Patents Examined by Jeffrey Lytle
  • Patent number: 9832299
    Abstract: Technologies are generally described for a noise cancellation scheme for voice communications. In some examples, a system configured to cancel background noise in voice communication may include a user device configured to capture a background sound; and a server configured to receive the background sound captured by the user device, identify a source of the background sound from among a plurality of predetermined sound sources, and generate a reference background sound based at least in part on the identified source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 17, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: EMPIRE TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT LLC
    Inventor: Seungil Kim
  • Patent number: 9826085
    Abstract: Communications equipment for use by a call center to enable communications between the call center and one or more user devices is provided, with the communications equipment comprising audio processing circuitry for processing audio signals received from the user devices over a communications network, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to perform acoustic echo cancellation and/or noise suppression and/or dereverberation processing on the received audio signals to cancel acoustic echoes and/or suppress noise and/or suppress reverberation that is present in the audio signals received from the user device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2013
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.
    Inventors: Patrick Kechichian, Cornelis Pieter Janse
  • Patent number: 9819902
    Abstract: A telecommunications device sends and receives messages comprising data about telecommunications resources and resource state of proximate devices. The telecommunications device has a processor configured to determine a proximate resource pool using at least the telecommunication resources of the other devices, and the state of the telecommunications resources of the other devices, the proximate resource pool comprising a list of content streams being generated by, or potentially being generated by, specified ones of the other devices. The processor is configured to receive instructions from one of the other devices, the instructions being to add, divert or stop a specified content stream of the proximate resource pool within a telecommunications activity ongoing at the device. In various examples, the processor is configured to execute the instructions responsive to the instructions being from a trusted device, or responsive to user authorization.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 14, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Edward Sean Lloyd Rintel, Richard Harry Robert Harper, Kenton Paul Anthony O'Hara, Philip Charles Gosset, Daniel Wilkinson Gratiot, Ian James Ray
  • Patent number: 9794511
    Abstract: A video display hub is mounted in a common household area such as a kitchen or family room. During times that have been designated as being available for communications, devices in first and second households exchange and display blurred video, allowing users in each household to see vague shapes and movements of the other household. Upon noticing activity, a user in the first household may initiate a video conversation, causing the video from the first household to be unblurred and causing unobscured voice to be transmitted to the second household. A user in the second household may respond by allowing the video conversation to be fully enabled, allowing the video from the second household to be unblurred and unobscured voice to be transmitted back to the first household.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2017
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Michael Douglas McQueen, Meng Li, Eric Alan Breitbard, Robert Steven Murdock, Julien George Beguin, Gregory Michael Hart, David A. Limp, Scott Ian Blanksteen
  • Patent number: 9742463
    Abstract: A copper wire interface circuit is provided, where a current output amplifier is connected to a port impedance component and a transmit end, and the current output amplifier is configured to amplify a to-be-transmitted signal; the port impedance component is connected to a high-pass filter, impedance, after undergoing impedance transformation performed by the high-pass filter, of the port impedance component is used for performing impedance matching with equivalent impedance of a cable and a load; the high-pass filter is connected to the port impedance component and the cable, the high-pass filter is configured to filter the to-be-transmitted signal or a received signal and perform impedance transformation on the port impedance component; and an echo cancellation module is connected to the port impedance component and a receive end.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2017
    Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Zhilei Zhao
  • Patent number: 9728178
    Abstract: By using the adaptive filter, the reference input signal is processed so as to identify a pseudo-signal of a particular signal to be deleted. The pseudo-signal is subtracted from the mixture containing a target signal inputted from a microphone, the particular signal to be deleted, and a noise so as to obtain an error signal. A stationary noise is estimated to obtain a stationary noise estimated value. A non-stationary noise is estimated to obtain a non-stationary noise estimated value. The stationary noise estimated value is mixed with the non-stationary estimated value to obtain a mixed noise estimated value. An update amount is calculated according to a correlation value between the error signal and the reference input signal, and the mixed noise estimated value. According to the update amount, a coefficient of the adaptive filter is updated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 31, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 8, 2017
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Akihiko Sugiyama
  • Patent number: 9723260
    Abstract: A videoconferencing apparatus automatically tracks speakers in a room and dynamically switches between a controlled, people-view camera and a fixed, room-view camera. When no one is speaking, the apparatus shows the room view to the far-end. When there is a dominant speaker in the room, the apparatus directs the people-view camera at the dominant speaker and switches from the room-view camera to the people-view camera. When there is a new speaker in the room, the apparatus switches to the room-view camera first, directs the people-view camera at the new speaker, and then switches to the people-view camera directed at the new speaker. When there are two near-end speakers engaged in a conversation, the apparatus tracks and zooms-in the people-view camera so that both speakers are in view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Polycom, Inc.
    Inventor: Jinwei Feng
  • Patent number: 9723261
    Abstract: A disclosed information processing device transmits and receives, as elements, audio information of inputted audio, video information of video taken, and screen image information of a screen image to be shared. The information processing device includes a determination criteria storing unit configured to store determination criteria created in terms of the elements for determining whether to continue transmission or reception of the elements, an information obtaining unit configured to obtain specified information related to the elements from the elements being transmitted and received, and an element determination unit configured to determine from the obtained information whether to continue or not the transmission or the reception of the elements by referring to the determination criteria.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventors: Shoh Nagamine, Takuya Imai, Kenichiro Morita
  • Patent number: 9712208
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for training a Vector coefficient of a vectored digital subscriber line, where the method includes: after a handshake phase is executed for a joining line, calculating, by using a pilot estimation method, an initial precoding coefficient and an initial cancellation coefficient that represent interference from the joining line to a normal working line; and after a channel discovery phase is executed for the joining line, compensating the initial precoding coefficient and the initial cancellation coefficient by using a compensation factor, to obtain a precoding coefficient and a cancellation coefficient that represent the interference from the joining line to the normal working line, wherein the compensation factor is obtained according to a signal power change or a signal phase change of the joining line. The present invention improves efficiency of Vector coefficient training.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 2, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2017
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Jianping Tu, Jie Lv, Xiang Wang
  • Patent number: 9648158
    Abstract: An echo path monitoring system for controlling an adaptive filter configured to estimate an echo of a far-end signal comprised in a microphone signal, the system comprising a comparison generator configured to compare the microphone signal with the estimated echo to obtain a first comparison and compare an error signal, which represents a difference between the microphone signal and the estimated echo, with the estimated echo to obtain a second comparison, and a controller configured to combine the first and second comparisons to form a parameter indicative of a state of the microphone signal and, in dependence on said parameter, control an operating mode of the adaptive filter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 9, 2017
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventors: Senthil Kumar Mani, Sowmya Mannava
  • Patent number: 9628141
    Abstract: A system and method are presented for acoustic echo cancellation. The echo canceller performs reduction of acoustic and hybrid echoes which may arise in a situation such as a long-distance conference call with multiple speakers in varying environments, for example. Echo cancellation, in at least one embodiment, may be based on similarity measurement, statistical determination of echo cancellation parameters from historical values, frequency domain operation, double talk detection, packet loss detection, signal detection, and noise subtraction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 18, 2017
    Assignee: Interactive Intelligence Group, Inc.
    Inventors: Felix Immanuel Wyss, Rivarol Vergin, Ananth Nagaraja Iyer, Aravind Ganapathiraju, Kevin Charles Vlack, Srinath Cheluvaraja
  • Patent number: 9621037
    Abstract: A voltage regulator includes a switch coupled between an input voltage terminal and an energy storage element, a first output capacitor coupled to a first node defined between the switch and the energy storage element, the first capacitor being coupled to a first output voltage terminal, a charge pump circuit coupled to the first node and comprising a second output capacitor coupled between a second output voltage terminal and the first output voltage terminal, and a controller operable to selectively enable the switch to control voltages generated at the first and second output terminals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2017
    Assignee: Microsemi Semiconductor (U.S.) Inc.
    Inventors: Walter Rossi, Jason Larry Rabb, David Nigel Wakely
  • Patent number: 9614581
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a first transceiver unit (TU) for coupling to a first subscriber line, at least one next TU for coupling to at least one next subscriber line, and a processor coupled to the first TU and the at least one next TU, wherein the processor is configured to determine a link state in which data transmission is disabled for the duration of one or more symbols in a superframe, instruct the first TU to operate in the determined link state, and coordinate data transmission by the first TU and the at least one next TU to avoid an increase of crosstalk from the first line to the at least one next subscriber line due to the first TU operating in the determined link state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2017
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Dong Wei, Jie Lv, Jianhua Liu
  • Patent number: 9591123
    Abstract: A method of echo cancellation in an acoustic system, comprising a first user device and at least one further user device, the method comprising, at the first user device: detecting an audio signal received from the at least one further user device over a communications network; supplying the audio signal when received to an audio signal processing module of the first user device, wherein the audio signal processing module processes the audio signal and outputs a processed audio signal to audio output means of the first user device; and controlling an echo cancellation process for cancelling echo from an audio signal received via audio input means of the first user device based on a loopback signal provided by the processed audio signal and selectively based on the received audio signal when detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Karsten Vandborg Sorensen, Per Ahgren
  • Patent number: 9591256
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to methods and devices for video communication. The methods include: configuration information of an objective terminal in video communication is obtained; a corresponding camera resolution is selected as a resolution for sampling video according to the configuration information; a video is sampled according to the resolution for sampling video; and the sampled video is sent to the objective terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: March 7, 2017
    Assignee: Xiaomi Inc.
    Inventor: Xingsheng Lin
  • Patent number: 9578285
    Abstract: Implementations generally relate to facilitating presentations in video conferences. In some implementations, a method includes enabling a presenting user to provide a document to a network system. The method further includes enabling the document to be rendered on one or more devices of one or more respective viewing users, where the one or more devices are local to the one or more viewing users. The method further includes enabling the presenting user to navigate the document during a presentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Matthew John Leske, Christopher Paul David Johnson, Hila Shemer, Ronald Ho
  • Patent number: 9577705
    Abstract: This disclosure provides a network apparatus with communication ports, each connected to multiple channels, assigned a seed for eliminating the interference among the communication ports, and operable in a master or slave mode, each channel having a communication unit which comprises: an echo canceller, a near-end crosstalk (NEXT) canceller, a decision feedback equalizer, and a control unit configured for controlling the communication ports if the echo canceller and the decision feedback equalizer keep updating their filter coefficients according to the same symbol during a first pre-determined time-interval; wherein when more than two of the communication ports operate in the master mode, the control unit assigns different seeds to the more than two communication ports; and wherein when successive two of the communication ports operate in the slave mode, the control unit stops either the echo canceller or the NEXT canceller from updating their filter coefficients during a second pre-determined time-interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: REALTEK SEMICONDUCTOR CORP.
    Inventors: Hsuan-Ting Ho, Liang-Wei Huang, Sheng-Fu Chuang, Ching-Yao Su
  • Patent number: 9560316
    Abstract: Implementations generally relate to indicating sound quality during a conference, thereby providing real-time feedback to those generating audio intentionally or unintentionally. In some implementations, a method includes detecting an audio signal during a conference. The method further includes determining one or more sound types in the audio signal based on one or more respective characteristic criteria. The method further includes providing an indicator based on the one or more sounds types.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventor: Jonas Erik Lindberg
  • Patent number: 9553913
    Abstract: Performing a real-time application on a mobile device, involving communication of audio/video packets with a remote device. The mobile device may initially communicate the audio/video packets on a first communication channel with the remote device. During the real-time communication, the mobile device may determine if no packets have been received by the mobile device from the remote device for a first threshold period of time. If no packets have been received by the mobile device from the remote device for the first threshold period of time, the mobile device may establish a second communication channel for transmission of the audio/video packets with the remote device. In response to using the second communication channel, the mobile device may modify a resolution or bit rate of the audio/video packets transmitted to the remote device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 24, 2017
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Yan Yang, Xiasong Zhou, Hyeonkuk Jeong, Joe S. Abuan, Gobind Johar, Yichao Shen
  • Patent number: 9531433
    Abstract: A feedback cancellation assembly for an electroacoustic communication apparatus may include a signal transmission path for generation and emission of an outgoing sound signal to an external environment through an electrodynamic loudspeaker and a signal reception path comprising a microphone for generation of a microphone input signal corresponding to sound received from the external environment. The signal reception path may generate a digital microphone signal. The outgoing sound signal may be acoustically coupled to the microphone. An electronic feedback cancellation path may be coupled between a tapping node and a summing node to produce a feedback cancellation signal to the summing node.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2016
    Assignee: ANALOG DEVICES GLOBAL
    Inventors: Kim Spetzler Berthelsen, Robert Adams, Kasper Strange