Microphone Device Analog Digital Signal Path Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
In acoustic systems, digital signal processing increases latency, leading to overlapping speech timing and decreased call quality, while lacking digital processing results in poor call quality due to noise.
Innovation Solution
A microphone device comprising a housing with a microphone and a horn microphone, an analog wire, a conversion unit, and a processor, where the conversion unit acquires analog signals from both microphones and converts them into digital signals, while the processor performs digital signal processing without significantly increasing latency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If digital signal processing is performed on analog signals from microphones, then call quality is improved by reducing noise, but latency increases causing overlapping speech timing
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the signal processing into two separate paths: an analog path for low-latency processing and a digital path for high-quality processing. The analog wire directly transmits analog signals from the horn microphone to the output, while a separate digital path processes signals from the electret microphone through ADC and digital signal processing. This segmentation allows the system to achieve both low latency and high call quality by processing different types of signals through different paths.
2Loss of time
If only analog signal processing is used, then latency is low, but call quality deteriorates due to noise
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines two different microphone types (electret microphone and horn microphone) and their respective signal paths (digital and analog) into a single integrated system. The electret microphone with digital processing handles noise reduction, while the horn microphone with analog processing maintains low latency. The processor merges these two signal paths, combining the benefits of both approaches to achieve high call quality without significant latency increase.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The microphone device effectively performs digital signal processing while restricting latency increase, enhancing call quality by reducing noise and overlapping speech, and enabling robust voice recognition.
Implementation Method 1
a microphone (35) and a horn microphone (40), wherein the microphone (35) is configured to convert a sound that has propagated through the opening portion (200) into an analog signal
Implementation Method 2
the horn microphone (40) is configured to convert a sound that has propagated through the horn (211) into an analog signal
Data Source
AI summary
A microphone device includes a housing, a microphone, a phone microphone, an analog wire, a conversion unit, and a processor. The housing has an opening portion and a horn including a horn opening portion and a horn tube extending from the horn opening portion. The microphone converts a sound that has propagated through the opening portion into an analog signal. The horn microphone converts a sound that has propagated through the horn into an analog signal. The analog wire outputs the analog signal from the horn microphone. The conversion unit acquires the analog signal from the microphone, acquires the analog signal from the horn microphone via a wire different from the analog wire, and converts the analog signal from the microphone and the analog signal from the horn microphone into digital signals. The processor performs digital signal processing on the digital signals converted by the conversion unit.