Delaware Patent of the Month – December 2021

Each day that we increase the prevalence of technology in our day to day activities, we need that technology to perform better than the last. Devices like Alexa and Siri respond to us through voice interaction and command. This has created a more organic way for us to interact with the tech, asking it questions and letting it help us. Voice interaction reduces touch fatigue – a growing concern in a society that interacts with touch screens so often. Voice interaction can also be faster to convey information to the controller. Ofcourse, with all of these benefits, there are clear drawbacks. If you’ve ever tried to use a voice control device in a noisy house, you know it struggles to understand the commands. Nobody wants to yell at Alexa to turn the lights off.

Hourglass Software, LLC has developed a self-adjusting microphone gain to dynamically respond to the noise level of tit’s environment. Their methodology receives an input with environmental audio which a processor examines. The environmental audio can include background noise like dogs barking, birds chirping, loud appliances or even other people speaking. From this, the processor determines a gain-adjust value based on the environmental audio levels and adjusts the gain of the microphone accordingly. The gain value is determined by a logarithmic algorithm. These adjustments can help the microphone better filter the input and allow the voice-command device to “hear” the voice commands more clearly.

Are you developing new technology for an existing application? Did you know your development work could be eligible for the R&D Tax Credit and you can receive up to 14% back on your expenses? Even if your development isn’t successful your work may still qualify for R&D credits (i.e. you don’t need to have a patent to qualify). To find out more, please contact a Swanson Reed R&D Specialist today or check out our free online eligibility test.

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