ECHO CONTROLLER

• US 20160352915A1
• Filed: 04/29/2016
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Goodix Technology Co., Ltd. (Shenzhen Goodix Technology Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Gautama, Temujin
• Granted Patent: US 9,967,404 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02082 the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 9/082 using echo cancellers echo cancellers per se H04B3/23
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/001 for loudspeakers H04R29/007 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/02 for preventing acoustic reaction , i.e. acoustic oscillatory feedback specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/453

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an echo controller, for use with a microphone and a device comprising a loudspeaker, the echo controller comprising: a sensor with sensing capabilities configured to provide displacement-signalling representative of a displacement of a diaphragm of the loudspeaker, wherein the sensing capabilities of the sensor are isolated from an external environment of the device; and a cancellation block configured to determine a cancellation-signal based on the displacement-signalling; wherein the cancellation-signal is for adapting a received-signal provided by the microphone to determine an echo-cancelled-signal.

Claims

1. An echo controller, for use with a microphone and a device comprising a loudspeaker, the echo controller comprising:

a sensor with sensing capabilities configured to provide displacement signaling representative of a displacement of a diaphragm of the loudspeaker, wherein the sensing capabilities of the sensor are isolated from an external environment of the device; and

a cancellation block configured to determine a cancellation-signal based on the displacement signaling;

wherein the cancellation-signal is for adapting a received-signal provided by the microphone to determine an echo-cancelled-signal.

2. The echo controller of claim 1, wherein the cancellation block is configured to:

receive a driver signal for the loudspeaker, and

determine the cancellation-signal in accordance with the driver signal.

3. The echo controller of claim 1, wherein the cancellation block is also configured to determine the cancellation-signal in accordance with the received-signal.

4. The echo controller of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to measure a loudspeaker current flowing into a loudspeaker voice coil and to provide the displacement signaling in accordance with the loudspeaker current.

5. The echo controller of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to measure a loudspeaker voltage and to provide the displacement-signaling in accordance with the loudspeaker voltage.

6. The echo controller of claim 1 further configured to introduce a measurement signal of a predetermined frequency into an input signal for the loudspeaker, measure a measured-signal in a frequency band comprising the predetermined frequency, and provide the displacement signaling in accordance with the measured-signal.

7. The echo controller of claim 6, wherein the measured-signal is representative of one or more of:

a loudspeaker current;

a loudspeaker voltage;

an acoustic signal; and

a pressure signal.

8. The echo controller of claim 6, wherein the measurement signal comprises a pilot tone of predetermined frequency and wherein optionally the predetermined frequency is outside of an audible range.

9. The echo controller of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a motion sensor coupled to the diaphragm of the loudspeaker, and wherein the motion sensor is configured to provide the displacement signaling in accordance with sensed motion of the diaphragm.

10. The echo controller of claim 1, further comprising an echo-reduction block configured to determine the echo-cancelled-signal in accordance with the received-signal and the cancellation-signal.

11. The echo controller of claim 2, wherein the cancellation-signal is representative of a departure from linearity of the received-signal with respect to the driver signal.

12. The echo controller of claim 1, further configured to determine a parameter in accordance with the displacement signaling, wherein the parameter is for adapting one or more of an algorithm, a formula, a database and a look-up table, for processing:

the received-signal, provided by the microphone, to determine the echo-cancelled-signal; and

/or

the displacement signaling to determine the cancellation-signal.

13. The echo controller of claim 1, wherein the cancellation-signal is configured to be representative of an acoustic output of the loudspeaker, the received signal comprises information representative of the acoustic output, and the echo-cancelled-signal is determined to comprise a reduced intensity representation of the acoustic output compared to the received signal.

14. A device comprising a loudspeaker and the echo controller of claim 1.

15. The device of claim 14, further comprising a housing coupled to the loudspeaker and configured to provide an interior volume containing the sensor, wherein the sensor is a microphone or a pressure sensor and the housing is configured to isolate the sensor from acoustic signals originating from the external environment of the device.