EP4117305A1 - Mobile portable conversation microphone - Google Patents

Abstract

A mobile, portable conversation microphone (1) for the simultaneous recording of several speakers in different channels is shown, comprising a housing (2), a microphone array (15) provided in a front (3) of the housing (2) for recording the audio signals of the a speaker, a processor connected to the microphone array (15), and a battery (18) for powering the processor, the housing (2) having a front leg (5), a rear leg (6) and a connecting portion (8), and A slot (7) is formed between the front leg (5) and the rear leg (6) and the connecting section (8) connects the front and rear legs (5, 6). In order to enable more reliable channel separation of several speakers and a longer service life, it is proposed that the battery (18) be arranged at least partially in the rear leg (6).

Description

The invention relates to a mobile, portable conversation microphone for simultaneous recording of multiple speakers in different channels, comprising a housing, a microphone array provided in a front of the housing for recording the audio signals of the speakers, a processor connected to the microphone array, and a battery for powering the processor wherein the housing has a front leg, a rear leg and a connecting portion, and wherein a slit is formed between the front leg and the rear leg and the connecting portion connects the front and rear legs.

State of the art

It is well known to provide portable dictation microphones or conversation microphones with a clip on the back so that they can be attached to a piece of clothing or the like.

From the state of the art ( U.S. 2004/0042630 A1 ) A portable conversation microphone is known, for example, which has a housing with a rear leg, which is used to attach the device, for example, to a piece of clothing. The back leg is designed as a simple clip, which, in contrast to the weight of the device, recedes. The focus of the device is therefore far in the front leg of the housing, which contains all the electronics and also the battery.

However, such devices have the disadvantage that the device can only be inadequately fastened to clothing, for example in a breast pocket, due to the center of gravity lying far in the direction of the front of the device. The device always tends to tilt forwards, shifts with every movement and hangs outwards at an undefined angle. On the one hand, this is uncomfortable for the wearer and, on the other hand, the constant shifting or incorrect alignment leads to distortions in the recording of the audio signals, and in particular to problems when separating the signals of several speakers into different channels. Conversation microphones with microphone arrays for recording and separating audio signals from multiple speakers depend in particular on the distance between speaker and microphone remaining approximately constant and not changing rapidly. In the case of strong and rapid variations in the distance, for example due to the device tipping back and forth on clothing, complex recalculations are constantly necessary, which lead to a significant reduction in battery performance in mobile devices and negatively affect the quality of the channel separation.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention has therefore set itself the task of improving a mobile, portable conversation microphone of the type mentioned at the outset in such a way that it enables more reliable channel separation of multiple speakers and a longer service life.

The invention achieves the object of the invention in that the battery is at least partially arranged in the rear leg.

If the housing of the portable conversation microphone has a front and a rear leg and the battery is at least partially arranged in the rear leg, the center of gravity of the conversation microphone can be shifted towards the rear leg, since the battery is sometimes the heaviest component of the conversation microphone. By shifting the center of gravity in the direction of the rear leg, it can be achieved that when the conversation microphone is placed with its slot between the front and rear leg over an item of clothing, such as a breast pocket, it leans towards the body and is always stable on it applied. In contrast to the prior art, a stable position on the body is achieved with the conversation microphone according to the invention, so that reliable channel separation is made possible with low computing power at the same time.

In terms of the invention, a microphone array is understood as meaning an arrangement of a plurality of microphones which can be used to determine the position of sources in sound fields. The microphones are preferably logically linked via a processor. For example, MEMS microphones or the like can be used as microphones.

Conversation microphones with a microphone array are usually used to record the audio signals of several speakers simultaneously and to separate them into independent channels. A channel ideally corresponds exclusively to the audio signal of a speaker. The channels can be separated by means of beamforming.

In this context, beamforming is understood to mean a measurement principle, with audio signals being recorded using the microphone array and the time shift between the correlating audio signals recorded in the respective microphones being calculated. The time shift corresponds to the transit time from the speaker to the respective microphone and can be converted into a distance taking into account the speed of sound. By summing up the time-correlated signals from all microphones in the array, a time signal assigned to the respective measurement point is obtained, with audio signals from other positions being attenuated or destructive due to the lack of correlation overlay. Temporally correlated signals from the same position, on the other hand, are amplified or constructively superimposed. Thus, from the audio signals of a number of speakers recorded by the microphone array, a channel can be formed which is associated with the speaker and essentially contains only the audio signals of the respective speaker.

Only reliable beamforming technology enables downstream calculation of the two channels with one from the patent EP 2 930 917B1 known algorithm to significantly improve channel separation, even when both speakers are speaking at the same time, either already in the device or in a cloud server.

The conversation microphone according to the invention can improve the channel separation and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the individual channels due to the particularly stable position and the associated largely constant positioning of the microphones.

According to one embodiment variant of the invention, the first leg can at least partially form the front side of the housing and the second leg can at least partially form the rear side of the housing. In this way, a housing for the conversation microphone can be created in a technically and structurally simple manner, which housing can achieve the above advantages. The (partial) formation of the rear side of the housing can also ensure that the rear side of the housing does not have any further elevations or elements that stand in the way of an even and stable position on a table. In contrast to the prior art, there is no need for a clip that protrudes from the back and prevents a stable position on a flat surface.

In addition, in a further embodiment variant, the microphone array can be provided at least partially in the front leg, which at least partially forms the front side of the housing. As a result, it can be particularly advantageous that the inner and outer configuration of the front leg can be precisely adapted to the requirements of the microphone array. For example, the front leg can be optimized in terms of its resonance and damping properties for the microphone array without taking the other components into account.

According to a further embodiment variant, it can be distinguished, for example, if the front leg is designed to be thinner than the rear leg. Preferably, the rear leg is thicker than the front leg by a factor of 2.

In order to create a particularly stable and robust conversation microphone, according to a further embodiment variant, the connecting section is in one piece with the front one and rear leg formed. The connecting section preferably extends between the front and the rear of the housing, ie over its entire thickness.

According to a further embodiment variant, the connecting section can preferably form an upper section of the housing and the front and rear legs together form a lower section of the housing.

In order to reliably attach the conversation microphone to a piece of clothing or the like, a retaining spring can be provided in the slot between the front and rear legs according to a further embodiment variant.

According to yet another embodiment variant, the slot can extend from the underside of the housing over the middle of the housing. As a result, the conversation microphone can be pushed far over, for example, a piece of clothing and thus be attached to it even more stably due to the lower center of gravity, which in turn is beneficial to the quality of the channel separation.

According to one embodiment variant, operating elements and/or display elements can be provided in the connecting section on one or more end face(s) and/or on the upper side of the housing for convenient operation of the conversation microphone. The person can wear the conversation microphone on the body and operate it at the same time, for example with the index finger and thumb, while its slot is placed over a piece of clothing, for example a breast pocket.

In a preferred embodiment variant, a display can be provided in the upper side of the housing, which is connected to the processor for displaying information. In addition, the processor can be designed to determine the current speaker using the beamforming algorithm and to display it on the display. In a further embodiment variant, the current user can be shown on the display, which means that the device in the system works with his user profile. Due to the WiFi transmission of data, you have to register the device in the system and pair it with the user profile. The display can also show other information, e.g. the name of the patient that the user (doctor) is looking at.

The stable position of the conversation microphone on the body can be achieved particularly reliably if the center of gravity of the housing lies behind a central plane of the slot in the direction of the rear of the housing. The center plane runs essentially parallel to the inner sides of the slot on the front and rear legs. In a preferred embodiment variant, the center plane can also run essentially parallel to the front and rear of the housing.

If the microphone array has at least four microphones spaced apart from one another, the beamforming can be optimized for different frequency bands.

According to a further embodiment variant, the microphone array can additionally have at least two microphones spaced apart from one another on the upper side, which are also connected to the processor. In particular, the upward-pointing microphones can significantly improve the capture of the audio signals of the person to whom the conversation microphone is attached. Together with the microphones on the front, this results in a particularly reliable microphone array that can record speakers from different directions with high channel selectivity.

In a further embodiment variant, the conversation microphone can have a motion sensor for position determination. In addition, the processor can be programmed to detect the horizontal or vertical position of the conversation microphone from the motion sensor data and to adapt the beamforming algorithm depending on the position. In this way, the conversation microphone can react to the different acoustic conditions and select the correct operating mode for the respective situation.

According to a further embodiment variant, the conversation microphone can have charging contacts on its rear side in the rear leg. The charging contacts may preferably be recessed into the case so that the back of the case remains completely flat. For example, this allows the device to be charged and operated at the same time. For example, the device can be accommodated in a specially designed charging cradle, which enables the conversation microphone to be used as a desktop device. Since the charging contacts are provided directly in the rear leg, which also has the battery, a structurally particularly simple structure can be obtained with regard to the power supply of the conversation microphone.

Brief description of the characters

Fig. 1

eine teilweise aufgerissene schematische Seitenansicht des erfindungsgemäßen Konversationsmikrofons gemäß einer ersten Ausführungsvariante,

Fig. 2

eine schematische Vorderansicht des Konversationsmikrofons aus Fig. 1,

Fig. 3

eine schematische isometrische Ansicht des Konversationsmikrofons aus Fig. 1, und

Fig. 4

eine schematische Ansicht des Konversationsmikrofons aus Fig. 1 im Tragezustand an einer Person.

In the following, preferred embodiment variants of the invention are presented in more detail with reference to the figures. Show it:

1

a partially broken schematic side view of the conversation microphone according to the invention according to a first embodiment,

2

shows a schematic front view of the conversation microphone 1 ,

3

shows a schematic isometric view of the conversation microphone 1 , and

4

a schematic view of the conversation microphone 1 when worn on a person.

Ways to carry out the invention

1 shows a schematic side view of the mobile portable conversation microphone 1 for the simultaneous recording of several speakers in different channels according to a first embodiment of the invention. The conversation microphone 1 is used here in particular as a streaming microphone to record conversations and transmit them via the Internet to a server in the cloud for further processing.

The conversation microphone 1 comprises a housing 2 with a front 3 and a rear 4. The housing 2 has a front limb 5, which partially forms the front 3 of the housing 2, and a rear limb 6, which partially forms the rear 4 of the Housing 2 forms. The front and rear legs 5, 6 are spaced apart from one another and form a slot 7 as a space between the legs 5, 6. The legs 5 , 6 are in turn connected to one another via a connecting section 8 , the connecting section 8 and the front and rear legs 5 , 6 being formed together in one piece with the housing 2 . The connecting section 8 extends both between the front side 3 and the back side 4 and between the front sides 9 of the housing 2 and forms an upper section 10 of the housing 2 . The front and rear legs 5, 6 together form a lower section 11 of the housing 2.

The slot 7 extends from the underside 12 of the housing 2 to over the middle towards the top 13 of the housing 2 and extends within the housing 2 between its end faces 9. In the slot 7 is also a retaining spring 14 between the front and rear leg 5, 6 is provided, wherein the retaining spring 14 is attached to one of the two legs 5 or 6 and rests resiliently on the other leg 6 or 5.

The conversation microphone 1 has, as shown in the front view in 2 shown, in the housing 2 a microphone array 15, which has four logically linked microphones 16 in the front 3. In addition, the microphone array 15 has two upward-pointing microphones 17 in the upper side 13 of the housing 2 .

The microphones 16 and 17 are arranged in the housing 2 in such a way that they are exposed to the outside and are not covered by components, material, etc. For this purpose, the microphones 16 , 17 are preferably provided in recesses in the front 3 and top 13 of the housing 2 .

The microphone array 15 serves to record the audio signals from several speakers and is connected to a processor inside the housing 2, which is not shown in detail in the figures. The processor is programmed to use beamforming from the audio signals of the microphones 16, 17 to identify several speakers in separate different channels. For how beamforming works, reference is made to the description above.

A loudspeaker is also provided on the upper side 13 of the housing 2, which emits sound upwards and thus in the direction of the user's ear. This has the advantage that the user already understands well even when the volume is set to a low level, and confidentiality is therefore ensured.

As further in the partially exploded view in 1 shown, the conversation microphone 1 also has a battery 18 inside the housing 2 for powering the processor and all components of the device. The battery 18 is at least partially arranged in the rear leg 6 . The battery 18 is preferably arranged exclusively in the rear leg 6 and does not extend into the connecting section 8. In an alternative embodiment variant, however, the battery 18 can also extend into the connecting section 8.

The battery 18 is arranged towards the rear 4 behind the center plane 19 of the slot 7 . The central plane 19 runs parallel to the inner sides of the front and rear legs 5, 6. As shown in the figures, the central plane 19 also runs parallel to the front 3 and the rear 4 of the housing 2. In alternative variants, however, the central plane 19 can can also be tilted at an angle to the front 3 and the back 4.

By arranging the battery 18 in the rear leg 6 or behind the center plane 19, the focus of the conversation microphone is shifted towards the back 4, whereby a stable fit, for example, on a piece of clothing 51 of a person 50 is achieved. The center of gravity, which is particularly far in the direction of the back 4, favors a planar fit of the conversation microphone 1 with its back 4 on the body, as a result of which a sudden and undesired tipping forward can be reliably prevented. In addition, the bottom 12 of the conversation microphone 1 can rest in a pocket through the deep slot 7 and be additionally supported, which also further reduces the pull on the item of clothing.

In an alternative embodiment variant, a strap can also be guided through the slot 7, with the device thus being able to be worn reliably around the neck and resting stably on the body.

As in the 1 and 3 shown, operating elements 20, in particular in the form of keys 20, can be provided in the connecting section 8, ie above the slot 7. The arrangement of the operating element 20 on the end face 9 in the connecting section 8 is ensures that the control element 20 can also be reached by a person 50 when the conversation microphone 1 is plugged with its slot 7 over a piece of clothing 51.

As in the 2 and 3 shown, the conversation microphone 1 can also have a display element 21 in the form of a display 21 on its upper side 13 in one embodiment variant. By arranging the display 21 on the top 13, the display 21 can remain easy to read even when it is fixed to a person 50, for example on a piece of clothing 51, and the person 50 is always informed about the status of the device or the current one Inform speaker.

In an embodiment variant, which is not shown in detail in the figures, the conversation microphone 1 also has a motion sensor, which is connected to the processor and can detect whether the conversation microphone 1 is mounted vertically, e.g. on a person 50, or horizontally, e.g lying on a table. Depending on the alignment, the processor can change the control and evaluation of the microphone array 15 so that an optimal channel separation between the audio signals of the different speakers is achieved at all times.

In a further embodiment variant, which is not shown in more detail in the figures, the conversation microphone 1 has charging contacts on its back 4, which are provided in recesses in the housing 2 in such a way that the back 4 remains completely flat. Thus, the charging contacts do not interfere when the conversation microphone 1 is stored flat, for example when it is placed on a table. Due to the flat position, the operating elements 20 can be operated reliably without the position of the conversation microphone 1 changing and thus impairing the recording of the audio signals. In addition, the conversation microphone 1 can be accommodated in a suitable charging cradle for charging and use as a table microphone. In addition, the charging contacts can be connected directly to the battery 18 by their positioning on the rear side 4 of the housing 2 in the area of the rear leg 6, which enables a simple construction of the conversation microphone 1.

In 4 a schematic view of the conversation microphone 1 according to the first embodiment variant in the wearing state on a person 50 is shown. The conversation microphone 1 is placed with its slot 7 over a breast pocket 52 of a piece of clothing 51 and is thus stably fixed to the person 50 . The slot 7 is designed in such a way that it can accommodate the item of clothing 51 or its breast pocket 52 . The retaining spring 14 also prevents the conversation microphone 1 from slipping on the item of clothing 51.

Due to the center of gravity being shifted towards the back 4, the conversation microphone 1 rests on the person 50 and is secured against undesired swaying back and forth. The microphones 17 of the microphone array 15 on the top 13 are aligned in the direction of the head of the person 50 and can reliably record the audio signals of the person 50, while the microphones 16 on the front 3 are aligned in the direction of another speaker in front of the person 50 . In this way, the audio signals of the person 50 and several speakers can be reliably recorded during a conversation.

Claims (12)

Mobile, portable conversation microphone for the simultaneous recording of several speakers in different channels, comprising a housing (2), a microphone array (15) provided in a front (3) of the housing (2) for recording the audio signals of the speakers, a microphone array ( 15) connected processor and a battery (18) for powering the processor, wherein the housing (2) has a front leg (5), a rear leg (6) and a connecting portion (8), and wherein between the front leg (5) and a slot (7) is formed in the rear leg (6) and the connecting section (8) connects the front and rear legs (5, 6), characterized in that the battery (18) is at least partially arranged in the rear leg (6). is. Conversation microphone according to Claim 1, characterized in that the front leg (5) at least partially forms the front side (3) of the housing (2) and that the rear leg (6) at least partially forms the rear side (4) of the housing (2). Conversation microphone according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the connecting section (8) is formed in one piece with the front and rear legs (5, 6) and extends between the front (3) and rear (4) of the housing (2). . Conversation microphone according to Claim 3, characterized in that the connecting section (8) forms an upper section (10) of the housing (2) and in that the front and rear legs (5, 6) together form a lower section (11) of the housing (2) form. Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that a retaining spring (14) is provided in the slot (7) between the front and rear legs (5, 6). Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the slot (7) extends from the underside (12) of the housing (2) over the middle of the housing (2). Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that operating elements (20) and/or display elements (21 ) are provided. Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the center of gravity of the housing (2) is located behind a central plane (19) of the slot (7) towards the rear (4) of the housing (2). Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the microphone array (15) has at least four microphones (16) spaced apart from one another, which are connected to the processor which is programmed to beam form audio signals from the microphones ( 16) split multiple speakers into different channels. Conversation microphone according to Claim 9, characterized in that the microphone array (15) additionally has at least two microphones (17) which are spaced apart from one another on the upper side (13) and which are connected to the processor. Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the conversation microphone (1) has a movement sensor for position determination. Conversation microphone according to one of Claims 1 to 11, characterized in that charging contacts which are let into the housing (2) are provided in the rear side (4) of the housing (2) in the rear leg (6).

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