Speakerphone

• US 20060093128A1
• Filed: 10/14/2005
• Published: 05/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lifesize, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Original Assignee: Lifesize, Inc. (Enghouse Systems Limited)
• Inventors: Oxford, William V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,720,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/406.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/082 using echo cancellers echo cancellers per se H04B3/23

Abstract

A processor operates on samples of a digital output signal to determine samples of a digital correction signal. The output signal samples are directed to an output channel for transmission from a speaker. The digital correction signal samples are supplied to a first digital-to-analog converter for conversion into an analog correction signal. The subtraction circuit generates a difference between a first analog signal provided by a microphone and the analog correction signal. The analog correction signal is an estimate of a contribution to the first analog signal due to a direct path transmission between the speaker and the microphone. The processor also receives a digital input signal derived from the difference signal, and, performs acoustic echo cancellation on the digital input signal to obtain a resultant signal. The acoustic echo cancellation is configured to remove contributions to the digital input signal due to reflected path transmissions.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a memory configured to store program instructions; and

a processor configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory, wherein the program instructions are configured to direct the processor to;

operate on samples of a digital output signal to determine samples of a digital correction signal, wherein the output signal samples are directed to an output channel for transmission from a speaker; and

supply the digital correction signal samples to a first digital-to-analog converter for conversion into an analog correction signal;

a subtraction circuit configured to generate a difference signal which is a difference between a first analog signal provided by a microphone and the analog correction signal, wherein the analog correction signal is an estimate of a contribution to the first analog signal due to a direct path transmission between the speaker and the microphone;

wherein the program instructions are further configured to direct the processor to;

receive a digital input signal derived from the difference signal; and

perform acoustic echo cancellation on the digital input signal to obtain a resultant signal, wherein the acoustic echo cancellation is configured to remove contributions to the digital input signal due to reflected path transmissions between the speaker and the microphone.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a preamplifier configured to amplify the difference signal to generate an amplified signal, wherein the digital input signal is derived from the amplified signal.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising:

an analog-to-digital converter configured to digitize the amplified signal in order to generate the digital input signal.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising said microphone.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein said microphone is an omnidirectional microphone.

6. The system of claim 1, where said operating on the digital output signal samples to determine the digital correction signal samples comprises:

applying a speaker input-output model to the digital output signal samples in the time domain to determine a digital representation R_SP of the speaker output.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the speaker input-output model is a nonlinear model.

8. The system of claim 6, where said operating on the digital output signal samples to determine the digital correction signal samples further comprises:

applying a first transfer function, corresponding to the direct path transmission from the speaker to the microphone, to the digital representation R_SP to obtain a digital representation A_MIC of the microphone'"'"'s acoustic input.

9. The system of claim 8, where said operating on the digital output signal samples to determine the digital correction signal samples further comprises:

applying a transfer function of the microphone to the digital representation A_MIC to determine a digital representation of the analog correction signal.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are configured to direct the processor to perform a calibration procedure in order to estimate the first transfer function.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the calibration procedure comprises:

(a) transmitting a noise burst from the speaker;

(b) capturing second samples of the digital input signal in response to the noise burst;

(c) performing a cross correlation between the noise burst and the second samples to determine a time delay of the direct path transmission between the speaker and the microphone.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the calibration procedure further comprises:

repeating (a), (b) and (c) using different phases of a D/A conversion clock relative to base conversion clock in order to obtain a refined estimate of the time delay.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the calibration procedure further comprises repeating (a), (b) and (c) using different phases of an A/D conversion clock relative to base conversion clock in order to obtain a refined estimate of the time delay.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further configured to direct the processor to:

generate a plurality of correction signals for a plurality of microphones respectively, wherein each of correction signals is an estimate of a direct path contribution to the signal captured by a corresponding one of the microphones.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further configured to direct the processor to:

generate a plurality of corrections signals for a plurality of microphones respectively, wherein each of correction signals is an estimate of a direct path contribution to the signal captured by a corresponding one of the microphones.

16. A method comprising:

operating on samples of a digital output signal to determine samples of a digital correction signal, wherein the output signal samples are directed to an output channel for transmission from a speaker;

supplying the digital correction signal samples to a first digital-to-analog converter for conversion into an analog correction signal;

generating a difference signal which is a difference between a first analog signal provided by a microphone and the analog correction signal, wherein the analog correction signal is an estimate of a contribution to the first analog signal due to a direct path transmission between the speaker and the microphone;

receiving a digital input signal derived from the difference signal; and

performing acoustic echo cancellation on the digital input signal to obtain a resultant signal, wherein the acoustic echo cancellation is configured to remove contributions to the digital input signal due to reflected path transmissions between the speaker and the microphone.

17. The system of claim 16, where said operating on the digital output signal samples to determine the digital correction signal samples comprises:

applying a speaker input-output model to the digital output signal samples in the time domain to determine a digital representation R_SP of the speaker output.

18. The system of claim 17, where said operating on the digital output signal samples to determine the digital correction signal samples further comprises:

applying a first transfer function, corresponding to the direct path transmission from the speaker to the microphone, to the digital representation R_SP to obtain a digital representation A_MIC of the microphone'"'"'s acoustic input.

19. The system of claim 18, where said operating on the digital output signal samples to determine the digital correction signal samples further comprises:

applying a transfer function of the microphone to the digital representation A_MIC to determine a digital representation of the analog correction signal.

20. A computer-readable memory medium configured to store program instructions, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement:

operating on samples of a digital output signal to determine samples of a digital correction signal, wherein the output signal samples are directed to an output channel for transmission from a speaker;

supplying the digital correction signal samples to a first digital-to-analog converter for conversion into an analog correction signal;

generating a difference signal which is a difference between a first analog signal provided by a microphone and the analog correction signal, wherein the analog correction signal is an estimate of a contribution to the first analog signal due to a direct path transmission between the speaker and the microphone;

receiving a digital input signal derived from the difference signal; and

performing acoustic echo cancellation on the digital input signal to obtain a resultant signal, wherein the acoustic echo cancellation is configured to remove contributions to the digital input signal due to reflected path transmissions between the speaker and the microphone.