Patent ID: 11882416
Assignee: WAYMO LLC
Field: Audio-visual technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  B  G | IPC H

Claim 19:
20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions executable by a computing device to cause the computing device to perform functions, the functions comprising:
synchronizing, at a processor, a first internal clock associated with a first plurality of microphones positioned on an autonomous vehicle with a second internal clock associated with a second plurality of microphones positioned on the autonomous vehicle;
receiving an audio frame and a corresponding timestamp from each microphone in the first plurality of microphones, each audio frame generated in response to a respective microphone in the first plurality of microphones capturing a particular sound from a particular source, and each timestamp generated using the first internal clock and indicative of a time a corresponding microphone in the first plurality of microphones captured the particular sound;
receiving an audio frame and a corresponding timestamp from each microphone in the second plurality of microphones, each audio frame generated in response to a respective microphone in the second plurality of microphones capturing the particular sound from the particular source, and each timestamp generated using the second internal clock and indicative of a time a corresponding microphone in the second plurality of microphones captured the particular sound;
determining a location of the particular source relative to the autonomous vehicle based on the timestamps of the audio frames generated by the first plurality of microphones and the timestamps of the audio frames generated by the second plurality of microphones; and
generating a command to maneuver the autonomous vehicle based on the location of the particular source relative to the autonomous vehicle.