Patent ID: 9747454
Date: 2017-08-29
CPC Classifications: G06F,G08B,H04R

Claim:
1. A directivity control system comprising: at least one imager that is arranged to capture an image of an area, wherein the area includes a privacy protection region; a sound collector that is arranged to collect sounds from the area; a display that, in operation, displays the image of the area captured by the imager, and that permits selection of an image position in the displayed image of the area, wherein the privacy protection region is predefined prior to selection of the image position; and a controller which, in operation, finds a sound position in the area that corresponds to the image position selected in the displayed image of the area, calculates a pointed direction from the sound collector to the sound position and provides directivity to the sounds collected by the sound collector in accordance with the pointed direction, responsive to the sound position inside the predefined privacy protection region, restricts output of the sounds provided with the directivity, and responsive to the sound position outside the predefined privacy protection region, outputs the sounds provided with the directivity.