Detection and suppression of returned audio at near-end

1. A method of suppressing a return of near-end audio in a conference being (i) sent from a near-end conferencing unit to a far-end, (ii) acoustically coupled at the far-end, and (iii) returned as part of the far-end audio received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit, the method comprising:

monitoring the near-end audio being sent from the near-end conferencing unit to the far-end;

monitoring the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit;

detecting the return of the sent near-end audio being returned as part of the received far-end audio by determining that a first portion of the sent near-end audio at least proportionally relates to a second portion of the received far-end audio at a time delay; and

suppressing the detected return from output at the near-end conferencing unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the near-end audio being sent from the near-end conferencing unit to the far-end comprises determining first energy of the sent near-end audio.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein monitoring the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit comprises determining second energy of the received far-end audio.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining that the first portion of the sent near-end audio at least proportionally relates to the second portion of the received far-end audio at the time delay comprises:

determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay and that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay comprises comparing the first and second energies to one another over a time delay range.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the time delay range is from 0 to about 3-seconds.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein determining the first energy of the near-end audio being sent from the near-end conferencing unit to the far-end comprises:

filtering the sent near-end audio into bands; and

determining the first energy of each of the bands.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining the second energy of the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit comprises:

filtering the received far-end audio into the bands; and

determining the second energy of each of the bands.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the bands center at 400, 800, 1200, 1600, and 2000 Hz.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay comprises:

cross-correlating variations in the first and second energies to one another for each of the bands at increments of the time delay over a time delay range; and

determining the time delay having a greatest cross-correlation for all of the bands.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another comprises:

estimating for each of the bands a ratio of the second energy for the each band to the first energy for the each band;

determining a result by multiplying the first energy by the ratio; and

determining whether the result is equivalent to the second energy.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay and that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another comprises:

offsetting the first energy versus time to match the second energy at the time delay;

comparing the second energy to the offset first energy times ratios of the first and second energies for each of the bands; and

determining a count of how many of the bands have the first energy multiplied times the ratio that is at least less than or equal to an expected value.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein detecting the return of the sent near-end audio being returned as part of the received far-end audio comprises declaring a presence of the return when the determined count is greater than a threshold.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein monitoring the sent near-end audio and the received far-end audio comprises monitoring at predetermined sample times.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein suppressing the detected return from output at the near-end conferencing unit comprises at least reducing output of the detected return at a near-end loudspeaker.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein suppressing the detected return from output at the near-end conferencing unit comprises suppressing the detected return for a predetermined time interval, until detection of the return ceases, or until speech having a magnitude greater than the return is detected in the received far-end audio.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having program instructions stored thereon for causing a programmable control device to perform a method of suppressing a return of near-end audio in a conference being (i) sent from a near-end conferencing unit to a far-end, (ii) acoustically coupled at the far-end, and (iii) returned as part of the far-end audio received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit, the method comprising:

monitoring the near-end audio being sent from the near-end conferencing unit to the far-end;

monitoring the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end of conferencing unit;

detecting the return of the sent near-end audio being returned as part of the received far-end audio by determining that a first portion of the sent near-end audio at least proportionally relates to a second portion of the received far-end audio at a time delay; and

suppressing the detected return from output at the near-end conferencing unit.

18. A conferencing unit, comprising:

at least one interface sending near-end audio from a near-end to a far-end, the at least one interface receiving far-end audio from the far-end and sending the far-end audio for output at the near-end; and

a processor unit operatively coupled to the at least one interface and configured to:

monitor the near-end audio being sent to the far-end,

monitor the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end,

determine that a first portion of the sent near-end audio at least proportionally correlates to a second portion of the far-end audio at a time delay, and

detect a return of the sent near-end audio being acoustically coupled at the far-end and returned as part of the received far-end audio based on the determination, and

suppress the detected return from output at the near-end.

19. The unit of claim 18 , wherein the conferencing unit comprises a near-end conferencing unit communicatively coupled to the far-end via a network connection.

20. The unit of claim 18 , wherein the conferencing unit comprises a multipoint conferencing bridge communicatively coupled to a near-conferencing unit and to the far-end via one or more network connections.

21. The unit of claim 18 ,

wherein to monitor the near-end audio being sent from the near-end to the far-end, the processing unit is configured to determine first energy of the sent near-end audio; and

wherein to monitor the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end, the processing unit is configured to determine second energy of the received far-end audio.

22. The unit of claim 21 , wherein to determine that the first portion of the sent near-end audio at least proportionally relates to the second portion of the received far-end audio at the time delay, the processing unit is configured to determine that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay and that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another.

23. The unit of claim 22 , wherein to determine that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay, the processing unit is configured to compare the first and second energies to one another over a time delay range.

24. The unit of claim 22 ,

wherein to determine the first energy of the near-end audio being sent from the near-end to the far-end, the processing unit is configured to filter the sent near-end audio into bands and determine the first energy of each of the bands; and

wherein to determine the second energy of the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end, the processing unit is configured to filter the received far-end audio into the bands and determine the second energy of each of the bands.

25. The unit of claim 24 , wherein to determine that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay, the processing unit is configured to:

cross-correlate variations in the first and second energies to one another for each of the bands at increments of the time delay over a time delay range; and

determine the time delay having a greatest cross-correlation for all of the bands.

26. The unit of claim 24 , wherein to determine that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another, the processing unit is configured to:

estimate for each of the bands a ratio of the second energy for the each band to the first energy for the each band;

determine a result by multiplying the first energy by the ratio; and

determine whether the result is equivalent to the second energy.

27. The unit of claim 24 , wherein to determine that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay and that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another, the processing unit is configured to:

offset the first energy versus time to match the second energy at the time delay;

compare the second energy to the offset first energy times ratios of the first and second energies for each of the bands; and

determine a count of how many of the bands have the first energy multiplied times the ratio that is at least less than or equal to an expected value.

28. The unit of claim 27 , wherein to detect the return of the sent near-end audio being acoustically coupled at the far-end and returned as part of the received far-end audio, the processing unit is configured to declare a presence of the return when the determined count is greater than a threshold.

29. The method of claim 17 , wherein monitoring the near-end audio being sent from the near-end conferencing unit to the far-end comprises determining first energy of the sent near-end audio, wherein monitoring the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit comprises determining second energy of the received far-end audio.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining that the first portion of the sent near-end audio at least proportionally relates to the second portion of the received far-end audio at the time delay comprises:

determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay and that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay comprises comparing the first and second energies to one another over a time delay range.

32. The method of claim 30 , wherein determining the first energy of the near-end audio being sent from the near-end conferencing unit to the far-end comprises: filtering the sent near-end audio into bands; and determining the first energy of each of the bands, wherein determining the second energy of the far-end audio being received from the far-end to the near-end conferencing unit comprises:

filtering the received far-end audio into the bands; and

determining the second energy of each of the bands.

33. The method of claim 32 , wherein determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay comprises:

cross-correlating variations in the first and second energies to one another for each of the bands at increments of the time delay over a time delay range; and

determining the time delay having a greatest cross-correlation for all of the bands.

34. The method of claim 32 , wherein determining that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another comprises:

estimating for each of the bands a ratio of the second energy for the each band to the first energy for the each band;

determining a result by multiplying the first energy by the ratio; and

determining whether the result is equivalent to the second energy.

35. The method of claim 32 , wherein determining that the first portion of the first energy correlates to the second portion of the second energy at the time delay and that the first and second portions at least proportionally relate to one another comprises:

offsetting the first energy versus time to match the second energy at the time delay;

comparing the second energy to the offset first energy times ratios of the first and second energies for each of the bands; and

determining a count of how many of the bands have the first energy multiplied times the ratio that is at least less than or equal to an expected value.

36. The method of claim 35 , wherein detecting the return of the sent near-end audio being returned as part of the received far-end audio comprises declaring a presence of the return when the determined count is greater than a threshold.