Apple Inc.
Accelerometer echo suppression and echo gating during a voice communication session on a headphone device

Abstract:

A method performed by a near-end headphone device, while the device is engaged in a voice communication session with a far-end device. The method receives a downlink audio signal from the far-end device and drives a speaker with the downlink audio signal. The method receives an accelerometer signal from an accelerometer of the near-end device and performs echo cancellation and residual echo suppression. The method generates a combined SNR-RES signal based on a SNR of the echo cancelled the accelerometer signal and the residual echo suppression signal. The method determines whether the combined SNR-RES signal is below a threshold. In response to being below the threshold, the method gates the echo cancelled accelerometer signal, generates an uplink audio signal by blending the gated signal with a microphone signal and transmits the uplink audio signal to the far-end device.