US 12,267,453 B2
Evaluation apparatus, evaluation method, and program
Sachiko Kurihara, Tokyo (JP); and Noboru Harada, Tokyo (JP)
Assigned to NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
Appl. No. 17/613,908
Filed by NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION, Tokyo (JP)
PCT Filed Aug. 16, 2019, PCT No. PCT/JP2019/032178
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 23, 2021,
PCT Pub. No. WO2020/240880, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 3, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. PCT/JP2019/021487 (WO), filed on Aug. 16, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0263933 A1, Aug. 18, 2022
Int. Cl. H04M 1/24 (2006.01); H04M 1/60 (2006.01); H04M 9/08 (2006.01)
CPC H04M 1/24 (2013.01) [H04M 1/6075 (2013.01); H04M 9/082 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An evaluation apparatus for evaluating quality of a conversation made between a first sound source in a first acoustic area of a plurality of acoustic areas in the vehicle and a second source in a second acoustic area of the plurality of acoustic areas in the vehicle, the evaluation apparatus comprising a processor configured to execute operations comprising:
receiving, by a first microphone in the first acoustic area, a first voice signal originated from the first sound source in the first acoustic area for the conversation, wherein the first acoustic area comprises a first microphone and a first speaker, and the second acoustic area comprises a second microphone and a second speaker, the first acoustic area and the second acoustic area are distinct, and the first voice signal represents a reference sound signal;
transmitting the first voice signal over a communication line between the first microphone and the second speaker;
emitting, by the second speaker in the second acoustic area, a second voice signal, wherein the second voice signal is based on the transmitted first voice signal from the first microphone;
receiving, by the second microphone in the second acoustic area, the second voice signal;
receiving, by the second microphone in the second acoustic area, the first voice signal, wherein the first voice signal has traveled over air from a first speaker in the first acoustic area to the second acoustic area;
generating an evaluation target sound signal by adding the received first voice signal and the received second voice signal; and
acquiring, based at least on the evaluation target sound signal and the reference sound signal, an evaluation value, wherein the evaluation value describes a quality of the conversation across the first acoustic area and the second acoustic area in the vehicle, the evaluation value includes a process to correct a time shift between the evaluation target sound signal and the reference sound signal.