MICROPHONE APPARATUS AND METHOD WITH CATCH-UP BUFFER

摘要

At a microphone, voice activity is detected in a data stream while simultaneously buffering audio data from the data stream to create buffered data. A signal is sent to a host indicating the positive detection of voice activity in the data stream. When an external clock signal is received from the host, the internal operation of the microphone is synchronized with the external clock signal. Buffered data stream is selectively sent through a first path, the first path including a buffer having a buffer delay time representing the time the first data stream takes to move through the buffer. The data stream is continuously sent through a second path as a real-time data stream, the second path not including the buffer, the real-time data stream beginning with the extended buffer data at a given instant in time. The buffered data stream and the real-time data stream are multiplexed onto a single data line and transmitting the multiplexed data stream to the host.

主权项

1. A method in a microphone apparatus, the method comprising:
clocking the microphone apparatus using a local oscillator of the microphone; generating a digital data stream from an electrical signal representative of acoustic energy; determining whether voice activity is present in the electrical signal while buffering data representative of the electrical signal in a buffer of the microphone apparatus, the buffered data having a delay time with respect to real-time data representative of the electrical signal; providing a multiplexed data stream at an interface of the microphone apparatus after determining the presence of voice activity, the multiplexed data stream including a buffered data stream and a real-time data stream, the buffered data stream and the real-time data stream based on the electrical signal, the buffered data stream including non-real-time buffered data and real-time buffered data, an end portion of the buffered data stream temporally overlapping a beginning portion of the real-time data stream; and providing the real-time data stream at the interface after discontinuing providing the buffered data stream at the interface.