IP Library Granted Patent US 8,724,823
Granted Patent B2
US 8,724,823 · App. 13/112,962 · Granted May 13, 2014

Method and apparatus for reducing noise pumping due to noise suppression and echo control interaction

Inventors: Andrew John MacDonald (San Francisco, CA); Jan Skoglund (San Francisco, CA); Björn Volcker (Bromma, SE)
Assignee: Google Inc.
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,724,823
App. No.
13/112,962
Granted
May 13, 2014
Kind
B2
Abstract

An input signal is processed through noise suppression (NS) and echo control (EC) via a multipath model that reduces noise pumping effects while maintaining EC performance. A copy of a “noisy” input signal is sent to an EC component before the noisy signal is sent to a NS component, which processes the signal first, when there is a consistent noise level for estimation. The copy of the pre-processing noisy signal is sent to the EC component along with a “clean” or “noise-suppressed” signal output from the NS component. The EC component analyzes the noisy signal as if the EC was the first component in the signal chain to determine what actions to take. The EC component then applies these actions to the clean signal received from the NS component.

Claims (37)

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a noise suppression component, a noisy signal input from an audio capture device;

generating, by the noise suppression component, a noise-suppressed signal from the noisy signal;

determining, by an echo control component, echo suppression based on the noisy signal input from the audio capture device;

sending, by the noise suppression component, the noise-suppressed signal to the echo control component; and

applying, by the echo control component, the determined echo suppression to the noise-suppressed signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising buffering the noisy signal provided to the echo control component.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the buffering is in response to delay in providing the noise-suppressed signal from the noise suppression component to the echo control component.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the echo control component determines the echo suppression based on the noisy signal in the frequency domain, and wherein the echo control component applies the echo suppression to the noise-suppressed signal in the frequency domain.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the noise suppression component generates the noise-suppressed signal from the noisy signal in the frequency domain.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

in response to receiving the noisy signal from the audio capture device, providing a copy of the noisy signal to a delay block; and

using the delay block to introduce delay in providing the copy of the noisy signal to the echo control component.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the delay introduced by the delay block is to compensate for delay in providing the noise-suppressed signal from the noise suppression component to the echo control component.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the noise suppression component generating the noise-suppressed signal from the noisy signal includes:

estimating a noise spectrum of the noisy signal;

estimating a noise presence in the noisy signal based on the estimated noise spectrum; and

suppressing the estimated noise presence using a Wiener type filter.

9. A system for noise suppression and echo control processing, comprising:

a noise suppression component configured to:

receive a noisy signal input from an audio capture device, and

generate a noise-suppressed signal from the noisy signal; and

an echo control component configured to:

analyze the noisy signal input from the audio capture device to determine echo suppression,

receive the noise-suppressed signal from the noise suppression component, and

apply the echo suppression to the noise-suppressed signal generated by the noise suppression component.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the echo control component analyzes the noisy signal in the frequency domain to determine the echo suppression, and wherein the echo control component applies the echo suppression to the noise-suppressed signal in the frequency-domain.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising:

a delay block configured to:

receive the noisy signal from the audio capture device; and

send the noisy signal to the echo control component following a delay interval.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the delay interval is based on a delay in the noise suppression component providing the noise-suppressed signal to the echo control component.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the echo control component is further configured to transform the noisy signal and the noise-suppressed signal to the frequency domain.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the noise suppression component is further configured to:

estimate a noise spectrum of the noisy signal;

estimate a noise presence in the noisy signal based on the estimated noise spectrum; and

suppress the estimated noise presence using a Wiener type filter.

Assignments (2)
CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Oct 2, 2017
From: GOOGLE INC.
To: GOOGLE LLC
Reel/Frame 044277/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 23, 2011
From: MACDONALD, ANDREW JOHN; SKOGLUND, JAN; VOLCKER, BJORN
To: GOOGLE INC.
Reel/Frame 026324/0993 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20120294452A1 · Nov 22, 2012