text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|16 Feb 2016
|Filing date
|23 Jan 2013
|Priority date
|19 Jun 2008
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Ivan Jelev Tashev, Alejandro Acero, Nilesh Madhu
|Original Assignee
|Microsoft Technology Licensing, Llc
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (200), Non-Patent Citations (32), Classifications (7), Legal Events (1)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/141,941, filed on Jun. 19, 2008, and entitled "MULTICHANNEL ACOUSTIC ECHO REDUCTION", the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
Microphones are used in many devices to capture one or more human voices. Examples of such devices include speakerphones, hands-free mobile phones, VOIP systems, voice controlled devices/software employing speech recognition, and other types of systems which use and/or communicate human voices captured using a microphone.
Such devices often include a loudspeaker which outputs audible sounds generated from or communicated to the device that includes the microphone. For example, a speakerphone may include a loudspeaker which outputs the voices and other noises communicated from a phone or another speakerphone located in a remote far-end room.
Audible sounds being output by a loudspeaker in a near-end room speakerphone may be captured by the microphone and cause negative audible characteristics for the device, such as a delayed echo, feedback generation, and reverberation which degrades any spoken voices intended to be captured by the microphone of the speakerphone. To overcome such negative audible characteristics, acoustic echo reduction may be employed to estimate what portion of the signal sent to the loudspeaker is captured by the microphone, and to subsequently remove the estimated portion of the signal from the actual signal captured by the microphone to leave substantially only the spoken voices and/or other near-end room sounds captured by the microphone.
Many devices and systems that require acoustic echo reduction, however, are evolving to include multichannel (e.g., stereo and/or surround sound) loud speakers. Multiple loudspeakers increase the difficulty of effectively removing portions of the signals detected by one or more microphones contributed by the multiple loudspeakers from a received signal. Many echo reduction systems may not scale sufficiently to effectively carry out echo reduction on a multichannel loudspeaker system.
The following is a brief summary of subject matter that is described in greater detail herein. This summary is not intended to be limiting as to the scope of the claims.
Described herein are various technologies relating to multichannel acoustic echo reduction. An example multichannel acoustic echo reduction system may be employed in a device having both a plurality of loudspeaker channels (e.g., stereo or surround sound loudspeakers) and a microphone array having a plurality of microphones integrated therein.
The system may include an acoustic echo canceller (AEC) component that filters each signal from the respective microphones based at least in part on the audio signals being outputted through the loudspeakers. For each different combination of microphones and loudspeakers in the device, the AEC component may have a corresponding fixed filter capable of filtering the signal associated with its corresponding loudspeaker. For each set of fixed filters associated with a microphone, the system may include one adaptive filter that produces an output based at least in part on a combination of the outputs from the associated fixed filters and the signal from the associated microphone. The example system subtracts the output from each adaptive filter from the respective signal acquired by the microphone associated with the adaptive filter, to produce a filtered output for each microphone.
Before the system operates and/or subsequently to operation of the system, the fixed filters may be calibrated to be capable of producing outputs corresponding to an estimate of what portions of the plurality of signals sent to the loudspeakers will be captured by each of the microphones. Such calibration may be carried out by a calibration component that provides chirps or other acoustic information sequentially at each loudspeaker to analyze the contribution each loudspeaker provides to each microphone signal. The calibration component may determine coefficients from information provided by the chirps for use in operating the fixed filters.
In the example system, the adaptive filters may modify the outputs of the fixed filters to continuously account for acoustic changes in the environment including the loudspeakers and microphones after the fixed filters were initially calibrated (e.g., movement of people, opening and closing of doors, . . . ). The example system may also include a tracker component that is operative to determine changes in the relative positions of the speakers and/or microphones. The tracker component may trigger the calibration component to recalibrate the fixed filters when a sufficient change in the positions of the speakers and/or microphones is detected.
The system may also include a beamformer that uses the plurality of filtered outputs from the adaptive filters to output a combined filtered signal substantially focused on the portions of the acoustic information corresponding to a currently or dominant speaking voice. The output from the beamformer may then be further filtered by an acoustic echo suppression (AES) component to further minimize residual echo and/or noise remaining after the AEC and beamformer components have filtered the microphone signals.
The output of the AES component may correspond to a single channel signal substantially focused on speaking voices in which background sounds initially provided by the device's multiple loudspeakers have been subtracted out of the signal. In devices for use in telecommunications (e.g., speakerphones) the signal may be communicated to a remote phone or speakerphone. In devices that are voice controlled, the signal may undergo speech recognition to distinguish different commands or other verbal information used in the operation of the device.
Other aspects will be appreciated upon reading and understanding the attached figures and description.
Various technologies pertaining to reducing acoustic echo and noise captured by a microphone array in a multichannel loudspeaker device will now be described with reference to the drawings, where like reference numerals represent like elements throughout. In addition, several functional block diagrams of example systems are illustrated and described herein for purposes of explanation; however, it is to be understood that functionality that is described as being carried out by certain system components may be performed by multiple components. Similarly, for instance, a component may be configured to perform functionality that is described as being carried out by multiple components.
With reference to
The example system 100 may include a signal receiving component 102 that receives a plurality of microphone signals 104, 105, 106, 107 and a lesser plurality of loudspeaker signals 108, 110. The plurality of loudspeaker signals drive a plurality of respective loudspeakers included with the particular device that employs the example multichannel acoustic echo reduction system 100. The plurality of microphone signals 104-107 are generated by a plurality of respective microphones included with the particular device that employs the example system. Such microphone signals typically include acoustic information captured from outputs of the loudspeakers as well as other sounds such as speaking voices and other noises in a near-end room that includes the device employing the example system.
The example system also includes an acoustic echo canceller (AEC) component 112 that operates to filter the microphone signals. The AEC component 112 has a plurality of fixed filters 114 and a lesser plurality of adaptive filters 116. In this example system 100, the AEC may include a fixed filter for each respective combination of loudspeaker and microphone signals. In addition, the AEC may also include an adaptive filter for each microphone signal. The AEC component 112 modifies each respective microphone signal to reduce contributions from the outputs of the loudspeakers based at least in part on the respective adaptive filter associated with the respective microphone signal and the set of fixed filters associated with the respective microphone signal.
In this example system, the fixed filters 114 may be calibrated for the particular spatial arrangement of loudspeakers and microphones to produce outputs corresponding to an estimate of the portions of the plurality of signals sent to the loudspeakers that will be captured by each of the microphones. The adaptive filters 116 modify the outputs of the fixed filters to continuously account for acoustic changes in the near-end room environment including the loudspeakers and microphones after the fixed filters where initially calibrated. Such changes may include movement of people and/or objects in the room in which sound waves travel between the loudspeakers and microphones.
The example structure 200 may be employed in software or hardware, depending on the performance requirements for the device using the system. In an example system implemented in software, the AEC component 112 may generate an appropriate number of instances of the fixed filters and adaptive filters dynamically based on the detected and/or configured number of microphones and loudspeakers used in the device.
As discussed previously, the number of fixed and adaptive filters is based on the number of loudspeaker and microphone signals. A system that receives a quantity of L loudspeaker signals (one for each loudspeaker) and a quantity of M microphone signals (one for each microphone), will have a quantity of L�M fixed filters. For example, a system receiving two stereo loudspeaker signals and four microphone signals will have an AEC component with eight (e.g., 2�4) fixed filters. In addition, such an example system will have four adaptive filters (one for each microphone signal).
In addition, although
Thus, in
Each respective fixed filter hone one, hl one, hone m, and hlm generates a respective output 206, 208, 210, 212 based at least in part on the particular loudspeaker signal 108, 110 associated with each respective fixed filter. Also, as will be discussed in more detail below, each fixed filter operates on an associated loudspeaker signal based on coefficients configured for the respective fixed filter with respect to one of the microphone signals.
In the example system, outputs from each subset of fixed filters calibrated with respect to a common microphone signal are combined (e.g., added together) to form a combined output 214, 216. For example as shown in
The configuration values may be continually updated by the AEC component 112 based at least in part on the respective microphone signal associated with the adaptive filter and previous configuration values associated with the respective adaptive filter. For example, as shown in
In this example structure 200, for each microphone signal 104, 106, the AEC component 112 respectively combines (e.g., subtracts) the respective outputs 218, 220 from the respective associated adaptive filters hone and hm with the respective microphone signals 104, 106 to produce respective filtered microphone signals 222, 224. For example, as shown in
In the example system 100, for each microphone signal, the respective associated adaptive filter includes a finite impulse response (FIR) filter with a predetermined length to generate an output corresponding to an approximation of a transfer function between the respective microphone signal and the combination of the outputs from the fixed filters associated with the respective microphone signal. In examples, the adaptive filters may employ adaptive echo canceller algorithms such as LMS (least mean square), NLMS (normalized least mean square), and RLS (recursive least squares) or other echo canceller algorithms such as those used in mono AEC systems. The arrangement of one adaptive filter per microphone in the example system limits the degrees of freedom for the adaptation process, which thereby reduces the opportunity for the adaptive filter to converge on one of many undesirable solutions.
As mentioned previously, the fixed filters may be calibrated in view of the respective mutual positions of the microphones and speakers in the device that uses the example multichannel acoustic echo reduction system. Such calibration may be carried out initially before it is first used. As a result, the fixed filters are initialized with an optimal or close to optimal solution before the system starts operating.
In devices with a structurally fixed arrangement of speakers and microphones (e.g., a display monitor, car music system, or speakerphone, with built in stereo/surround speakers and microphones), the fixed filters may be calibrated during manufacture of the device to produce respective sets of coefficients stored in a memory of the device for later use with operating each respective fixed filter. In devices with individually movable speakers and/or microphones, the system may be capable of calibrating the fixed filters each time the system is started.
The calibration component 302 can determine the coefficients for each fixed filter based at least in part on the corresponding acoustic information captured by the microphone signals during the time periods for which the calibration signals are included in the loudspeaker signals. The time sequences from each microphone and loudspeaker during the calibration process are converted by the calibration component 302 to the frequency domain for each frequency bin, resulting in input sequences Xm(k) and Zl(k). The calibration component 302 may be configured to ensure that the number of frames in the chirp signal is larger than the number of taps in a frequency domain filter P for the fixed filters. Then for each microphone signal, the calibration component 302 can solve an overloaded system of complex equations corresponding to:
H m Z (n) =X m (n) (1)
where Hm=[Hm1, Hm2 . . . , HmL], and Z=[Z1, Z2, . . . , ZL]. Each Hml is a P-tap filter for the transfer function between the m-th microphone and the l-th loudspeaker for the k-th frequency bin (omitted for simplicity).
Each Zl=[Zl (n), Zl (n−1), . . . , Zl (n−P+1)]T is a vector-column, containing the last P values of the speaker signals Zl (n)=[Zl (n−1), . . . , Zl (n−P+1)]T. This described overloaded system of complex equations may be solved for each frequency bin and for each microphone signal. In an example, the calibration component 302 may use an MMSE (minimum mean square error) algorithm to find the solution for the initial coefficients used to configure each of the fixed filters.
Although the example configuration component 302 has been described as using sequential calibration signals to determine coefficients for the fixed filters, it is to be understood that in alliterative examples, the calibration component may use other procedures to determine the coefficients, such as using prior information about the mutual positions of the loudspeakers and microphones. For example in a device such as a computer monitor, the geometry for the loudspeaker and microphone positions may be permanently fixed therein. The calibration component may determine the coefficients for the fixed filters based on this known geometry and a sound delay detected between the output of loudspeaker signals and the capture of such signals via the microphones.
Once the initial coefficients for the fixed filter banks H1m and adaptive filter banks Hm are calculated for each microphone signal and frequency bin, the output signal from the AEC component 112 (
Y m (n)=(Σl=1 L
Y m (n)=(Σl=1 L
Here the difference of the first two terms will be approximately zero in equation (3) due to the initial calibration, and after merging the two sums, the resulting output signal corresponds to:
Y m (n)=Σl=1 L(Δ
To Substantially Minimize Echo, the Adaptive Filter can be Estimated Such that the Hm Minimize:
E{∥Σ l=1 L(Δ
where E{.} is the statistical expectation operator. This indicates an MMSE solution to which the adaptive filter is capable of converging.
Changes in the acoustic properties in the near-end room may cause an increase in the echo residual due to the approximate solution carried by the adaptive filters. If the changes are due only to movement in the room (e.g., moving people and the opening/or closing of a door), then ∥
However, although residual echo may be suppressed by the beamformer component 402, the output 404 from the beamformer component 402 may continue to include a reverberation tail which typically remains relatively constant regardless of the beam switching carried out by the beamformer component 402. Such a reverberation tail may be heavier than usual in the case of surround sound loudspeakers in which at least two of the loudspeakers (e.g., rear channels) may be relatively farther from the microphones than other loudspeakers (e.g., front and center channels) and this reverberation tail may still be loud enough to degrade the audio quality of the signals after the AEC component and beamformer component.
With reference now to
The system 500 may additionally include an estimator component 502 that estimates the residual energy based on the original loudspeaker signals. The AES component 506 in this example may suppress the reverberation tail based at least in part on an estimate of the residual determined by the estimator component 502. The estimate may be determined during periods when there is no near-end room speech. To determine when near-end room speech is not being picked up by the microphones 204, the estimator component may include a voice activity detector component 504 that detects the presence of speech in the output 404 of the beamformer (or a preceding output/signal from the microphones 204).
As discussed previously, the adaptive filters of the AEC component 112 may account for small changes in the acoustic properties of the near-end room such as caused by movement of people and objects. In addition the example systems (such as systems 300, 400, 500 depicted in
In addition, in this example, each speakerphone may include more than two microphones 608 (e.g., four microphones) spaced apart in the speakerphone housing. However, such microphones may alternatively be integrated into a movable microphone array that includes the microphones in a spaced apart arrangement in a common housing that is separate from the base of the speakerphone. In such an example with four microphones and two speakers, the AEC component 112 can include eight fixed filters (e.g., 2 speakers�4 microphones) and may include four adaptive filters (one for each of the 4 microphones).
With reference collectively to
Moreover, the acts described herein may be computer-executable instructions that can be implemented by one or more processors and/or stored on a computer-readable medium, media, or articles. The computer-executable instructions may include a routine, a sub-routine, programs, a thread of execution, and/or the like. Still further, results of acts of the methodologies may be stored in a computer-readable medium, displayed on a display device, and/or the like.
Now referring to
In this example, at 908, an AEC generates a quantity of L�M fixed filters and a quantity of M adaptive filters. Each fixed filter is associated with a different combination of one microphone signal and one loudspeaker signal. Also, each adaptive filter is associated with a respective microphone signal.
At 910, a calibration signal (e.g., a chirp) is sequentially included in each loudspeaker signal. At 912, coefficients are determined that configure each fixed filter based at least in part on the microphone signals resulting from the calibration signals (i.e., the microphone signals received during time periods for which the calibration signals are included in the loudspeaker signals). At 914, each fixed filter produces an output based at least in part on the respective associated loudspeaker signal and the coefficients configured for the respective fixed filter.
Referring to
At 922, a beamformer component produces a filtered output based at least in part on the filtered microphone signals produced by the adaptive filters. Also, at 924, an AES component produces a filtered output based at least in part on the filtered output produced by the beamformer component. The methodology 900 completes at 926.
Now referring to
The computing device 1100 includes at least one processor 1102 that executes instructions that are stored in a memory 1104. The instructions may be, for instance, instructions for implementing functionality described as being carried out by one or more components discussed above or instructions for implementing one or more of the methods described above. The processor 1102 may access the memory 1104 by way of a system bus 1106. In addition to storing executable instructions, the memory 1104 may also store audio signals, fixed filters, adaptive filters, etc.
The computing device 1100 additionally includes a data store 1108 that is accessible by the processor 1102 by way of the system bus 1106. The data store 1108 may include executable instructions, adaptive filters, fixed filters, audio files, chirp signals, etc. The computing device 1100 also includes an input interface 1110 that allows external devices to communicate with the computing device 1100. For instance, the input interface 1110 may be used to receive instructions from an external computer device, receive voice commands from a user, etc. The computing device 1100 also includes an output interface 1112 that interfaces the computing device 1100 with one or more external devices. For example, the computing device 1100 may transmit data to a personal computer by way of the output interface 1112.
Additionally, while illustrated as a single system, it is to be understood that the computing device 1100 may be a distributed system. Thus, for instance, several devices may be in communication by way of a network connection and may collectively perform tasks described as being performed by the computing device 1100.
As used herein, the terms "component" and "system" are intended to encompass hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. Thus, for example, a system or component may be a process, a process executing on a processor, or a processor. Additionally, a component or system may be localized on a single device or distributed across several devices.
It is noted that several examples have been provided for purposes of explanation. These examples are not to be construed as limiting the hereto-appended claims. Additionally, it may be recognized that the examples provided herein may be permutated while still falling under the scope of the claims.
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|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|9 Dec 2014
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text:
Epif celebrates one year of pisco in Kerns
By Ted Perkins
This month, Nicolle Dirks and Pepe Arancibia will celebrate the one-year anniversary of Epif, a vegetarian restaurant and pisco bar inspired by the Andes Region of South America. They opened the restaurant at 404 N.E. 28th Ave. in the Kerns neighborhood last fall.
"We owned a vegetarian restaurant and bar in my husband's hometown of Valparaiso, Chile for six years before we moved to Portland," said Dirks. "Our menu is unique because we take traditionally meat-centric dishes from the Andes Region and prepare them as 100 percent vegetarian – with 90 percent of that being vegan. We use local, organic ingredients with a focus on fresh herbs and accents of vegetable powders. Our chef, Daniel Vargas, is an artist and it shows in his beautiful and bright presentations of each dish. Pepe and Daniel have a shared passion for music and food. They've been creating music together for years, and that artistry translates into the kitchen."
Epif is short for epifania, the Spanish word for epiphany. The menu includes a mango mushroom ceviche, red wine-raspberry soaked tempeh and portabellas served with purple potato mash and empanadas fried with morzarella, sauteed onions and chives or baked with soy curls, barbecue sauce and dill.
"We built the building from the ground up right next to our house," said Dirks. "The experience was a fun test of our creativity and patience. The building was designed around a beautiful catalpa tree that now shades the restaurant's entrance – an antique door that my parents bought when they lived in Peru in the 1970s. We wanted the space to have history even though it's a new construction. Our guests sit in banquettes made from old church pews and repurposed gym bleachers serve as our tables. The bar is handcrafted from reclaimed skateboards."
Behind the bar, Epif offers the largest selection of pisco – a brandy made in Chile and Peru – available in Portland, with classic pisco cocktails, new and creative pisco cocktails and weekly pisco cocktail specials.
For more information, call 971-254-8680 or visit www.epifpdx.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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This is a list for fans of Farscape and Aeryn Sun. This list is a place where fans can discuss Farscape, Aeryn, and the Aeryn and John relationship. It's also a place where you can send FanFic.
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- Aug 20, 1999
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text:
Three Students Of DU Get Mohiuddin Memorial Scholarship
April 12, 2016 | Category: News | Posted By - Saifuddin Nayeem | 0 Comments
Three understudies of Dhaka University (DU) have been honored 'AQM Mohiuddin Memorial Trust Fund Scholarship'.
The understudies of Geography and Environment division get the grant for their extraordinary scholarly results in BS Honors examination in 2014.
The awardees are Al-Artat-Bin-Ali, M. Ishfaq-Ur-Rahman and Syeda Shahida Moknum, said a public statement. DU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr. AAMS Arefin Siddique conveyed grant among the understudies at a parlor other than VC office in the University.
Treasurer of the University Professor Dr. M. Kamal Uddin directed the grant giving over service while Chairman of the Geography and Environment Department Professor Md. Abdur Rob, Trustee of the Fund Professor Nazneen Afrose Haque and some employees were available.


text:
penstemon soft cuttings
Oh my god. I feel miserable.
I have just dried myself and changed my clothes after wrestling with the weather outside. It's really whipping up out there and we had to put all the pots under cover and weigh down the trampoline. After doing that I noticed, to my horror, that one of the birch trees on my drive was bending. We already had trouble with another of them last autumn/spring. So out into the rain went hubby and I to stake it. Did I mention I am absolutely drenched?
But earlier on I had a much more pleasant afternoon. I took cuttings from my penstemons and potted them up. I'm so delighted that I now have a greenhouse so I can do this sort of thing.
Poor u. Hope ur nice and warm and dry now. I have never taken cuttings of penstemons before. In fact I just bought my 1st one. And had thought about whether I should take cuttings from it THIS year, or wait until it becomes more established. What do you think?
I got out to cut back some of the unbelievable growth that has taken place in the last ten days. I had just fininshed mowing the lawn when the rain came, what an evening!
Yea Michael. I finished work at 5. But the heavens opened at 4. So I got nothing done in the garden at all today, except feed the fish before I went to work this morning. What a waste.
Rachel got drounded too checking my trees in that wind and rain as I adjusted all the tree ties a while ago. Had to redo a tree tie and it took me 5 mins got drenched too! Did I mention I dont have any penstemons either :-D, oh and I forgot to take that spare pumpkin plant you had might pick it up saturday if thats ok?
Was thinking about your pumpkin plant. Norman potted it on but I think we may have stunted it as they suffer badly from not being potted on quickly enough. I will bring it along on Saturday anyway. You are welcome to some penstemons if they take. I'm not sure I'll know by Saturday. Will put some aside for you and Linda, if she wants them.
Jacinta, I think you can take cuttings now. Look for non flowering shoots. Give it a lash!
Rachel, got fairly drenched myself..has to be done though...must try the penstemon cuttings too.
Yea, will do. Hope they're more successful than my seed-sowing earlier. Maybe I just bit off more than I could chew.
Yes please Rachel, would love some penstemon, thankyou. My garden took a right beating in the wind and the rain, it even took the heads off a number of cornflowers which were just about to flower!
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text: FXStreet (Delhi) – Bert Colijn, Research Analyst at ING, notes that the Eurozone retail sales have rebounded in December. Key Quotes "The 0.3% growth came on the back of an upward adjusted November figure, which was now flat from October. Retail sales had been declining since August, while the overall recovery of the labour market continues, oil prices declined and consumer confidence remains above its long-term average. This puzzle has been corrected somewhat by the pick-up in December, as sales are now back at the August 2015 level. This ends the year on a moderately positive note for consumption growth. Especially food, drinks and tobacco performed well with 0.6% growth in December, which gives the impression that European dinners were particularly tasty this holiday season. While the consumer has been more cautious in the second half than the first half of 2015, the consumption outlook remains positive. As the unemployment rate declined steadily in November and December and real wages have been boosted by the further fall in oil prices, retail sales is likely to recover further in the first months of 2016. In terms of monetary policy, this rebound in sales will come as a bit of relief for the hawks. A continued slump in retail sales would have raised concerns about a possible halt in the domestic recovery, which would have added to concerns about consumer price growth ahead of the March meeting of the ECB. The uptick in sales in December therefore results in a more positive view about the current domestic environment in the Eurozone." For more information, read our latest forex news.