Antinoise Patents (Class 381/13)
  • Patent number: 11817876
    Abstract: A range profile digitization circuit for converting a repeating analog input signal into a time series of digital amplitude values, the converter comprising: a signal quantizer arranged to receive the analog input signal and a threshold input and arranged to output a binary value quantized output signal based on a comparison of the input signal with the threshold signal; a plurality of samplers each arranged to sample and hold its input signal upon receipt of a trigger signal; and for each sampler: a plurality of decoders and a demultiplexer arranged to receive an output from the sampler and pass it to a selected one of said decoders based on a selector input. With a plurality of decoders associated with each of the samplers, each sampler can be re-used during the building up of the range profile.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2023
    Assignee: Novelda AS
    Inventors: Jørgen Andreas Michaelsen, Nikolaj Andersen, Olav Tonnaer Liseth, Håkon André Hjortland
  • Patent number: 11361745
    Abstract: An audio system has an ambient sound enhancement (ASE) function, in which an against-the-ear audio device having a speaker converts a digitally processed version of an input audio signal into amplified sound. The amplification may be in accordance with a stored hearing profile of the user. The audio system also has an acoustic noise cancellation (ANC) function that may be combined in various ways with the ASE function, and that may be responsive to voice activity detection. Other aspects are also described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: APPLE INC.
    Inventors: Tom-Davy W. Saux, Brian D. Clark, Thomas M. Jensen, Vladan Bajic
  • Patent number: 10966032
    Abstract: An input signal is provided with a low microphone noise in a hearing apparatus. The microphone noise in the input signal of the hearing apparatus is reduced, by the input signal being filtered by a Wiener filter, if a noise power determined at the input signal is smaller than a predetermined limit value. The Wiener filter is however deactivated, if the noise power is greater than the limit value or equal to the limit value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 12, 2018
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Thomas Pilgrim, Henning Puder
  • Patent number: 10878796
    Abstract: A system and method for remote active noise correction at a remote device includes receiving, at the remote device, an ambient noise signal from a microphone. The remote device is disposed along a processing and transmission path between the microphone and a headphone. The processing and transmission path exhibit non-zero latency. The remote device further analyzes the ambient noise signal to generate an anti-noise signal, performs a first correction of the anti-noise signal for a headphone interface effect, performs a second correction of the anti-noise signal for the non-zero latency of the processing and transmission path between the microphone and the headphone. The remote device then transmits the corrected anti-noise signal to the headphone.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Ye Zhao, Cody Wortham, James Young, Sajid Sadi, Paul Kim, Bo Hyun Moon
  • Patent number: 10636408
    Abstract: Active noise control (ANC) is performed within a vehicle. Suppressed sound is produced by suppressing frequencies of ambient sound above a threshold frequency that enter an interior cavity of a sound-suppressing enclosure disposed within, and spaced from, interior walls of the vehicle. A microphone disposed within the interior cavity of the sound-suppressing enclosure receives feedback comprising a combination of the suppressed sound produced by the sound-suppressing enclosure and antinoise produced by one or more speakers mounted to a headrest disposed within the interior cavity of the sound-suppressing enclosure. The speakers are controlled to produce the antinoise based on the feedback, such that the antinoise destructively interferes with frequencies of the suppressed sound that are above the threshold frequency.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: THE BOEING COMPANY
    Inventors: Steven Griffin, Adam Robert Weston, Daryn David Kono
  • Patent number: 10594364
    Abstract: Methods and devices for characterization of repetitious noise in cable networks are disclosed. A frequency band of interest is identified, a time trace of a signal parameter within the frequency band is obtained, and an autocorrelation of the time trace is computed to detect repetitious noise. The repetition frequency can serve as an indicator of the noise source type, and thus it can assist in noise segmentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 17, 2020
    Assignee: VIAVI SOLUTIONS INC.
    Inventors: Ben Maxson, Daniel K. Chappell, Jim Walsh
  • Patent number: 10403261
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a noise reduction apparatus includes a first control sound source, a first current detection unit, a second control sound source, a second current detection unit, and an adjustment unit. The first control sound source generates a first control sound for reducing noise from a noise source. The first current detection unit detects a first current flowing from the first control sound source upon receiving the noise from the noise source. The second control sound source is provided at a position different from a position of the first control sound source and generates a second control sound for reducing the noise from the noise source. The second current detection unit detects a second current flowing from the second control sound source upon receiving the noise from the noise source. The adjustment unit adjusts the first control sound and the second control sound so as to make the first current and the second current satisfy a predetermined condition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 24, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 3, 2019
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventors: Akihiko Enamito, Tatsuhiko Goto
  • Patent number: 10349174
    Abstract: Disclosed is a device (1) for processing an initial audio signal (4), including: a treble detecting block (2) capable of analyzing the initial audio signal to determine a treble level; and a filter block (3) capable of attenuating the initial audio signal in the treble, if the treble level is less than a maximum threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    Assignees: CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE FRANCE, CONTINENTAL AUTOMOTIVE GMBH
    Inventors: Cyrille Potereau, Laurent Thery, Jean-Christophe Grzeskowiak
  • Patent number: 10235743
    Abstract: A measuring apparatus includes an optical system configured to project light onto a sample and to receive light via the sample, an imaging device configured to take an image of a light source via the optical system, and a processor configured to obtain an optical characteristic of the sample based on an output of the imaging device. The processor is configured to determine a coefficient of a Wiener filter based on one of the image and a Fourier transform thereof and corresponding one of the light source (an aperture in an aperture unit) and a Fourier transform thereof, and obtain the optical characteristic based on the Wiener filter of which the coefficient has been determined, a Fourier transform of the image, and a Fourier transform of the light source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
    Inventors: Takayuki Uozumi, Shigeki Kato, Takashi Seki, Yusuke Kasai
  • Patent number: 10060959
    Abstract: A capacitive sensing system includes a controller, a node connected to one side of a capacitance, the controller configured to measure the capacitance by measuring a time for a voltage across the capacitance to reach a predetermined reference voltage, a noise measurement circuit configured to measure electrical noise on the node, and the controller receiving the measurement of noise from the noise measurement circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Krishnasawamy Nagaraj, Paul Kimelman, Abhijit Kumar Das
  • Patent number: 10026409
    Abstract: A stereo-phonic frequency modulation receiver includes: a frequency modulation demodulation circuit, receiving a reception signal, and generating a demodulated signal according to the reception signal; a frequency-division demultiplexer, generating a sum signal, a difference signal and a pilot amplitude signal according to the demodulated signal; a dual sound channel separation circuit, generating a left-channel output signal and a right-channel output signal according to the sum signal and a weakened difference signal; and a weakening circuit, weakening the difference signal according to the pilot amplitude signal or a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) to generate the weakened difference signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2018
    Assignee: MSTAR SEMICONDUCTOR, INC.
    Inventors: Yu-Che Su, Kuan-Chou Lee, Tai-Lai Tung
  • Patent number: 9913051
    Abstract: An input signal is provided with a low microphone noise in a hearing apparatus. The microphone noise in the input signal of the hearing apparatus is reduced, by the input signal being filtered by a Wiener filter, if a noise power determined at the input signal is smaller than a predetermined limit value. The Wiener filter is however deactivated, if the noise power is greater than the limit value or equal to the limit value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2018
    Assignee: Sivantos Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Thomas Pilgrim, Henning Puder
  • Patent number: 9646595
    Abstract: A personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, includes an adaptive noise canceling (ANC) circuit that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal and injects the anti-noise signal into the speaker or other transducer output to cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds. An error microphone is also provided proximate the speaker to estimate an electro-acoustical path from the noise canceling circuit through the transducer. A processing circuit determines a degree of coupling between the user's ear and the transducer and adjusts the adaptive cancellation of the ambient sounds to prevent erroneous and possibly disruptive generation of the anti-noise signal if the degree of coupling lies either below or above a range of normal operating ear contact pressure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 9, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: CIRRUS LOGIC, INC.
    Inventors: Ali Abdollahzadeh Milani, Gautham Devendra Kamath
  • Patent number: 9613628
    Abstract: An audio system encodes and decodes audio captured by a microphone array system in the presence of wind noise. The encoder encodes the audio signal in a way that includes beamformed audio signal and a “hidden” representation of a non-beamformed audio signal. The hidden signal is produced by modulating the low frequency signal to a high frequency above the audible range. A decoder can then either output the beamformed audio signal or can use the hidden signal to generate a reduced wind noise audio signal that includes the non-beamformed audio in the low frequency range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: GoPro, Inc.
    Inventors: Zhinian Jing, Scott Patrick Campbell
  • Patent number: 9435873
    Abstract: An array of microphones placed on a mobile robot provides multiple channels of audio signals. A received set of audio signals is called an audio segment, which is divided into multiple frames. A phase analysis is performed on a frame of the signals from each pair of microphones. If both microphones are in an active state during the frame, a candidate angle is generated for each such pair of microphones. The result is a list of candidate angles for the frame. This list is processed to select a final candidate angle for the frame. The list of candidate angles is tracked over time to assist in the process of selecting the final candidate angle for an audio segment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2016
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Shankar Regunathan, Kazuhito Koishida, Harshavardhana Narayana Kikkeri
  • Patent number: 9398394
    Abstract: The present invention provides methods and systems for digitally processing audio signals in two-channel audio systems and/or applications. In particular, the present invention includes a first filter structured to split a two-channel audio input signal into a low frequency signal and a higher frequency signal. A M/S splitter is then structured to split the higher frequency signal into a middle and a side signal. A detection module is then configured to create a detection signal from the middle signal, which is used in a compression module configured to modulate the side signal to create a gain-modulated side signal. A processing module is then structured to combine the low frequency signal, middle signal, and the gain-modulated side signal to form a final output signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2016
    Assignee: Bongiovi Acoustics LLC
    Inventors: Anthony Bongiovi, Glenn Zelniker, Joseph G. Butera, III
  • Patent number: 9379789
    Abstract: Dynamic adjustment of antenna selection period at a wireless communication device or user equipment having two or more antennas. The described approaches consider an antenna selection performance metric. The antenna selection performance metric may include both measurement overhead (capacity loss due to measurements) and antenna switching capacity gain (gain in capacity through switching antenna subsets). The antenna selection performance metric may further include an estimate of UE speed or an antenna selection change rate. The antenna selection period may be adjusted by increasing or decreasing the antenna selection period based on the antenna selection performance metric. Antenna selection may be enabled or disabled based on the antenna selection performance metric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jamie Menjay Lin, Ashok Mantravadi, Francesco Negro, Petru Cristian Budianu, Taesang Yoo, Xiaoxia Zhang, Tao Luo
  • Patent number: 9374117
    Abstract: A system for decoding a stereo multiplex signal, including one or more devices operable to convert the stereo multiplex signal into a sum signal (L+R) and a difference signal (L?R). The sum signal and the difference signal may be derived from a left stereo signal (L) and right stereo signal (R). The system may also be operable to determine a first transfer function HL(f) and a second transfer function (HR(f)) from the sum signal (L+R) and the difference signal (L?R). Further, the system may be operable to filter the sum signal (L+R) according to the first transfer function to provide the left stereo signal (L), and filter the sum signal (L+R) according to the second transfer function to provide the right stereo signal (R).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 21, 2016
    Assignee: Harmon Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Stefan Gierl, Christoph Benz, Andreas Körner, Karl-Anton Becker
  • Patent number: 9253726
    Abstract: According to an embodiment, the control unit produces a first control signal and a second control signal. The first control signal is to set an intermittent reception period. The second control signal is to control a start-up of reception of a wireless signal. When the reception processing is implemented during the intermittent reception period, the RF unit stops in accordance with an instruction of the control unit after the reception processing signal is outputted, the intermittent reception period is awoken. When the reception processing exceeds the intermittent reception period, the RF unit continues the reception, and stops in accordance with the instruction of the control unit after the reception processing signal is outputted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 1, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA
    Inventor: Shinichi Fukase
  • Patent number: 9172479
    Abstract: A processing unit for processing a multi-channel audio signal has a delay element (40) for delaying an FM sum signal (sum) and a converter arrangement (T) for converting an FM difference signal (diff) and a noise signal (diffnoise) to the frequency domain. Frequency-based noise suppression is used to derive a de-noised frequency-domain difference signal using a gain function which is limited to a maximal and a minimal value. This is then converted to the time domain, and the first and second audio signals are calculated from a delayed sum signal (sum2) and the de-noised time domain difference signal (diff2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2015
    Assignee: NXP, B.V.
    Inventor: Temujin Gautama
  • Patent number: 9037458
    Abstract: Spatially selective augmentation of a multichannel audio signal is described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 19, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Hyun Jin Park, Kwokleung Chan, Ren Li
  • Patent number: 8953809
    Abstract: A system and method for switching a mode of a receiver between a monophonic and stereophonic mode is disclosed. The method can include generating a residual signal indicative of a noise level associated with a pilot energy signal, calculating a residual block energy level of the residual signal over an observation interval, generating a monitor signal based on a number of times the pilot energy signal is less than a pilot energy threshold during the observation interval and switching the mode of the receiver based on the residual block energy level and the monitor signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 10, 2015
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Patent number: 8948407
    Abstract: A personal audio device, such as a wireless telephone, includes noise canceling circuit that adaptively generates an anti-noise signal from a reference microphone signal and injects the anti-noise signal into the speaker or other transducer output to cause cancellation of ambient audio sounds. An error microphone may also be provided proximate the speaker to measure the output of the transducer in order to control the adaptation of the anti-noise signal and to estimate an electro-acoustical path from the noise canceling circuit through the transducer. A processing circuit that performs the adaptive noise canceling (ANC) function also either adjusts the frequency response of the anti-noise signal with respect to the reference microphone signal, and/or by adjusting the response of the adaptive filter independent of the adaptation provided by the reference microphone signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Alderson, Nitin Kwatra, Gautham Devendra Kamath, Ali Abdollahzadeh Milani, John L. Melanson
  • Patent number: 8948402
    Abstract: A receiver may estimate a channel condition based on a difference between a pilot energy signal and a filtered pilot energy signal. The receiver may further switch to a stereophonic mode when both the difference and an energy level of the pilot energy signal satisfy a predetermined requirement of the receiver, and switch to a monophonic mode when either the difference or the energy level of the pilot energy signal fail to satisfy the predetermined requirement of the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 3, 2015
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Publication number: 20140348328
    Abstract: Several circuits and methods implemented to perform signal quality estimation and control are disclosed. In an embodiment, a method of signal quality estimation includes generating a demodulated signal associated with a radio signal. Information associated with a quality of the demodulated signal is accessed. Further, a value of radio frequency signal-to-noise ratio (RF-SNR) for the radio signal based on the information is estimated. Estimating the value of RF-SNR facilitates in signal quality estimation of the radio signal and control of the demodulated signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 22, 2013
    Publication date: November 27, 2014
    Applicant: Texas Instruments Incorporated
    Inventors: Pankaj Gupta, Sriram Murali, Jaiganesh Balakrishnan, Sanjay Vishwakarma
  • Patent number: 8879740
    Abstract: An audio receiver may include a mono/stereo detector that causes the audio receiver to output either a monophonic or a stereophonic signal based on a difference between a pilot energy signal and a filtered pilot energy signal. The audio receiver includes a filter that filters the pilot energy signal to generate a filtered pilot energy signal, wherein a variable leakage factor associated with the filter is used to minimize a noise level of the filtered pilot energy signal and to reduce a response time of the audio receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Patent number: 8861745
    Abstract: A method of compensating for noise in a receiver having a first receiver unit and a second receiver unit, the method includes receiving a first transmission at the first receiver unit, the first transmission having a first signal component and a first noise component; receiving a second transmission at the second receive unit, the second transmission having a second signal component and a second noise component; determining whether the first noise component and the second noise component are incoherent and; only if it is determined that the first and second noise components are incoherent, processing the first and second transmissions in a first processing path, wherein the first processing path is configured to compensate for incoherent noise.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 14, 2014
    Assignee: Cambridge Silicon Radio Limited
    Inventors: Kuan-Chieh Yen, Xuejing Sun, Jeffrey S. Chisholm
  • Publication number: 20140219454
    Abstract: A signal processing apparatus (100) comprising a noise detector (102) configured to: receive a stream of information representative of a stream of audio signal samples (112); and detect samples in the received stream of information (112) that are distorted by impulse noise in order to generate a noise detection signal (114), wherein the noise detection signal (114) also identifies preceding and succeeding samples that are undistorted. The signal processing apparatus (100) also comprises a processor (104) configured to replace distorted samples in the received stream of information with composite predicted values (426; 526) to provide a reconstructed stream of audio signal samples (116).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2013
    Publication date: August 7, 2014
    Applicant: NXP B.V.
    Inventor: Sebastiaan de Bont
  • Patent number: 8571230
    Abstract: A method for determining leakage factors or adaptation rates, or both, for adaptive filters in an active noise reduction system. The leakage factor or adaptation rate, or both, may vary depending on a parameter of an input reference signal. The parameter may include one or more of reference signal input frequency, rate of change of reference input signal frequency, if a predetermined triggering condition exits, or if a predetermined event has occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2013
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Davis Y. Pan, Christopher J. Cheng
  • Patent number: 8542843
    Abstract: The invention relates to a noise canceling audio transmitting/receiving device; a stereo headset with an integrated array of microphones utilizing an adaptive beam forming algorithm. The invention also relates to a method of using an adaptive beam forming algorithm that may be incorporated into a stereo headset. The sensor array used herein has adaptive filtering capabilities.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 24, 2013
    Assignee: Andrea Electronics Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas Andrea, Qunsheng Liu, John Probst
  • Publication number: 20130243198
    Abstract: Method for reducing noise included in a stereo reproduction signal derived from a stereo input signal characterized by the steps of: *varying stereo channel separation of said stereo reproduction signal with frequency within the frequency range of the stereo input signal in accordance with the frequency response of a filter selectivity located around a center frequency to obtain a stereo channel separation peak value at said center frequency; *at a continuing increase of said noise, decreasing the bandwidth of said filter selectivity to a pre-determined non-zero bandwidth while maintaining the channel separation within the bandwidth of said filter selectivity substantially at said channel separation peak value.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 4, 2011
    Publication date: September 19, 2013
    Applicant: SEMICONDUCTOR IDEAS TO THE MARKET (ITOM)
    Inventor: Herman Wouter Van Rumpt
  • Patent number: 8433077
    Abstract: The invention provides a noise removal device and method capable of more proper interpolation on an input signal. The noise removal device is for removing noise in an input signal and includes: a noise detector detecting noise in an IF signal and outputting a noise detection signal; an interpolation controller determining a period and amount of interpolation for noise correction processing, based on the IF signal and the noise detection signal; and a noise gate processor performing the noise correction processing on the IF signal, based on the interpolation period and amount supplied from the interpolation controller. The interpolation controller sets a predetermined first interpolation period, based on a first noise detection signal inputted from the noise detector, and redefines a second interpolation period longer than the first interpolation period when a second noise detection signal is detected within the first interpolation period.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 20, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Renesas Electronics Corporation
    Inventor: Takaaki Suezawa
  • Patent number: 8411871
    Abstract: Implementations related to echo cancellation are depicted and described herein.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 2, 2013
    Assignee: Lantiq Deutschland GmbH
    Inventors: David Schwingshackl, Joerg Hauptmann, Gerhard Paoli, Dietmar Straeussnigg
  • Patent number: 8369532
    Abstract: A device for processing an audio signal, wherein the device comprises a detection unit adapted for detecting a widening state of the audio signal, and a widening modification unit adapted for modifying a widening characteristic of the audio signal depending on the detected widening state of the audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
    Inventor: Ronaldus Maria Aarts
  • Patent number: 8306240
    Abstract: A method for determining leakage factors or adaptation rates, or both, for adaptive filters in an active noise reduction system. The leakage factor or adaptation rate, or both, may vary depending on a parameter of an input reference signal. The parameter may include one or more of reference signal input frequency, rate of change of reference input signal frequency, if a predetermined triggering condition exits, or if a predetermined event has occurred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 6, 2012
    Assignee: Bose Corporation
    Inventors: Davis Y. Pan, Christopher J. Cheng
  • Patent number: 8295495
    Abstract: An FM audio receiver can include a mono/stereo detector that causes the audio receiver to output either a monophonic or a stereophonic signal based on a received pilot tone energy. An accurate operation of the receiver, including but not limited to correct decoding of monophonic/stereophonic reception, can be based on the receiver operating with the same rated maximum system deviation (RMSD) as the received signal itself. Aspects of the disclosure describe a system and method of detecting and matching a receiver's RMSD to that of a received signal by demodulating a carrier bearing a an input signal over a first bandwidth, extracting a pilot energy signal from the input signal, and demodulating the carrier bearing the input signal over a second bandwidth if the pilot energy signal is within a pilot energy range for a first predetermined amount of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Patent number: 8270928
    Abstract: A radio receiver may determine whether a received frequency modulated radio signal includes interference from an adjacent channel. The receiver may compare a frequency deviation above the center frequency of the received signal to a frequency deviation below the center frequency of the received signal. The receiver determines that the radio signal is affected by adjacent channel noise when the frequency deviation below the center frequency is substantially different from the frequency deviation above the center frequency. Alternatively, the presence of noise from an adjacent channel may be detected by comparing a positive amplitude and a negative amplitude of a demodulated version of the frequency modulated radio signal. In this alternative, the receiver determines that the radio signal is affected by adjacent channel noise when the extent of the positive amplitude is substantially different from the extent of the negative amplitude.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2012
    Assignee: Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH
    Inventors: Olaf Axtmann, Philipp Schmauderer, Christoph Benz, Andreas Körner
  • Publication number: 20120224699
    Abstract: Apparatus to reduce noise in a stereo FM broadcast received via an antenna, the apparatus comprising: a frequency translator configured to translate the received stereo FM broadcast to an intermediate carrier frequency, a demodulation unit configured to demodulate the translated FM signal so as to form left-plus-right and left-minus-right AM signals, a filter configured to form a filtered signal by filtering one of the AM signals, so as to suppress a sub-band of that signal containing unwanted tones, a summing unit for summing the filtered signal and the other of the left-plus-right and left-minus-right signals to produce a stereo audio signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 16, 2010
    Publication date: September 6, 2012
    Applicant: Cambridge Silicon Radio Limited
    Inventors: Jacob Sharpe, Andrei Popescu
  • Patent number: 8139771
    Abstract: A system and method for switching a mode of a receiver between a monophonic and stereophonic mode is disclosed. The method can include generating a residual signal indicative of a noise level associated with a pilot energy signal, calculating a residual block energy level of the residual signal over an observation interval, generating a monitor signal based on a number of times the pilot energy signal is less than a pilot energy threshold during the observation interval and switching the mode of the receiver based on the residual block energy level and the monitor signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Patent number: 8139772
    Abstract: A receiver may estimate a channel condition based on a difference between a pilot energy signal and a filtered pilot energy signal. The receiver may further switch to a stereophonic mode when both the difference and an energy level of the pilot energy signal satisfy a predetermined requirement of the receiver, and switch to a monophonic mode when either the difference or the energy level of the pilot energy signal fail to satisfy the predetermined requirement of the receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Patent number: 8098830
    Abstract: A technique for reducing inherent noise in a real time digital audio wireless system. The technique allows for low power stereo analog to digital and digital to analog converters to be used in a battery operated real time digital audio wireless applications. The audio signal is sent to the left and right channels of an analog to digital converter with a preceding audio amp of different gain at the input to each channel. The signals are simultaneously digitized then combined to generate a new digital value resulting in noise reduction at lower amplitudes. This new data word is then transmitted via radio waves to a digital audio receiver. Once the data is received it is output simultaneously to a stereo digital to analog converter. The digital to analog conversion of both left and right channels is then summed using a resistor network and an audio amplifier. The audio amplifier output is then reduced to create further reduction of noise at all amplitudes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 23, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: Line 6, Inc.
    Inventors: Guy Coker, James Purcell
  • Patent number: 8093841
    Abstract: An audio receiver may include a mono/stereo detector that causes the audio receiver to output either a monophonic or a stereophonic signal based on a difference between a pilot energy signal and a filtered pilot energy signal. The audio receiver includes a filter that filters the pilot energy signal to generate a filtered pilot energy signal, wherein a variable leakage factor associated with the filter is used to minimize a noise level of the filtered pilot energy signal and to reduce a response time of the audio receiver.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: Marvell International Ltd.
    Inventor: Chris Cheng-Chieh Lee
  • Patent number: 8027437
    Abstract: A method for delivering a message to a recipient in an environment with ambient noise includes the steps of recording the ambient noise in the environment at a certain time interval, analyzing the recorded ambient noise to obtain an average power Pnoise or a RMS amplitude Anoise of the ambient noise, providing a predetermined desired SNRdesired, calculating an average signal power Psignal or a RMS amplitude Asignal of the message to be delivered based on the Pnoise or Anoise and the desired SNRdesired, and adjusting a volume of the message to be delivered according to the Psignal or Asignal. Alternatively, the actual SNRactual will be computed and the message will be repeated if the SNRactual falls below the SNRmin. Systems for delivering a message to a recipient in an environment with ambient noise and computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions for carrying out the methods are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: Nuance Communications, Inc.
    Inventors: Paritosh D. Patel, Oscar J. Blass, Roberto Vila, Jie Z. Zeng, Anatol Blass
  • Patent number: 8019308
    Abstract: A receiving apparatus 10 includes a stereo blend control unit 21 for carrying out a stereo blend process according to the reception state of a broadcast wave, a pilot detecting unit 18 for detecting a pilot signal included in the broadcast wave, and a high cut control unit 22 for carrying out high cut control according to the reception state of the broadcast wave and for carrying out the high cut control when the pilot signal is not detected by the pilot detecting unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 23, 2006
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2011
    Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
    Inventors: Takayuki Endo, Hiroyuki Nagahama
  • Patent number: 7991621
    Abstract: An apparatus for processing an encoded signal and method thereof are disclosed, by which an audio signal can be compressed and reconstructed in higher efficiency. An audio signal processing method includes the steps of identifying whether a type of an audio signal is a music using first type information, if the type of the audio signal is not the music signal, identifying whether the type of the audio signal is a speech signal or a mixed signal using second type information, and if the type of the audio signal is determined as either the speech signal or the mixed signal, reconstructing the audio signal according to a coding scheme applied per frame using coding identification information. If the type of the audio signal is the music signal, the first type information is received only. If the type of the audio signal is the speech signal or the mixed signal, both of the first type information and the second type information are received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 2, 2011
    Assignees: LG Electronics Inc., Industry-Academic Cooperation Foundation, Yonsei University
    Inventors: Hyen O Oh, Jeong Ook Song, Chang Heon Lee, Yang Won Jung, Hong Goo Kang
  • Patent number: 7894609
    Abstract: Disclosed is a stereo signal processing apparatus, in particular for a digital BTSC television decoder, comprising a sub-channel signal processing section which comprises an input for inputting an input sub-channel signal, a DBX expanding means and an output for outputting an output sub-channel signal. The particularity of the present invention is that said sub-channel signal processing section further comprises a phase error compensating means for correcting a phase error of said DBX expanding means so that at said output of said sub-channel signal processing section the phase of the output sub-channel signal is essentially constant or zero over a predetermined frequency range.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2003
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2011
    Assignee: Trident Microsystems (Far East) Ltd.
    Inventor: Björn Heinsen
  • Patent number: 7885628
    Abstract: An FM tuner that has a multipath reception detection unit and an adjacent-channel interference detection unit while reducing expansion of the scale of the circuit is available. A control signal for a stereo separation level is generated on the basis of a signal SM-DC corresponding to a reception field strength and of a signal SMP corresponding to a multipath noise component. The SMP is extracted from a fluctuation component signal SM-AC from an S-meter circuit 92 by a multipath noise extraction circuit 104. The multipath noise extraction circuit 104 used for control of the stereo separation level is shared as a portion of the circuitry for detecting the multipath signal reception state. A multipath reception detection unit 108 compares the SMP with a threshold value to detect a multipath reception state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 8, 2011
    Assignees: Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sanyo Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Keiji Kobayashi
  • Patent number: 7877062
    Abstract: An exemplary ambient noise filtering method includes: sampling ambient noise signals to obtain multiple groups of sampled signals; analyzing each group of the sampled signals in each sampling period to determine ambient noise frequency band(s) in each sampling period, wherein the ambient noise frequency band is a frequency band where the ambient noise distributes; determining main noise frequency band(s) by statistically analyzing all the ambient noise frequency bands, wherein the main noise frequency band is a frequency band where the ambient noise concentrates and mainly distributes; and filtering the ambient noise out of signals generated during a communication by filtering the determined main noise frequency band(s) if the main noise frequency band(s) does not have a same range as that of a speech frequency band. Related exemplary mobile phone performing the method is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2007
    Date of Patent: January 25, 2011
    Assignees: Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd., Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shih-Fang Wong, De-Zhi Li
  • Patent number: 7715567
    Abstract: A method of denoise a stereo signal comprising a stereo sum signal and a stereo difference signal, performs a frequency selective stereo to mono blending based on the masking effect of the human auditory system. Therefore, a stereo signal noise reducer, comprising a first filter bank (1) to split the stereo difference signal (l?r) into a plurality of subbands, respective first multipliers (CO, . . . , CN) to weight each of the subbands of the stereo difference signal with a respective corresponding control signal (CO, . . . , CN), and a first adder (3) to sum all weighted subbands of the stereo difference signal (l?r) to build a frequency selective weighted stereo difference signal (diff), within which a number and width of the subbands obtained via the first filter bank (1) are choosen according to the properties of the human auditory system, further comprises a weighting factor determination unit which determines a respective control signal (CO, . . .
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 2006
    Date of Patent: May 11, 2010
    Assignee: Sony Deutschland GmbH
    Inventor: Jens Wildhagen
  • Patent number: 7706542
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved noise removal device having an improved noise removal precision. A second noise extracting unit extracts a noise of an IF signal, and outputs a second noise signal which is then smoothed by a second noise smoothing unit to produce a second noise-smoothed signal. A noise hold control signal generating unit compares the second noise-smoothed signal with the second noise signal to produce a noise hold control signal indicating an occurring position and an occurring period of the noise of the IF signal. A first noise extracting unit extracts a noise of an FM detection signal, and outputs a first noise signal. A noise hold unit holds the first noise signal in accordance with the noise hold control signal to produce a held noise signal which is then smoothed by a first noise smoothing unit to produce a first noise-smoothed signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 27, 2010
    Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
    Inventor: Hisashi Suganuma