US 11,943,581 B2
Transparent audio mode for vehicles
Dongeek Shin, Santa Clara, CA (US); and Jian Guo, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Sep. 30, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/449,557.
Prior Publication US 2023/0096496 A1, Mar. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. H04R 1/32 (2006.01); G06V 20/56 (2022.01); H04R 1/40 (2006.01)
CPC H04R 1/326 (2013.01) [G06V 20/56 (2022.01); H04R 1/406 (2013.01); H04R 2499/13 (2013.01)] 17 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
capturing, by one or more microphones, audio data representative of a sound scene external to a vehicle, wherein capturing the audio data comprises:
capturing, by a first microphone of the one or more microphones, first audio data representative of the sound scene external to the vehicle; and
capturing, by a second microphone of the one or more microphones, second audio data representative of the sound scene external to the vehicle, each of the first and second microphones located at different positions on a body of the vehicle;
performing, by one or more processors, beamforming with respect to the first audio data and the second audio data to amplify the audio data originating from a particular direction relative to a position of the vehicle and obtain object audio data representative of an audio object in the sound scene external to the vehicle, wherein performing beamforming comprises performing, by the one or more processors, a weighted sum and delay algorithm with respect to the first audio data and the second audio data to obtain the object audio data representative of the audio object in the sound scene external to the vehicle; and
reproducing, by one or more speakers included within the vehicle and based on the object audio data, the audio object in the sound scene external to the vehicle, wherein a number of the one or more microphones is different than a number of the one or more speakers.