System and method for removing vehicle geometric structure noise from hands-free audio

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are disclosed for determining and characterizing distortion of an audio signal due to geometric properties of an interior passenger compartment of a vehicle. An example vehicle includes a microphone, a seat having a plurality of seat positions, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine a first seat position corresponding to a time point at which an audio signal is received; determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position; and determine a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to hands-free audio in vehicles, and more particularly to systems and methods for removing noise caused by vehicle geometry in a vehicle hands-free audio system. Background Art

[0002] Many modern vehicles can include automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology for use with hands-free calls. ASR technology typically includes a microphone positioned inside the vehicle to pick up the speaker's voice. Data from the microphone is processed to recognize the words and commands spoken by the driver. Appropriate actions are then taken.

[0003] The positioning of the microphone, while helpful for picking up the driver's voice, can also introduce noise from various sources including vehicle speakers, the HVAC system, or window openings. Additionally, vehicle geometry can affect the audio received by the microphone. These noise sources can cause ASR to fail, resulting in a poor user experience. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The appended claims define the application. The present disclosure summarizes aspects of the embodiments and should not be used to limit the claims. As will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reviewing the following drawings and detailed description, other implementations can be conceived in accordance with the techniques described herein, and these implementations are intended to be within the scope of this application.

[0005] Example embodiments are shown that describe systems, devices, and methods for eliminating audio distortion caused by vehicle geometry between a speaker's mouth and a microphone for receiving an audio signal from the speaker. An example disclosed vehicle includes a microphone, a seat having a plurality of seat positions, and a processor. The processor is configured to determine a first seat position corresponding to a time point at which the audio signal is received. The processor is further configured to determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position. Additionally, the processor is further configured to determine a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

[0006] An example disclosed method includes receiving an audio signal by a vehicle microphone. The method further includes determining, by a vehicle processor, a first seat position of a seat of the vehicle corresponding to a time point at which the audio signal is received. The method further includes determining, by the vehicle processor, a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position. Additionally, the method further includes determining, by the vehicle processor, a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

[0007] A third example may include a device for receiving an audio signal. The third example also includes a device for determining a first seat position of a vehicle seat corresponding to a time point at which the received audio signal is located. The third example also includes a device for determining a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position. Additionally, the third example also includes a device for determining a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] To better understand the present invention, reference may be made to the embodiments shown in the drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, and related elements may be omitted, or in some cases the scale may be exaggerated to emphasize and clearly illustrate the novel features described herein. Additionally, as is known in the art, the system components may be arranged differently. Further, in the drawings, like reference numerals represent corresponding components in several views.

[0009] Figure 1 An example vehicle according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0010] Figure 2 An example vehicle seat according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown.

[0011] Figure 3 Shows Figure 1 and Figure 2 an example block diagram of electronic components of a vehicle.

[0012] Figure 4 A flowchart of an example method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] Although the present invention may be embodied in various forms, the exemplary and non-limiting embodiments shown in the drawings and described below should be understood that the present disclosure should be regarded as an example of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention to the specific embodiments shown.

[0014] As described above, a vehicle may include ASR or other audio technologies available to the driver or passengers such that the driver or passengers can perform "hands-free" operations. First, the driver or passenger may press a button to activate an audio system, which may include a microphone that picks up voice and other noise signals. A processor may analyze the signals received by the microphone to identify or determine whether any words have been spoken that should be acted upon, or whether any words should be transmitted to a recipient at the other end of a hands-free call. The processing steps typically may require a certain threshold of signal-to-noise ratio such that the words can be extracted. However, in many cases, there may be noise sources that can interfere with the ability of the ASR system to recognize the words spoken by the driver.

[0015] Noise sources can cause an audio system to fail or require significant processing power to remove noise and determine a near-clear speech signal for a conversation. In many vehicles, microphones are placed at a distance from the speaker's mouth, which means that the speaker's voice may be distorted or noisy due to (1) background noise and (2) vehicle geometry. Background noise can come from any number of sources, including wind, the engine, music or other audio from the speaker, and many other sources. Vehicle geometry can cause distortion of the speaker's voice due to reflections and reverberations from windows or other parts of the vehicle.

[0016] In view of these problems, example embodiments of the present disclosure can utilize known features of a vehicle to eliminate or reduce distortion of an audio signal caused by vehicle geometry.

[0017] A typical audio signal received by a vehicle microphone can include three components: (1) near-clear speech for a conversation, (2) a cabin impulse response (CIR), and (3) background noise. Near-clear speech for a conversation can include an audio signal of speech emitted from a person's mouth in a quiet recording environment. Thus, the near-clear speech for a conversation may not include any background noise, distortion, or other errors, but instead can reflect a clear representation of speech emitted from a person's mouth.

[0018] The CIR can refer to the transfer function between the speaker's mouth and the microphone. The transfer function can account for the vehicle's cabin acoustics and the distance between the speaker's mouth and the microphone. Thus, a different CIR can exist for each position of the speaker's mouth relative to the microphone because each position of the speaker's mouth results in a different transfer function. Embodiments disclosed herein can include a discretized environment where one or more CIRs are determined for each vehicle seat position.

[0019] Background noise can come from many sources inside and outside the cabin and can be added to the near-clear speech for a conversation and the CIR to produce the audio signal received by the microphone. Example embodiments disclosed herein can assist in removing the CIR from the audio signal received by the microphone to provide a resulting filtered audio signal that includes the near-clear speech for a conversation and background noise, but does not include distortion due to vehicle geometry. Further filtering can be performed to remove background noise.

[0020] Figure 1FIG. 0 shows an example vehicle 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Vehicle 100 can be a standard gasoline-powered vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, or any other type of vehicle as a mobile tool. Vehicle 100 can be non-autonomous, semi-autonomous, or autonomous. Vehicle 100 can include mobility-related components such as a powertrain having an engine, a transmission, a suspension, a drive shaft, and / or wheels, etc. In the illustrated example, vehicle 100 can include one or more electronic components (described below with respect to Figure 3 ).

[0021] As Figure 1 shown, vehicle 100 can include a microphone 102, a plurality of seats 104A and 104B, and a processor 110. The microphone 102 can be used for ASR purposes in some examples, where audio is received, processed, and one or more commands or control words are determined. The processor can then take one or more actions (e.g., initiate a call, modify one or more vehicle settings, etc.) based on the determined commands. The microphone can also be used in non-ASR environments, such as during a phone call where the microphone receives audio and transmits it to the recipient.

[0022] In some examples, the microphone 102 can be a single microphone, or can include a plurality of microphones. In the case where the microphone 102 includes a plurality of microphones, the microphone 102 can be an array located at a single location or distributed throughout the vehicle 100. Additionally, the microphone 102 can be located in the top of the vehicle (i.e., near the driver's head), or can be located in the overhead console, rearview mirror, door, vehicle frame, front console, or other areas of the vehicle 100. Additionally, vehicle 100 can include a plurality of microphones, each corresponding to a specific seat or group of seats. By receiving audio at two or more microphones, the source of the audio signal can be determined.

[0023] Vehicle 100 also shows seats 104A and 104B. Each seat can have a plurality of seat positions, which can be defined as a combination of a horizontal position, a vertical position, and a backrest position.

[0024] Figure 2 Shown is a seat 204 in an example vehicle 200 that also includes a microphone 202. Vehicle 200 can be similar or identical to vehicle 100 in one or more aspects. As can be seen in Figure 2, the seat 204 can include a horizontal position corresponding to a position along axis 206, a vertical position corresponding to a position along axis 208, and a rotational position of the backrest along rotational axis 210. The horizontal, vertical, and backrest positions can be detected or determined by one or more vehicle sensors. For example, one or more potentiometers, optical encoders, or other types of sensors can be used to determine the position of the seat relative to the horizontal, vertical, and backrest positions. In some examples, the processor 110 can determine the horizontal, vertical, and / or rotational position of the seat 204 via the vehicle data bus. This information can be used to generally determine the seat position.

[0025] Vehicle 100 can also include a processor 110 configured to perform one or more of the functions, actions, or methods described herein. The processor 110 can be configured to receive an audio signal captured by the microphone 102. In some examples, the received audio signal can cause the processor to begin or prompt the processor to perform one or more actions. For example, in response to receiving the audio signal, the processor can determine one or more vehicle seat positions. The processor 110 can also receive other inputs configured to initiate or prompt processor actions. This can include inputs from a user via a user interface, or via one or more devices implemented by a wired or wireless connection.

[0026] The processor 110 can be configured to determine the time point at which the audio signal is received by the microphone. The processor can also determine the position of the received audio signal (i.e., which seat corresponds to the received audio signal).

[0027] In some examples, the processor 110 can then determine the seat position corresponding to the time point at which the audio signal is received. The seat position can be a first seat position corresponding only to the driver's seat (i.e., seat 104A) or to a passenger seat (i.e., seat 104B). In some examples, the processor 110 can be configured to determine the seat position of the seat corresponding to the determined position of the received audio signal (i.e., the seat corresponding to the position of the originating audio signal).

[0028] In some examples, the processor can be configured to determine a seat position including the positions of two or more seats. For example, "seat position" can refer to the common position of both seats 104A and 104B, and one or more other seats. And as described above, the seat position of one or more seats can be determined by one or more vehicle sensors located throughout the vehicle 100.

[0029] In some examples, the processor 110 may be further configured to receive the occupant height corresponding to one or more seats. The occupant height may be input by the occupant via a vehicle user interface or a connecting device and may be used to determine the vertical position of the occupant's mouth relative to the seat. This may provide the processor with additional information that can be used to select or determine an appropriate CIR. Thus, the occupant height may be a factor or component of the seat position such that a given seat position may include a horizontal position, a vertical position, a backrest position, and the occupant height.

[0030] Once the seat position is determined by the processor 110, the corresponding CIR may be determined based on the determined seat position. For example, the determined CIR may correspond to: a first seat position corresponding to the first seat 104A, a second seat position corresponding to the second seat 104B, or a combination of the first seat position and the second seat position.

[0031] Determining the CIR may include selecting the CIR from a stored list, array, or other data structure that includes a plurality of CIRs. The plurality of CIRs may correspondingly correspond to each seat position or combination of seat positions. Thus, there may be a CIR corresponding to each combination of possible horizontal positions, vertical positions, backrest positions, and / or occupant heights. Other factors may also be included.

[0032] In some examples, the plurality of CIRs may be determined in a laboratory environment or may be determined or generated at a vehicle manufacturing facility. Thus, the plurality of CIRs may be pre-determined and stored in the vehicle memory via the vehicle. Additionally, the plurality of CIRs may be specific to a given vehicle and may be different between different makes and models of vehicles, or even between vehicles of the same make and model for the same determined seat position.

[0033] As described above, the CIR may be a transfer function between a position near the head of an occupant of the seat and a microphone. Figure 1 A position 108 near the head of the occupant 106 is shown. Thus, the CIR may be a representation of the geometry of the passenger compartment and may correspond to the distortion that affects the audio signal based on the geometry of the interior of the vehicle as the audio signal travels from the mouth of the speaker at position 108 to the microphone 102.

[0034] Once the processor 110 determines the CIR corresponding to the seat position when receiving an audio signal, the processor may be configured to determine a filtered audio signal based on the CIR and the received audio signal. This may include performing a deconvolution operation on the received audio signal using the determined CIR in order to eliminate the effects and / or distortions caused by the interior acoustics and geometry of the passenger compartment. Further filtering may be performed to remove artifacts caused by the deconvolution process and / or background noise.

[0035] In some examples, the filtered audio signal may subsequently be processed by a speech recognition system, a hands-free telephone system, or other vehicle audio systems.

[0036] Figure 3 An example block diagram 300 showing electronic components of vehicle 100 and / or 200 is shown in accordance with some embodiments. In the example shown, the electronic components 300 include an in-vehicle computing system 310, an infotainment host unit 320, sensors 340, one or more electronic control units 350, and a vehicle data bus 360.

[0037] The in-vehicle computing system 310 may include a microcontroller unit, a controller, or a processor 110 and a memory 312. The processor 110 may be any suitable processing device or group of processing devices, such as, but not limited to: a microprocessor, a microcontroller-based platform, an integrated circuit, one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and / or one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). The memory 312 may be a volatile memory (e.g., RAM including non-volatile RAM, magnetic RAM, ferroelectric RAM, etc.), a non-volatile memory (e.g., disk memory, FLASH memory, EPROM, EEPROM, memristor-based non-volatile solid state memory, etc.), a non-alterable memory (e.g., EPROM), a read-only memory, and / or a high-capacity storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive, a solid state drive, etc.). In some examples, the memory 312 includes multiple memories, particularly volatile and non-volatile memories.

[0038] The memory 312 may be a computer-readable medium on which one or more instruction sets may be embedded, such as software for operating the methods of the present disclosure. The instructions may embody one or more of the methods or logics described herein. For example, the instructions reside, in whole or at least in part, in any one or more of the memories 312 that are computer-readable media and / or within the processor 110 during execution of the instructions.

[0039] The terms “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium” include a single medium or multiple media, such as a centralized or distributed database, and / or associated caches and servers storing one or more instruction sets. Additionally, the terms “non-transitory computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable medium” include any tangible medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying an instruction set executable by a processor, or causing a system to perform any one or more of the methods or operations disclosed herein. As used herein, the term “computer-readable medium” is expressly defined to include any type of computer-readable storage device and / or storage disk and to exclude propagated signals.

[0040] The infotainment host unit 320 can provide an interface between the vehicle 100 and / or 200 and the user. The infotainment host unit 320 can include one or more input and / or output devices in the form of a user interface 322 having one or more input devices and output devices. The input devices can include, for example, control knobs, instrument panels, digital cameras for image capture and / or visual command recognition, touchscreens, audio input devices (e.g., cabin microphones), buttons, or touchpads. The output devices can include instrument cluster outputs (e.g., dials, lighting devices), actuators, head-up displays, center console displays (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays, flat panel displays, solid state displays, etc.), and / or speakers. In the illustrated example, the infotainment host unit 320 includes hardware (e.g., processors or controllers, memories, storage bodies, etc.) and software (e.g., operating systems, etc.) for the infotainment system (such as of and MyFord of of etc.). In some examples, the infotainment host unit 320 can share a processor with the vehicle computing system 310. Additionally, the infotainment host unit 320 can display the infotainment system on, for example, the center console display of the vehicle 100 and / or 200.

[0041] The sensors 340 can be arranged in and around the vehicle 100 and / or 200 in any suitable manner. In the illustrated example, the sensors 340 include a microphone 102, one or more seat position sensors 342, and one or more seat occupancy sensors 344. The microphone 102 can be electrically coupled to the vehicle computing system 310 such that the vehicle computing system 310 can receive / transmit signals with the microphone 102. The one or more seat position sensors 342 can be configured to determine one or more characteristics of the respective seats of the vehicle. For example, the seat position sensors 342 can determine the vertical, horizontal, and backrest rotation positions of the vehicle seats. The one or more seat occupancy sensors 344 can be configured to determine whether there is a person present in one or more of the vehicle seats. Such information can be used by the processor 110 to make one or more determinations or perform one or more actions such as those described herein. Other sensors, such as noise detection sensors, airflow sensors, etc., can also be included.

[0042] The ECU 350 can monitor and control subsystems of vehicle 100 and / or 200. The ECU 350 can communicate and exchange information via the vehicle data bus 360. Additionally, the ECU 350 can communicate attributes such as the status of the ECU 350, sensor readings, control status, error and diagnostic codes, etc. to other ECU 350s and / or receive requests from them. Some vehicles can have seventy or more ECU 350s communicatively coupled via the vehicle data bus 360 located at various positions around the vehicle. The ECU 350 can be a discrete group of electronic devices that includes one or more of its own circuits (such as integrated circuits, microprocessors, memories, storage banks, etc.) and firmware, sensors, actuators, and / or mounting hardware. In the example shown, the ECU 350 can include a telematics control unit 352, a body control unit 354, and a climate control unit 356.

[0043] The telematics control unit 352 can control the tracking of the vehicle, for example, using data received by a GPS receiver, a communication module, and / or one or more sensors. The body control unit 354 can control various subsystems of the vehicle. For example, the body control unit 354 can control the power liftgate latch, windows, power locks, power sunroof control, anti-theft locking system, and / or power mirrors, etc. The climate control unit 356 can control the speed, temperature, and volume of air flowing out of one or more vents. The climate control unit 356 can also detect the fan speed (and other signals) and transmit it to the in-vehicle computing system 310 via the data bus 360. Other ECUs are possible.

[0044] The vehicle data bus 360 can include one or more data buses that communicatively couple the in-vehicle computing system 310, the infotainment host unit 320, the sensors 340, the ECU 350, and other devices or systems connected to the vehicle data bus 360. In some examples, the vehicle data bus 360 can be implemented according to the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus protocol defined by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 11898-1. Alternatively, in some examples, the vehicle data bus 360 can be a Media Oriented System Transport (MOST) bus, or a CAN Flexible Data (CAN-FD) bus (ISO11898-7).

[0045] Figure 4 A flowchart of an example method 400 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. The method 400 can enable a vehicle to determine that the cause of the distortion of an audio signal is due to the geometric properties of the vehicle's interior cabin. Figure 4The flowchart represents machine-readable instructions stored in a memory (such as memory 312) and may include one or more programs that, when executed by a processor (such as processor 110), may cause vehicles 100, 200, and / or one or more systems or devices to perform one or more of the functions described herein. Although an example program is described with reference to the flowchart shown in Figure 4 many other methods may alternatively be used to perform the functions described herein. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be rearranged or performed serially or in parallel with each other, and the blocks may be altered, deleted, and / or combined to perform method 400. Additionally, since method 400 is disclosed in connection with the components of Figures 1 to 3 some functions of those components will not be described in detail below.

[0046] Method 400 may begin at block 402. At block 404, method 400 may include determining a plurality of cabin impulse responses (CIRs). As described above, this may include determining the cabin impulse response corresponding to each of a plurality of vehicle seat positions, occupant heights, etc. Additionally, the plurality of CIRs may be determined in a laboratory environment or at a vehicle manufacturing facility.

[0047] At block 406, method 400 may include receiving an audio signal at a microphone of the vehicle. The audio signal may be the voice of an occupant of the vehicle. At block 408, method 400 may include determining the seat corresponding to the audio signal. In some examples, this may include analyzing data received at two or more microphones to locate the source of the audio signal. Other techniques for determining the location of the audio source may also be used.

[0048] At block 410, method 400 may include determining a first vehicle seat position. This may include determining the vertical, horizontal, and / or backrest position of the first seat of the vehicle. Additionally, this may include determining whether the first seat is occupied and the height of the occupant corresponding to the first seat.

[0049] At block 412, method 400 may include determining a second vehicle seat position. This may be done in a similar or identical manner to the first seat position.

[0050] At block 414, method 400 may include determining the CIRs corresponding to the first seat position and the second seat position. This may include selecting the CIRs from a list, array, or other data structure that includes a plurality of CIRs.

[0051] At block 416, method 400 may include filtering the received audio signal based on the determined CIRs. In some examples, this may include performing a deconvolution operation on the received audio signal based on the CIRs.

[0052] At block 418, method 400 may then include providing the filtered audio signal to an automatic speech recognition system that may perform additional filtering to remove background noise and / or determine whether the audio signal includes one or more commands that should be executed. Then, method 400 may end at block 420.

[0053] In some examples, method 400 may further include the steps of determining that the first vehicle seat and / or the second vehicle seat has changed position and, in response to the changed seat position, determining an updated CIR. Other variations are possible.

[0054] In this application, the use of disjunctive connectives is intended to include the conjunctive. The use of the definite or indefinite article is not intended to indicate cardinality. In particular, the reference to "the" object or "a" and "an" object is also intended to denote one of a possible plurality of such objects. Additionally, the connective "or" may be used to express features that exist simultaneously rather than mutually exclusive alternatives. In other words, the connective "or" should be understood to include "and / or". The terms "includes", "including", and "include" are inclusive and have the same scope as "comprises", "comprising", and "comprise", respectively.

[0055] The embodiments described above and especially any "preferred" embodiments are possible examples of implementations and are presented only for a clear understanding of the principles of the invention. Many changes and modifications may be made to one or more of the embodiments described above without materially departing from the spirit and principles of the technology described herein. All modifications are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure and are protected by the appended claims.

[0056] According to the present invention, there is provided a vehicle having: a microphone; a seat having a plurality of seat positions; and a processor configured to: determine a first seat position corresponding to a time point at which an audio signal is received; determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position; and determine a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

[0057] According to one embodiment, the processor is further configured to determine the cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position by selecting the cabin impulse response from a plurality of cabin impulse responses stored in a vehicle memory.

[0058] According to one embodiment, each of the plurality of cabin impulse responses corresponds to a different seat position of the plurality of seat positions.

[0059] According to one embodiment, multiple cabin impulse responses are generated at a vehicle manufacturing facility.

[0060] According to one embodiment, each of a plurality of seat positions includes a combination of: (i) a horizontal position, (ii) a vertical position, and (iii) a backrest position.

[0061] According to one embodiment, the seat is a first seat having a plurality of first seat positions, the vehicle further includes a second seat having a plurality of second seat positions, and the processor is further configured to: determine a first seat position and a second seat position corresponding to a time point at which an audio signal is received; and determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the second seat position.

[0062] According to one embodiment, the cabin impulse response includes a transfer function between a position near the head of an occupant of the seat and a microphone.

[0063] According to one embodiment, the transfer function corresponds to the geometry of the interior of the vehicle.

[0064] According to one embodiment, the processor is further configured to determine a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal by deconvolving the audio signal with the cabin impulse response.

[0065] According to one embodiment, the processor is further configured to receive the height of an occupant corresponding to the seat, and the processor is further configured to determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the occupant height.

[0066] According to the present invention, there is provided a method having: receiving, by a microphone of a vehicle, an audio signal; determining, by a vehicle processor, a first seat position of a seat of the vehicle corresponding to a time point at which the audio signal is received; determining, by the vehicle processor, a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position; and determining, by the vehicle processor, a filtered audio signal based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

[0067] According to one embodiment, determining a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position includes selecting a cabin impulse response from a plurality of cabin impulse responses stored in a vehicle memory.

[0068] According to one embodiment, the seat is configured to have a plurality of seat positions, and each of the plurality of cabin impulse responses corresponds to a different seat position among the plurality of seat positions.

[0069] According to one embodiment, multiple cabin impulse responses are generated at a vehicle manufacturing facility.

[0070] According to one embodiment, a seat is configured to have a plurality of seat positions, and each of the plurality of seat positions includes a combination of: (i) a horizontal position, (ii) a vertical position, and (iii) a backrest position.

[0071] According to one embodiment, the seat is a first seat having a plurality of first seat positions, and the method further includes: determining a first seat position corresponding to a time point at which an audio signal is received; determining a second seat position of a second seat having a plurality of second seat positions corresponding to the time point at which the audio signal is received; and determining a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the second seat position.

[0072] According to one embodiment, the cabin impulse response includes a transfer function between a position near the head of an occupant of the seat and a microphone.

[0073] According to one embodiment, the transfer function corresponds to the geometry of the interior of the vehicle.

[0074] According to one embodiment, a further feature of the above invention is that a filtered audio signal is determined by deconvolving the audio signal with the cabin impulse response based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

[0075] According to one embodiment, a further feature of the above invention is that: receiving the height of an occupant corresponding to the seat; and determining a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the occupant height.

Claims

1. A vehicle, the vehicle comprising: a microphone configured to receive an audio signal from a speaker; a seat having a plurality of seat positions; and a processor configured to: determine a first seat position of the seat corresponding to a time point at which the microphone receives the audio signal, wherein the first seat position is detected by a sensor; determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position by selecting a cabin impulse response from a plurality of cabin impulse responses stored in a vehicle memory, the cabin impulse response corresponding to distortion of the audio signal caused by a geometry of an interior of the vehicle; and determine a filtered audio signal by filtering the audio signal based on the cabin impulse response.

2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of cabin impulse responses corresponds to a different one of the plurality of seat positions.

3. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of seat positions comprises a combination of: (i) a horizontal position, (ii) a vertical position, and (iii) a backrest position.

4. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the seat is a first seat having a plurality of first seat positions, wherein the vehicle further comprises a second seat having a plurality of second seat positions, and wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the first seat position and a second seat position corresponding to the time point at which the audio signal is received; and determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the second seat position.

5. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the cabin impulse response comprises a transfer function between a position proximate a head of an occupant of the seat and the microphone.

6. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the filtered audio signal by deconvolving the audio signal with the cabin impulse response based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

7. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to receive a height of an occupant of the seat, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the occupant height.

8. A method for a vehicle, the method comprising: receiving, by a microphone of a vehicle, an audio signal from a speaker; determining, by a vehicle processor, a first seat position of a seat of the vehicle corresponding to a time point at which the microphone receives the audio signal, wherein the first seat position is detected by a sensor; determining, by the vehicle processor, a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position by selecting a cabin impulse response from a plurality of cabin impulse responses stored in a vehicle memory, the cabin impulse response corresponding to distortion of the audio signal caused by a geometry of an interior of the vehicle; and determining, by the vehicle processor, a filtered audio signal by filtering the audio signal based on the cabin impulse response.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the seat is configured to have a plurality of seat positions, and wherein each of the plurality of cabin impulse responses corresponds to a different one of the plurality of seat positions.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the seat is configured to have a plurality of seat positions, and wherein each of the plurality of seat positions comprises a combination of: (i) a horizontal position, (ii) a vertical position, and (iii) a backrest position.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein the cabin impulse response comprises a transfer function between a position proximate the head of an occupant of the seat and the microphone.

12. The method according to claim 8, the method further comprising determining the filtered audio signal by deconvolving the audio signal with the cabin impulse response based on the cabin impulse response and the audio signal.

13. The method according to claim 8, the method further comprises: receiving an occupant height corresponding to the seat; and determining a cabin impulse response corresponding to the first seat position and the occupant height.

Images