ADAPTIVE ESTIMATION AND COMPENSATION OF CLOCK DRIFT IN ACOUSTIC ECHO CANCELLERS

• US 20070047738A1
• Filed: 08/16/2006
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Malvar, Henrique, Stokes, Jack, Ballantyne, Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 7,680,285 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 3/493 Testing echo effects or singing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/082 using echo cancellers echo cancellers per se H04B3/23

Abstract

A system and method for adaptive estimation and compensation of clock drift in echo cancellers is provided. The invention includes an acoustic echo cancellation system with a built in adaptive clock drift compensation system. The acoustic echo cancellation system has an AEC component that performs acoustic echo cancellation on data from a capture buffer, by also using information derived from a render buffer. The clock drift compensation system has access to this capture buffer and render buffer. The clock drift compensation system includes a clock drift compensator that calculates, based on the current location of the capture data being processed by the AEC component as well as additional information, the ideal location in the render buffer from which the AEC component should process data. The clock drift compensator further adjusts the current location in the render buffer from which the AEC component processes data based, at least in part, upon this ideal location. The clock drift compensator can further detect and correct for glitches in the hardware positions received from the render and capture devices.

Claims

1. An acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system, comprising:

a capture buffer that includes capture data, the capture buffer having a capture write pointer and a capture read pointer;

a render buffer that includes render data, the render buffer having a render write pointer and a render read pointer;

a clock drift compensator that calculates a capture delay and a render offset, the clock drift compensator adjusting the render read pointer based, at least in part, upon at least one of the calculated capture delay and the render offset; and

,

an AEC component that performs acoustic echo cancellation of the capture data based, at least in part, upon the adjusted render read pointer.

2. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, adjustment of the render read pointer being further based, at least in part, upon a filtered error based, at least in part, upon the render offset, the render write pointer and the render read pointer.

3. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 2, the filtered error being based, at least in part, upon the equation:

filtered error=(1−

error filter)* filtered error+(error filter*raw error),

where error filter is a constant and raw error is the difference of the render write pointer and the render read pointer less the render offset.

4. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, the clock drift compensator identifies a render glitch by determining if the render read pointer is outside of a threshold range from an ideal render read pointer location, the clock drift compensator identifies a capture glitch by determining if the capture write pointer is outside of a threshold range from an ideal capture write pointer location.

5. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, the clock drift compensator setting the render read pointer to its ideal location upon detection of a render glitch the clock drift compensator setting the capture read pointer to its ideal location upon detection of a capture glitch.

6. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1 further comprising a capture device.

7. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1 further comprising a render device.

8. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1 further comprising a mixer.

9. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, further comprising a splitter.

10. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, the capture buffer comprising information associated with at least one of a telephone, a speaker phone and a microphone.

11. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, the render buffer comprising information to be utilized by a render device.

12. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 11, the render device comprising a D/A connected to an output render transducer.

20. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 1, the buffered render data comprising information to be utilized by a render device.

13. A method for acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation, comprising:

receiving capture position information;

receiving render position information, the render position information including a render read pointer;

calculating a capture delay;

calculating a render offset;

calculating a raw error based, at least in part, upon at least one of the capture delay and the render offset; and

,

adjusting a render read pointer based, at least in part, upon the raw error.

14. The method of claim 13, receiving capture position information comprising at least one of the following acts:

receiving information associated with a capture read pointer;

receiving information associated with a capture write pointer;

receiving information associated with capture bytes processed; and

,

receiving information associated with a capture hardware position.

15. The method of claim 14, calculating a capture delay comprising at least one of the following acts:

calculating a difference between the capture hardware position and the capture bytes processed;

adjusting the capture delay with a capture sample rate conversion factor;

adjusting the capture delay with a capture connection format number of channels factor;

adjusting the capture delay with a capture connection format bytes per sample factor number of capture; and

,

adjusting the capture delay relative to the capture write pointer, the capture read pointer and a capture buffer size.

16. The method of claim 13, receiving render position information comprising at least one of the following acts:

receiving information associated with a render write pointer;

receiving information associated with a render read pointer;

receiving information associated with render bytes process; and

,

receiving information associated with a render hardware position.

17. The method of claim 16, calculating a render offset comprising at least one of the following acts:

calculating a difference between the render out bytes processed and the render hardware position;

adjusting the render offset with a render sample rate conversion factor;

adjusting the render offset with a render connection format number of channels factor;

adjusting the render offset with a render connection format bytes per sample factor; and

,

adjusting the render offset relative to the capture delay.

18. An acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system, comprising:

means for buffering capture data, the means for buffering capture data having a capture write pointer and a capture read pointer;

means for buffering render data, the means for buffering render data having a render write pointer and a render read pointer;

means for compensating clock drift, the means for compensating clock drift calculating a capture delay and a render offset, the means for compensating clock drift adjusting the render read pointer based, at least in part, upon at least one of the calculated capture delay and the render offset; and

,

means for performing acoustic echo cancellation of the capture data, the means for performing acoustic echo cancellation utilizing the adjusted render read pointer.

19. The acoustic echo cancellation clock drift compensation system of claim 18, adjustment of the render read pointer being further based, at least in part, upon a filtered error based, at least in part, upon the render offset, the render write pointer and the render read pointer.