channels and outputting an adaptive noise cancellation channel; and d) a noise reducer electronically linked to the voice activity detector and the adaptive noise canceller for receiving the desired voice activity and adaptive noise cancellation channels and outputting a desired speech channel. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The eyewear device of claim 2, wherein the array of microphones are digital microphones and the beam-former is a digital beam-former. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The eyewear device of claim 1, wherein the array of microphones are omni-directional microphones. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The eyewear device of claim 4, wherein the omni-directional microphones are any combination of the following: electret condenser microphones, analog microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, or digital MEMS microphones. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The eyewear device of claim 1, wherein the array of microphones is coupled to the front frame member using at least one flexible printed circuit board (PCB) strip. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The eyewear device of claim 6, wherein the array of microphones is coupled to the front frame member using an upper flexible PCB strip including the first and fourth microphones and a lower flexible PCB strip including the second and third microphones. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The eyewear device of claim 7, wherein: a) the front frame member further includes an array of vents corresponding to the array of microphones; b) the array of microphones are bottom port microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones; c) the first and fourth MEMS microphones are coupled to the upper flexible PCB strip; d) the second and third MEMS microphones are coupled to the lower flexible PCB strip; and e) the array of MEMS microphones being arranged such that the bottom ports receive acoustic signals through the corresponding vents. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The eyewear device of claim 8, further including a membrane sandwiched between the front frame member and the microphone. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The eyewear device of claim 9, wherein the membrane is a wind-screen membrane and a water-proofing membrane. ### Claim 11 A method of reducing noise in an eyewear device with a microphone array, the method comprising the steps of: a) coupling an array of microphones to an eyeglasses frame that includes a front frame member defining opposite ends and at least one lens opening, wherein the lens opening includes at least one top corner proximate to at least one of the opposite ends and an inner edge, the array of microphones including at least a first and a second microphone; b) arranging the first microphone to couple to the eyeglasses frame about a temple region, the temple region being located approximately between the top corner of the at least one lens opening and a side frame member extending from the front frame member at the temple region; c) arranging the second microphone to couple to the eyeglasses frame about an inner edge of the lens opening; d) providing a first and second audio channel output from the first and second microphones, respectively; e) arranging a third microphone to couple to the eyeglasses frame about an outer lower corner of the lens opening below the first microphone; f) arranging a fourth microphone to couple to the eyeglasses frame about a bridge support region above the second microphone; and g) providing a third and fourth audio channel output from the third and fourth microphones, respectively. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method reducing noise of claim 11, further including the steps of: a) forming beams at a beam-former, the beam-former receiving at least the first and second audio channels and outputting a main channel and one or more reference channels; b) detecting voice activity at a voice activity detector, the voice activity detector receiving the main and reference channels and outputting a desired voice activity channel; c) adaptively cancelling noise at an adaptive noise canceller, the adaptive noise canceller receiving the main, reference, and desired voice activity channels and outputting an adaptive noise cancellation channel; and d) reducing noise at a noise reducer receiving the desired voice activity and adaptive noise cancellation channels and outputting a desired speech channel. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The noise reduction method of claim 12, wherein the first and second audio channels are produced digitally and the beams are formed digitally. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method of reducing noise of claim 11, wherein an array of omni-directional microphones are coupled to the eyeglasses frame. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of reducing noise of claim 14, wherein the coupled array of omni-directional microphones are any combination of the following: electret condenser microphones, analog microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) microphones, or digital MEMS microphones. ### Claim 16 (depends on 11) The method of reducing noise of claim 11, wherein coupling the array of microphones to the eyeglasses frame uses at least one flexible printed circuit board (PCB) strip. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of reducing noise of claim 16, wherein coupling the array of microphones to the eyeglasses frame uses an upper flexible PCB strip including the first and fourth microphones and a lower flexible PCB strip including the second and third microphones. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of reducing noise of claim 17, wherein coupling the array of microphones to the eyeglasses frame further includes: a) coupling each microphone of the array of microphones to a corresponding vent of an array of vents, the array of microphones being bottom port or top port microelectromechanical system (MEMS) microphones and the vents being located in the eyeglasses frame, wherein the first and fourth MEMS microphones are coupled to the upper flexible PCB strip and the second and third MEMS microphones are coupled to the lower flexible PCB strip; and b) arranging the array of MEMS microphones such that the ports received acoustic signals through the corresponding vents. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of reducing noise of claim 18, further including coupling a membrane between the eyeglasses frame and the microphones. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, further including wind-screening and water-proofing the array of microphones using the membrane, the membrane being made of a wind-screen and water-proofing material. ### Claim 21 An eyewear device, comprising: a) an array of microphones coupled to an eyeglasses frame that includes a front frame member defining opposite ends and at least one lens opening, wherein the lens opening includes at least one top corner proximate to at least one of the opposite ends and an inner edge, the array of microphones including at least a first, a second microphone, a third microphone and a fourth microphone, wherein i) the first microphone is coupled to the eyeglasses frame about a temple region, the temple region being located approximately between the top corner of the at least one side frame member extending from the front frame member at the temple region, lens opening and; ii) the second microphone is coupled to the eyeglasses frame about an inner edge of the lens opening, iii) the third microphone coupled to the eyeglasses frame and being located beneath and approximately vertically with the first microphone, and iv) the fourth microphone coupled to the eyeglasses frame and being approximately vertically with the second microphone; and b) a first audio channel output, a second audio channel, a third audio channel output, and a fourth audio channel output from the first, second, third, and fourth microphones, respectively.