Portable Terminal Microphone Array Alignment for Sound Source Direction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable terminal devices, such as cellular phones, face challenges in maintaining a microphone array aligned in the thicknesswise direction across different use styles, which affects the sound source direction extrapolation and noise cancellation functionality.
Innovation Solution
A portable terminal device design featuring multiple casings with microphones arranged to line in the thicknesswise direction, utilizing a coupling mechanism that allows the casings to change between arrangement states, ensuring at least one microphone is aligned in the thicknesswise direction regardless of the device's use style, with a sound source direction extrapolate circuit to determine and cancel noise based on the microphone signals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If microphones are distributed to multiple casings to achieve a smaller device size, then the device can be made compact, but the microphone arrangement cannot maintain alignment in the thicknesswise direction across different use styles
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling part enables dynamic reconfiguration of the microphone array, allowing microphones to be arranged to line in the thicknesswise direction in both closed and open states. The system adapts its structure based on the use style while maintaining the essential functionality of sound source direction extrapolation.
Solution Approach 2:
The device is divided into multiple casings (first casing with first microphones, second casing with second microphone) that can be coupled in different arrangements. This segmentation allows the microphones to be distributed across casings while maintaining proper alignment through the coupling mechanism.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the device structure is made changeable to support multiple use styles, then the device becomes more versatile, but the microphone alignment in the thicknesswise direction cannot be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The coupling part serves multiple functions: it couples the first and second casings together, enables transition between different use styles (closed and open states), and ensures that microphones are properly arranged to line in the thicknesswise direction regardless of the state. This multi-functionality resolves the contradiction between versatility and alignment precision.
3Measurement precision
If microphones are arranged to line in the thicknesswise direction for sound source direction extrapolation, then noise cancellation effectiveness is improved, but the device cannot accommodate multiple use styles with changing arrangements
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically maintains the microphone alignment in the thicknesswise direction through the coupling mechanism, allowing the device to adapt to different use styles while preserving the geometric relationship necessary for accurate sound source direction extrapolation and noise cancellation.
Data Source
AI summary
A portable terminal device can extrapolate the position of a sound source in the thicknesswise direction regardless of the use style. A slide type portable terminal has an upper casing, a lower casing, and a coupling part that couples the casings in such a way that their positional relation is changeable. The upper casing has a plurality of first microphones, and the lower casing has a second microphone. In a handhold style, one of the first microphones and the second microphone are lined in the thicknesswise direction of the cellular phone. As the upper casing is slid, the other one of the first microphones and the second microphone are lined in the thicknesswise direction of the cellular phone. The position of a sound source in the thicknesswise direction can be extrapolated from output signals of a formed microphone array in the thicknesswise direction.