Voice enhancement method

A voice enhancement method is disclosed. The method of the present invention is adapted for a distributed system. In the present invention, a plurality of picking devices are disposed in a space for picking voice signal. After determining the positions of the picking devices, an enhancement operation is performed on the waveform signals from the picking devices to generate an enhanced voice signal.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is related to a voice enhancement method, more particularly to a voice enhancement method for a distributed system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For important meeting or conference, a place with special design or equipment is required. For example, a conference room with sound-absorbing walls or a microphone array with beamforming technology would be appreciated for people to organize an important meeting.

However, it is expensive to build such a conference room and equipment.

In modern word, the division of knowledge is more specialized and professionalized, but the fields of technique included in a project are more and more complicated. Consequently, a plurality of meetings of discussing and organizing for professionals of technical fields are needed to complete a project. The meeting occurs anytime anywhere, but a good conference room is not available anytime.

Consequently, how to provide a voice enhancement method with low cost is the problem of the community.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a voice enhancement method, more particularly a voice enhancement method adapted for a distributed system.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a voice enhancement method, which determines the positions of the picking devices and the source, and performs an enhancement operation on waveform signal to generate an enhanced voice signal with low cost.

It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a voice enhancement method, wherein the positions of the picking devices are firstly determined, and then the picking devices transmit the waveform signal to each other and perform an enhancement operation on the waveform signal to generate an enhanced voice signal.

The present invention provides a voice enhancement method, adapted for a distributed system, wherein the distributed system comprises a plurality of picking devices and a host device, the plurality of picking devices are disposed in a space and communicate with the host device, wherein the voice enhancement method comprises steps of: positioning the plurality of picking devices and a source; using each of the plurality of picking devices to receive a voice signal generated by the source and generate a waveform signal corresponding to the received voice signal; using each of the plurality of picking devices to transmit the waveform signal to the host device; and performing an enhancement operation on the waveform signals and generating an enhanced voice signal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the enhancement operation comprises determining and comparing distances between picking devices and the source and choosing the waveform signal generated by the picking device which is the closest one to the source as the enhanced voice signal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of positioning the plurality of picking devices and the source is selectively one of a step of global positioning system positioning, assisted global positioning system positioning or image recognition positioning.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the enhancement operation is selectively one of a beamforming operation, an echo cancellation operation, a noise reduction operation, a de-reverberation operation, a gain boost operation or the combination thereof.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the voice enhancement method further comprises a step of transmitting the enhanced voice signal to the plurality of picking devices; wherein each of the plurality of picking devices comprises a speaker for playing the enhanced voice signal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the plurality of picking devices communicate with the host device by wired transmission or wireless transmission.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the wireless transmission is selectively one of a Bluetooth transmission, wireless network transmission, a radio frequency transmission or an acoustic transmission.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the plurality of picking devices is selectively one of a speakerphone, a wired telephone, a wireless telephone, a mobile phone, a Bluetooth headset, a wired microphone, a wireless microphone, a wired speaker with microphone, a wireless speaker with microphone or a notebook computer.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the voice enhancement method further comprises a step of positioning the plurality of picking devices and the source periodically in a predetermined period.

The present invention further provides a voice enhancement, adapted for a distributed system, wherein the distributed system comprises a first picking device and at least one second picking device, the first picking device and the at least one second picking device are disposed in a space and communicate with each other, wherein the voice enhancement method comprises steps of: positioning the first picking device and the at least one second picking device; using each of the first picking device and the at least one second picking device to receive a voice signal generated by a source and generate a waveform signal corresponding to the received voice signal; using each of the at least one picking device to transmit the waveform signal to the first picking device; and performing an enhancement operation on the waveform signals and generating an enhanced voice signal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the enhancement operation is selectively one of a beamforming operation, an echo cancellation operation, a noise reduction operation, a de-reverberation operation, a gain boost operation or the combination thereof.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the first picking device and the at least one second picking device comprises a speaker for playing the enhanced voice signal.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of positioning the first picking device and the at least one second picking device is selectively one of a step of wireless transmission positioning, acoustic transmission positioning, global positioning system positioning, assisted global positioning system positioning or image recognition positioning.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the voice enhancement method further comprises a step of positioning the first picking device and the at least one second picking device periodically in a predetermined period.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the first picking device and the at least one second picking device is selectively one of a speakerphone, a wired telephone, a wireless telephone, a mobile phone, a Bluetooth headset, a wired microphone, a wireless microphone, a wired speaker with microphone, a wireless speaker with microphone or a notebook computer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring toFIGS. 1 and 2, there are shown a schematic diagram showing the distributed system and the flowchart in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention. The distributed system10of the present invention comprises a plurality of picking devices12and a host device14. The picking devices12are distributed within a space101for receiving a voice signal181generated by a source18. Each of the picking devices12communicates with the host device14. In the voice enhancement method of the present invention, a host device14and a plurality of picking devices12of the distributed system10are firstly provided in the space101; and the positions of the plurality of picking devices12and the source18are determined, as shown in steps201and203. Each of the plurality of picking devices12picks up a voice signal181generated by the source18and generates a waveform signal corresponding to the received voice signal181, as shown in step205.

And then, each of the plurality of picking devices12transmits generated waveform signal to the host device14, as shown in step207.

Finally, the host device14performs an enhancement operation on the waveform signals generated by the plurality of picking devices12and generates an enhanced voice signal, as shown in steps209and211.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the enhancement operation comprises comparing the distances between the picking devices12and the source18and choosing the waveform signal generated by the picking device12which is the closest one to the source18as the enhanced voice signal. The present embodiment is the simplest embodiment of the present invention. It chooses the waveform signal generated by the picking device12which is the closest one to the source18. Since the picking device12is the closest one to the source18, the received voice signal181has the highest intensity and the intensity of the noise is relatively low, choosing the waveform signal as the enhanced voice signal takes the least resource and operation.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the step of positioning the picking devices12and the source18can be performed by using global positioning system (GPS) positioning, assisted global positioning system (AGPS) positioning or image recognition positioning. In one embodiment of the present invention, if each of the picking devices12and the source18comprises a GPS signal receiver, the step of positioning is performed by GPS positioning. In another embodiment of the present invention, if each of the picking devices12and the source18comprises an AGPS system, the step of positioning is performed by AGPS positioning. For example, if the picking devices12and the source18are all mobile phones, the step of positioning can be performed by AGPS positioning. In still another embodiment of the present invention, if the distributed system10comprises a camera16, the step of positioning can be performed by image recognition positioning.

After determining the positions (or relative positions) of the picking devices12, a coordinate103can be constructed in the space101. When the source18generates a voice signal181, the picking devices12receive the voice signal181at different locations. Because of the differences of locations and distances, the voice signal181received by the picking devices12comprise different intensities and phases. By performing beamforming operation according to the positions of the picking devices12in the coordinate103and the correlations between the waveform signals generated by the picking devices12, the echo cancellation operation, noise reduction operation, de-reverberation operation and gain boost operation for voice enhancement can be achieved.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the communications between the picking devices12and the host device14are selectively performed by one of wired transmission or wireless transmission. The wireless transmission is selectively one of a Bluetooth transmission, a wireless network (Wi-Fi) transmission, a radio frequency transmission, or an acoustic transmission.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each picking device12comprises a speaker121for displaying the enhanced voice signal. The voice enhancement method of the present invention further comprises steps of transmitting the enhanced voice signal to each of the plurality of picking devices12and playing the enhanced voice signal by using the speakers121of the picking devices12, as shown in steps213and215. In the present invention, the enhanced voice signal can further be transmitted to a remote device (not shown) via network or other communication vehicle and played by the remote device for remote conference participants.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the picking device12is selectively one of a speakerphone, a wired telephone, a wireless telephone, a mobile phone, a Bluetooth headset, a wired microphone, a wireless microphone, a wired speaker with microphone, a wireless speaker with microphone or a notebook computer.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the voice enhancement method further comprises a step of positioning the picking devices12periodically in a predetermined period. In one embodiment of the present invention, the picking devices12are embodied by the hand-carried electronic devices of the conference participants, such as a mobile phone, a Bluetooth headset, or a notebook computer. When the participants move or the picking devices12are moved, the relative positions of the picking devices12and the source18are changed, and repositioning of the picking devices12and the source18should be performed for voice enhancement operation.

Referring toFIGS. 3 and 4, there are shown a schematic diagram showing the distributed system and the flowchart in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The distributed system30of the present embodiment comprises a first picking device32and at least one second picking device34. The first picking device32and the second picking device34are disposed in a space301. The first picking device34and the at least one second picking device34communicate with each other.

In the voice enhancement method of the present embodiment, a first picking device32and at least one second picking device34of the distributed system30are provided in the space301; and the positions of the first picking device32and the at least one second picking device34are determined, as shown in steps401and403. Each of the first picking device32and the at least one second picking device34picks up a voice signal181generated by a source18and generates a waveform signal corresponding to the received voice signal181, as shown in step405. And then, each second picking device34transmits the waveform signal to the first picking device32, as shown in step407. Finally, the first picking device32performs an enhancement operation on the waveform signals generated by the first picking device32and the second picking device34and generates an enhanced voice signal, as shown in steps409and411.

In the present invention, since the first picking device32and the at least one second picking device34communicate with each other the distance and relative position between the first picking device32and the second picking device34can be determined by the communication protocols and the parameters of signal transmission. When the picking devices32and34communicate with each other by wireless transmission, the relative positions of the picking devices32and34can be determined by Bluetooth transmission positioning, wireless network (Wi-Fi) transmission positioning or radio frequency transmission positioning, according to the transmission protocol between the first picking device32and the second picking device34. If the picking devices32and34communicate with each other by wired transmission, the relative position of the first picking device32and the second picking device34can be determined by wired transmission positioning. The positions of the first picking device32and the second picking device34can also be determined by global positioning system (GPS) positioning or assisted global positioning system (AGPS) positioning, if the picking devices32and34comprise GPS receivers or AGPS receivers.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the picking devices32and34can communicate with each other by acoustic transmission. The positions of the picking devices32and34can be determined by acoustic transmission positioning. The distances between the picking devices32and34can be determined by calculating the attenuation of the intensity of the acoustic signal, and the coordinate303can be constructed according to the distances between the picking devices32and34.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the distributed system30of the present invention further comprises a camera36connected to or disposed on the first picking device32for obtaining the images of the space301. The images of the space301are transmitted to the first picking device32to perform an image recognition operation for positioning the first picking device32, the second picking device34and the source18. In the present embodiment, when the position of the source18, the first picking device32or the second picking device34is changed, the relative positions of the source18, the first picking device32and the second picking device34can be calibrated immediately.

After determining the positions (or relative positions) of the first picking device32, the second picking device34, a coordinate303is constructed in the space303. According to the positions of the first picking device32and the second picking device34in the coordinate303, the position of the source18in the coordinate303can also be determined. By performing beamforming operation according to the correlations between the waveform signals generated by the picking devices32and34, the echo cancellation operation, noise reduction operation, de-reverberation operation and gain boost operation for voice enhancement can be achieved.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the first picking device32and the second picking device34comprises a speaker321or341. The voice enhancement method further comprises steps of: transmitting the enhanced voice signal to the second picking device34, and using the speaker321and341of the first picking device32and the second picking device34to play the enhanced voice signal, as shown in steps413and415. In the present invention, the enhanced voice signal can further be transmitted to a remote device (not shown) via network or other communication vehicle and played by the remote device for remote conference participants.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the voice enhancement method further comprises a step of positioning the first picking device32and the second picking device34periodically in a predetermined period.

In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the first picking device32and the second picking device34is selectively one of a speakerphone, a wired telephone, a wireless telephone, a mobile phone, a Bluetooth headset, a wired microphone, a wireless microphone, a wired speaker with microphone, a wireless speaker with microphone or a notebook computer.

Although particular embodiments of the invention have been described in detail for purposes of illustration, various modifications and enhancements may be made without departing from the scope of the invention specified by the claims.