# US 9,883,286 B2 · Managing telephony and entertainment audio in a vehicle audio platform > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,883,286 B2 - Document ID: US9883286B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/147,131 - Filed: 2016-05-05 - Published: 2016-11-03 - Granted: 2018-01-30 - Earliest claimed: 2014-03-06 - Assignees: Bose Corporation - Applicants: Bose Corporation - Inventors: Jeffery R. Vautin; Eduardo T. Salvador; Ryo Maiguma; Tobe Z. Barksdale; Douglas J. Holmi; Charles Oswald; Zukui Song; Shiufun Cheung; Michael S. Dublin - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9883286B2 ## CPC - H04R 3/12: for distributing signals to two or more loudspeakers {(specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} - B60R 11/0217: {for loud-speakers} - G10L 15/26: Speech to text systems (G10L15/08 takes precedence) - H04B 3/20: Reducing echo effects or singing; Opening or closing transmitting path; Conditioning for transmission in one direction or the other - H04M 1/6083: {by interfacing with the vehicle audio system} - H04M 9/082: {using echo cancellers (echo cancellers per se H04B3/23)} - G10L 25/78: Detection of presence or absence of voice signals (switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10) - G10L 2021/02082: {the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech} - H04R 2420/01: Input selection or mixing for amplifiers or loudspeakers - H04R 2430/01: Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in sound systems - H04R 2499/13: Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles - 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) - B60R: VEHICLES, VEHICLE FITTINGS, OR VEHICLE PARTS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - H04B: TRANSMISSION - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) ## Abstract A signal input module receives at least one of an entertainment audio signal and a telephony audio signal from vehicle sound circuitry. A level control module executes gain level control logic to balance the entertainment audio signal and a telephony audio signal according to a ratio. A gain control signal is applied to at least one of the entertainment audio signal and the telephony audio signal. A routing module mixes the entertainment audio signal and the telephony audio signal and routes the mixed signal to an output channel associated with a speaker. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An apparatus comprising: a signal input module to receive an entertainment audio signal and a telephony audio signal from vehicle sound circuitry; an entertainment upmixing module to generate an upmixed entertainment audio signal from the entertainment audio signal; a telephony upmixing module to generate an upmixed telephony audio signal from the telephony audio signal; a level control module to: generate an entertainment reference signal from a weighted average of the entertainment audio signal and the upmixed entertainment audio signal and generate a telephony reference signal from a weighted average of the telephony audio signal and the upmixed telephony audio signal; apply frequency weighting to the entertainment reference signal and the telephony reference signal to generate a gain control signal; and apply the gain control signal to the entertainment audio signal and the telephony audio signal to generate a gain-applied entertainment audio signal and a gain-applied telephony audio signal, respectively; and a routing module to mix the gain-applied entertainment audio signal and the gain-applied telephony audio signal and route the mixed signal to an output channel associated with a speaker. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gain control signal comprises an entertainment gain and the level control module is configured to apply the entertainment gain to the entertainment audio signal to reduce short time peaks in the entertainment audio. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gain control signal comprises a telephony gain and the level control module is configured to apply the telephony gain to telephony audio signal to reduce short time peaks in the telephony audio. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the level control module is further configured to detect respective levels of the entertainment reference signal and the telephony reference signal and output an estimated level of the entertainment reference signal and an estimated level of the telephony reference signal. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal input module is further configured to receive a speech signal originating from a vehicle occupant. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a speech detector module to update the telephony reference signal in response to detecting a speech signal originating from a vehicle occupant. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the speaker is a headrest speaker. ### Claim 8 A method of audio management comprising: receiving an entertainment audio signal and a telephony audio signal from vehicle sound circuitry; generating an upmixed entertainment audio signal from the entertainment audio signal; generating an upmixed telephony audio signal from the telephony audio signal; generating an entertainment reference signal from a weighted average of the entertainment audio signal and the upmixed entertainment audio signal and generating a telephony reference signal from a weighted average of the telephony audio signal and the upmixed telephony reference signal; applying frequency weighting to the entertainment reference signal and the telephony reference signal to generate a gain control signal; and applying the gain control signal to the entertainment audio signal and the telephony audio signal to generate a gain-applied entertainment audio signal and a gain-applied telephony audio signal; and mixing the gain-applied entertainment audio signal and the gain-applied telephony audio signal and routing the mixed signal to an output channel associated with a speaker. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, further comprising: applying the entertainment gain to the entertainment audio signal to reduce short time peaks in the entertainment audio. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, further comprising: applying the telephony gain to telephony audio signal to reduce short time peaks in the telephony audio. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, further comprising: detecting respective levels of the entertainment reference signal and the telephony reference signal and outputting an estimated level of the entertainment reference signal and an estimated level of the telephony reference signal. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The method of claim 8, further comprising: updating the telephony reference signal in response to detecting a speech signal originating from a vehicle occupant.