Patent · US Expired

Using vocoded parameters in a staggered average to provide speakerphone operation based on enhanced speech activity thresholds

US6223154A · kind A · utility

25Cited by
6References
14Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 31, 1998
Grant dateApr 24, 2001
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 31, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04M1/605
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A portable communication device (104), such as a cellular telephone, is operable in a speakerphone mode. The communication device uses a digital communication scheme, and both receives and generates vocoded signals. The speakerphone provides half duplex operation to eliminate echo. When voice activity is detected, the device activates a speaker and mutes a microphone to avoid echo. When no voice activity is detected in the received signal, the speaker is muted and the microphone activated. To determine when speech activity is present in the received signal, a novel voice activity detection (VAD) algorithm is used which takes advantage of parameters provided as part of the received vocoded signal. The new voice activity algorithm includes calculating a staggered average of the frame energy value for a sequence of received frames, and determining if the staggered average value exceeds a threshold. The algorithm also includes adjusting the threshold level by basing the threshold level on the voicing value of the present vocoded frame.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.