WO2018147573A1 - Noise removing earset using sound receiving characteristics of in-ear microphone and over-the-ear microphone, and noise removing method - Google Patents

Abstract

A noise removing earset using sound receiving characteristics of an in-ear microphone and an over-the-ear microphone, and a noise removing method are disclosed. According to the present invention, the noise removing earset using sound receiving characteristics of an in-ear microphone and an over-the-ear microphone, and the noise removing method: remove a user voice from an in-ear microphone signal and an over-the-ear microphone signal so as to extract noise; calculate a noise correction value to be mutually applied to each of the in-ear microphone and the over-the-ear microphone so as to correct the noise; and respectively remove corrected real noise from the in-ear microphone signal and the over-the-ear microphone signal so as to restore the user voice. According to the present invention, internal noise and external noise respectively inputted to microphones provided inside and outside are corrected into real noise in consideration of hardware characteristics, environmental characteristics, and the like, and then removed, thereby enabling the user voice to be more clearly outputted. Therefore, the user voice can be clearly transmitted to a counterpart regardless of the shape of an earset, an earset worn state, a very noisy place such as a performance stage, and the like.

Description

Noise Reduction Earset and Noise Reduction Method Using In-ear and Out-ear Mic

The present invention relates to a noise reduction technique of an earset. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technology for removing noise and leaving only a user's voice by using a difference in sound absorption characteristics of microphones provided inside and outside, and an ear set to which the corresponding technology is applied.

The ear set may be in the form of an earphone or a headphone, and generally includes two speakers and one microphone (hereinafter referred to as a microphone). Here, the earset is defined to include earphones, headphones, a headset, and the like.

Such a configuration, for example, enables music to be played through a speaker and a microphone when a call comes in while listening to music while the earphone is connected to the smartphone. At this time, the microphone does not operate when playing music, and when the call function is selected, the smartphone stops playing the music and activates the microphone to transmit the user's voice to the call counterpart. At the same time, the other party's voice is played back through the speaker of the ear set to the user.

However, the out-ear microphone attached to the earset has a problem in that call quality is degraded because ambient noise is mixed with the user's voice.

In this regard, an in-ear microphone for placing a microphone inside a user's ear has been proposed.

However, in-ear microphones also have limitations that cannot completely block out noise. That is, the noise may be input according to the shape of the earset, the wearing state of the earset, or the like, and the noise may be input in a very noisy place such as a performance hall. As a result, there is a problem that the user's voice is mixed with noise and not properly delivered to the other party.

The present invention was developed to solve the above problems of the prior art, an object of the present invention can clearly output only the user's voice by correcting the noise input to the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone mutually after the actual noise. The present invention provides a noise canceling earset and a noise canceling method using an in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone sound receiving characteristic.

Noise reduction earset using the in-ear microphone and out-ear microphone sound-absorbing characteristics of the present invention for achieving the above object, preferably a head comprising a speaker; An in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone formed in the head; And a noise removing circuit for removing noise and restoring a user's voice by using a difference in sound absorption characteristics of the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone.

At this time, the noise reduction circuit, the noise extraction unit for extracting noise by removing the voice to the voice and noise input to the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone; A correction unit for calculating and correcting a noise correction value to be applied to each of the in-ear microphones and the out-ear microphones; And a voice restoring unit which restores a user's voice by removing the corrected real noise from the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone signal, respectively.

In addition, it is preferable that a parameter compensation unit is formed between the in-ear microphone and the noise extraction unit to widen the low range transmitted through the ear canal and compensate each parameter to convert a signal similar to the external voice.

On the other hand, the noise reduction method using the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone sound-absorbing characteristics of the present invention, preferably, removing the noise by removing the user voice from the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal; Correcting the noise by calculating a noise correction value to be applied to each of the in-ear microphone and the mutual relationship between the out-ear microphone; And restoring a user's voice by removing the corrected real noise from the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone signal, respectively.

In this case, it is preferable that the noise correction value reflects at least one or more of the microphone hardware characteristic data, the data measured at the time of correction, and the value corrected by calculating in the reverse direction of the signal processing of the microphone. On the other hand, the noise correction value to be applied to the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone may have a complementary relationship with respect to a reference point.

In addition, the user's voice may be removed by extending the bandwidth for the low range of the internal voice transmitted through the ear canal, compensating each parameter obtained through the expansion, converting the signal into a signal similar to the external voice, and then converting the converted internal voice and the external voice. Can be achieved through liver offset.

As described above, according to the noise canceling earset and the noise canceling method using the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone sound-absorbing characteristics according to the present invention, the hardware characteristics and the environment from the internal and external noise input to the microphones provided inside and outside, respectively It is possible to output the user's voice more clearly because the noise is corrected and removed after considering the characteristics.

Thus, the user's voice can be clearly transmitted to the counterpart regardless of the shape of the earset, the state of wearing the earset, and a very noisy place such as a performance hall.

1 is a block diagram of a noise canceling earset according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a control circuit block diagram of a noise canceling circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart of a noise removing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of Reference Numbers

1: first head

2: second head

3: in-ear microphone

4: out-ear microphone

5: noise reduction circuit

Hereinafter, with reference to the preferred embodiments of the present invention and the accompanying drawings will be described in detail, the same reference numerals in the drawings will be described on the assumption that the same components.

When any one element in the description or claims of the invention "includes" another element, unless otherwise stated, it is not limited to consisting only of that element, and other elements are not interpreted. It should be understood that it may include more.

Further, in the detailed description of the invention or in the claims, the elements designated as "~ means", "~ part", "~ module", and "~ block" mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, Each of these may be implemented by software or hardware, or a combination thereof.

Hereinafter, an example of implementing the noise canceling earset and the noise canceling method using the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone sound-absorbing characteristics of the present invention will be described with reference to a specific embodiment.

1 is a block diagram of a noise canceling earset according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the noise canceling earset of the present invention is installed on each of the first head 1 and the second head 2 and the first head 1 and the second head 2 worn on the user's ear. And a speaker unit, an in-ear microphone 3 installed in the first head 1, which is one of two heads, and an out-ear microphone 4 installed in the second head 2, which is the other one of the two heads.

When the noise canceling earset of the present invention configured as described above is worn on the user's ear, the in-ear microphone 3 is positioned in the ear canal of the user. Of course, the out-ear microphone 4 is located outside the outer ear canal.

At this time, when the in-ear microphone 3 is worn, the closer to the user's ear canal, the more effectively the voice transmitted through the ear can be captured. In other words, the user's voice may go out of the mouth but is transmitted through the eardrum to the inside of the ear, so that not only the voice can be captured through the in-ear microphone 3, but also the external noise can be blocked. If you speak with your ears closed, you will hear your voice and cut off external noise.

The present invention corrects the actual noise in consideration of hardware characteristics and environmental characteristics from the internal noise and the external noise input to the microphone provided inside and outside, respectively, and removes the corrected actual noise from the signal input to the microphone. Thus, since the actual noise input by various conditions is removed, the user's voice can be more clearly restored.

Meanwhile, in the present exemplary embodiment, an in-ear microphone 3 is formed in the first head 1 and an out-ear microphone 4 is formed in the second head 2. The in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4 may be mounted on the same head. In addition, although two heads are illustrated in the present embodiment, the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4 may be provided in one head. As an example of a single head, it may be in the form of a wireless (Bluetooth) earset to be attached to one ear, and the in-ear microphone 3 is formed inside, and the outer ear microphone 4 is exposed to the outside. Can be.

2 is a control circuit block diagram of a noise canceling circuit according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to Figure 2, the noise canceling circuit 5 of the present invention, the noise extraction unit for extracting the noise by removing the voice with respect to the voice and noise input to the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone (4) A correction unit 52 for calculating and correcting a noise correction value to be applied to the mutual relationship between the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4, and from the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal. And a voice restoring unit 53 for restoring the user's voice by removing the corrected real noise, respectively.

Here, a parameter compensator may be formed between the in-ear microphone 3 and the noise extractor 51 to widen the low range transmitted through the ear canal, compensate each parameter, and convert it into a signal similar to the external voice.

In the noise elimination circuit 5 of the present invention configured as described above, the noise extracting unit 51 extracts the correlation between external noise and internal noise from the correlation between the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal. At this time, the voice is removed, and the parameter compensator converts the signal of the in-ear microphone 3 similarly to the signal of the out-ear microphone 4 to remove the voice through mutual calculation. Subsequently, the correcting unit 52 considers the hardware characteristics of the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4, a signal processing algorithm, and the like, and applies the mutual relationship between the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4, respectively. The noise correction value to be applied is calculated and the calculated noise correction value is applied to the noise calculated by the correlation between the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4. The voice reconstruction unit 53 restores the internal voice by removing the actual internal noise from the in-ear microphone signal, and restores the external voice by removing the actual external noise from the out-ear microphone signal. Thereafter, the internal voices and the external voices are synthesized and delivered to the other party.

Then, a method of removing noise using the noise canceling earset configured as described above will be described.

3 is a flowchart of a noise removing method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, an object input to the in-ear microphone 3 is defined as internal voice and internal noise, and an object input to the out-ear microphone 4 is defined as external voice and external noise.

Referring to FIG. 3, when voice and noise are input to the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4, as in (Expression 1) and (Equation 2), the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone are input. (4) outputs the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal through signal processing, and extracts only a noise component by removing a user's voice from the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal (S1).

At this time, since the internal voice transmitted through the ear canal is composed of low tone components that contain little high-pitched components, each parameter is compensated for through low bandwidth and converted into a signal similar to the external voice.

Thus, since the converted internal voice and the external voice have very similar characteristics, the user voice can be removed by canceling the converted internal voice and the external voice.

As a result, as shown in Equation 3, it is possible to extract the correlation between the external noise and the internal noise from the correlation between the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal.

MIC _IN = VOICE _in + NOISE _in (Equation 1)

MIC _OUT = VOICE _out + NOISE _out (Equation 2)

MIC _OUT- MIC _IN = (VOICE _out -VOICE _in ) + NOISE _{out - in} = NOISE _{out - in} (Equation 3)

VOICE _out -VOICE _in is almost canceled out so MIC _OUT- MIC _IN = NOISE _out-in .

On the other hand, (Equation 3) extracts noise for MIC _OUT -MIC _IN , but MIC _IN -Noise is also extracted for the MIC _OUT .

At this time, the external noise and the internal noise may have different characteristics because the difference between the frequency band and the signal processing input to the microphone may be different.

Thus, the correction operation for the noise obtained in the equation (3) is performed (S2).

That is, in consideration of the hardware characteristics of the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4, a signal processing algorithm, and the like, a noise correction value to be applied to each of the mutual relations between the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4 is determined. Calculate.

Correction value = (Microphone hardware characteristic) + (Environmental characteristic) + (Signal processing algorithm characteristic) (Equation 4)

Here, the microphone hardware characteristic may include data measured in advance when the product is shipped, and the environmental characteristic may include data measured at calibration. On the other hand, the signal processing algorithm may include a value corrected by calculating in the reverse direction of the signal processing of each microphone.

Next, the noise and the correction value obtained from the mutual relationship between the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4 are computed (S3).

When the in-ear microphone 3 is differentially calculated by the out-ear microphone 4, the first correction value obtained through the above expression (4) is substituted, and the out-ear microphone 4 is replaced by the in-ear microphone 3. In the case of difference calculation, the second correction value obtained through the above expression (4) is substituted.

NOISE _{out - in} + 1st compensation value = NOISE _out (Equation 5)

NOISE _{in - out} + 2nd correction value = NOISE _in (Equation 6)

Through this, real external noise and real internal noise can be obtained.

Meanwhile, the relationship between the first correction value and the second correction value may be in a complementary relationship with respect to the reference point.

As a result, by removing the actual external noise and the actual internal noise restored from the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal, it is possible to restore the original user's voice (S4).

MIC _OUT -NOISE _out = VOICE _out (Equation 7)

MIC _IN -NOISE _in = VOICE _in (Equation 8)

At this time, the external voice and the internal voice of the user may be synthesized or used separately, and the original user voice is transmitted to the other party.

The present invention can be implemented in a mobile device that interoperates with a wired or wireless earset of a structure as illustrated in FIG. For example, it can be executed in a smart phone or a tablet computer.

On the other hand, after step S4, the restored user voice can be transmitted through a data communication network or a mobile communication network. The user's voice is transmitted to the other party's phone or mobile terminal through the exchange or Voip server.

In addition, according to the present invention, the call counterpart can hear only the user's voice clearly, no matter how noisy the user is. In particular, the user's voice is restored to be close to the original voice without distortion.

The present invention is mainly applicable to the wired and wireless earset, Bluetooth earset technology for voice calls.

As such, according to the present invention, the ear set constituting the in-ear microphone 3 and the out-ear microphone 4 can be implemented with a new method of noise canceling technology differentiated from existing noise canceling algorithms. In other words, if there is one microphone each in the outside and inside, and utilizing the difference in the sound absorption characteristics of these two microphones, it is possible to remove noise and leave only the user's voice.

The technical spirit of the present invention has been described through several embodiments.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be variously modified or changed from the description of the present invention. In addition, even if not explicitly shown or described, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains various modifications, including the technical idea according to the present invention from the description of the present invention. Is obvious, and still belongs to the scope of the present invention. The above embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings are described for the purpose of illustrating the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

Claims (7)

1. A head comprising a speaker;

   An in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone formed in the head; And

   Noise reduction earset using an in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone sound pickup including a noise canceling circuit for removing noise and restoring a user's voice by using the difference in the sound absorption characteristics of the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone.
2. The method of claim 1,

   The noise reduction circuit is,

   A noise extracting unit extracting noise by removing the voice from the voice and the noise input to the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone;

   A correction unit for calculating and correcting a noise correction value to be applied to each of the in-ear microphones and the out-ear microphones; And

   Noise reduction earset using an in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone sound-receiving characteristic comprising a voice restoring unit for restoring a user's voice by removing the actual noise corrected from the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone signal, respectively.
3. The method of claim 2,

   Between the in-ear microphone and the noise extractor, an in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone sound absorption characteristic are formed in which a parameter compensator is formed to expand the bandwidth of the low range transmitted through the ear canal and convert each signal into a signal similar to the external voice. Noise canceling earsets used.
4. Extracting noise by removing a user voice from the in-ear microphone signal and the out-ear microphone signal;

   Correcting the noise by calculating a noise correction value to be applied to each of the in-ear microphone and the mutual relationship between the out-ear microphone; And

   And removing the actual noise corrected from the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone signal, respectively, to restore a user's voice.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein

   The noise correction value is noise cancellation using an in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone sound absorption characteristic reflecting at least one of a value corrected by a reverse operation of microphone hardware characteristic data, measured data at the time of correction, and microphone signal processing. Way.
6. The method of claim 5,

   The noise canceling method to be applied to the in-ear microphone and the out-ear microphone has an in-ear microphone and an out-ear microphone sound collection characteristic having a complementary relationship with respect to a reference point.
7. The method of claim 4, wherein

   The removal of the user's voice is performed by extending the bandwidth for the low range of the internal voice transmitted through the ear canal, compensating each parameter obtained through the extension, converting the signal into a signal similar to the external voice, and then converting the converted voice between the internal voice and the external voice. Noise reduction method using the in-ear microphone and out-ear microphone sound absorption characteristics through the cancellation.

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