Ravi K Satyanarayanan

US Patent:

20090196429, Aug 6, 2009

Filed:

Jan 31, 2008

Appl. No.:

12/023970

Inventors:

Dinesh Ramakrishnan - San Diego CA, US
Ravi Satyanarayanan - San Diego CA, US
Song Wang - San Diego CA, US
Eddie L.T. Choy - Carlsbad CA, US

Assignee:

QUALCOMM Incorporated - San Diego CA

International Classification:

H04R 5/00

US Classification:

381 26

Abstract:

A mechanism is provided that monitors secondary microphone signals, in a multi-microphone mobile device, to warn the user if one or more secondary microphones are covered while the mobile device is in use. In one example, smoothly averaged power estimates of the secondary microphones may be computed and compared against the noise floor estimate of a primary microphone. Microphone covering detection may be made by comparing the secondary microphone smooth power estimates to the noise floor estimate for the primary microphone. In another example, the noise floor estimates for the primary and secondary microphone signals may be compared to the difference in the sensitivity of the first and second microphones to determine if the secondary microphone is covered. Once detection is made, a warning signal may be generated and issued to the user.