AUDIO COMMUNICATION DEVICE AND METHOD USING FIXED ECHO CANCELLATION FILTER COEFFICIENTS

• US 20110293104A1
• Filed: 05/25/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Infineon Technologies North America Corporation (Infineon Technologies AG)
• Inventors: Saplakoglu, Gurhan
• Granted Patent: US 9,185,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/082 using echo cancellers echo cancellers per se H04B3/23

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, systems, and software are disclosed for providing a phone or other audio communication device with a fixed-path acoustic echo cancellation feature that compensates for a fixed-path acoustic coupling caused by transmission of sound from one or more speakers to one or more microphones through, for instance, the phone body itself.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a first speaker coupled to a downlink;

a first microphone; and

an echo cancellation module configured to filter a first signal on the downlink using a static first set of filter coefficients to generate a second signal, and to generate a third signal based on a difference between the second signal and a fourth signal that is based on sound received by the first microphone.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the echo cancellation module is further configured to filter the first signal using a dynamic second set of filter coefficients that change over time to generate a fifth signal.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein values of the first set of filter coefficients do not depend upon values of the second set of filter coefficients.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the apparatus is further configured to generate a sixth signal based on a difference between the fifth signal and the third signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus is further configured to wirelessly transmit a signal based on the sixth signal to a communication network.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first set of filter coefficients consists of a total number of filter coefficients that is less than a total number of the second set of filter coefficients.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a read-only memory storing the first set of filter coefficients.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an electrically-erasable programmable memory (EEPROM) storing the first set of filter coefficients.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the echo cancellation module comprises a processor.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second microphone, wherein the fourth signal is further based on sound received by the second microphone.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a second speaker coupled to the downlink.

12. A method, comprising:

filtering a first signal on a downlink of an audio communication device using a static first set of filter coefficients to generate a second signal; and

generating a third signal based on a difference between the second signal and a fourth signal that is based on sound received by a first microphone of the audio communication device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising generating sound from a speaker of the audio communication device based on the first signal.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

filtering the first signal using a dynamic second set of filter coefficients to generate a fifth signal; and

changing the second set of filter coefficients over time.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein values of the first set of filter coefficients do not depend upon values of the second set of filter coefficients.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating a sixth signal based on a difference between the fifth signal and the third signal.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising wirelessly transmitting a signal based on the sixth signal to a communication network.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the first set of filter coefficients consists of a total number of filter coefficients that is less than a total number of the second set of filter coefficients.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing the first set of filter coefficients in a read-only memory of the audio communication device.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing the first set of filter coefficients in an electrically-erasable programmable memory (EEPROM) of the audio communication device.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the fourth signal is further based on sound received by a second microphone of the audio communication device.

22. A method, comprising:

sending a first signal to an audio communications device such that the audio communications device generates sound based on the first signal;

receiving a second signal that depends upon sound received at a microphone of the audio communications device;

determining a set of filter coefficients based on the second signal; and

storing the determined filter coefficients in a read-only memory of the audio communications device.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising storing the determined filter coefficients in a read-only memory of each of a plurality of audio communications devices.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising storing the determined filter coefficients and an identification of the audio communications device so as to be associated with each other in a database.

25. An intransient computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

filtering a first signal on a downlink of an audio communication device using a static first set of filter coefficients to generate a second signal; and

generating a third signal based on a difference between the second signal and a fourth signal that is based on sound received by a microphone of the audio communication device.

26. The intransient computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises:

filtering the first signal using a dynamic second set of filter coefficients to generate a fifth signal; and

changing the second set of filter coefficients over time.

27. The intransient computer-readable medium of claim 25, wherein the method further comprises generating a sixth signal based on a difference between the fifth signal and the third signal.