State-based endpoint conference interaction

A method for improving audio processing on an audio device during a conference call, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, by the audio device, a plurality of far-end audio streams, each far-end audio stream being transmitted with an associated data stream, each associated data stream comprising context information for the corresponding far-end audio stream;
• splitting each far-end audio stream into a plurality of frames;
• analyzing each frame of each far-end audio stream using a measure of voice activity to determine if there is voice activity within each frame, the analyzing producing far-end voice data associated with each frame of the corresponding far-end audio stream;
• analyzing frames of a local input audio stream using the measure of voice activity to produce near-end voice data;
• determining a conference state based on the far-end voice data for each far-end audio stream and the near-end voice data;
• and
• modifying at least one of voice-activity thresholds for the measure of voice activity or noise suppression of the audio device based on the determined conference state and the context information for each far-end audio stream of the plurality, playback of the plurality of far-end audio streams being performed on a speaker of the audio device.

A method for improving audio processing on an audio device during a conference call, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving, by the audio device, a far-end audio stream;
• splitting the received far-end audio stream into a plurality of frames;
• analyzing each frame using two measures of voice activity to determine if there is voice activity within each frame, the analyzing producing both binary voice data and continuous voice data for each frame;
• determining whether a nuisance state exists within the far-end audio stream by, for each frame:
• defining a nuisance parameter value for the far-end audio stream that decays over time;
• modifying the nuisance parameter value based on one or more rules, the binary voice data for the frame, and the continuous voice data for the frame;
• and
• comparing the modified nuisance parameter value to a threshold, wherein a nuisance state is identified for the far-end audio stream when the modified nuisance parameter value exceeds the threshold;
• and
• when a nuisance state is identified, modifying at least one of a playback of the far-end audio stream on a speaker of the audio device and capture of local audio on the audio device.

An audio device comprising,

• a near-end audio processor that receives audio signal data from a microphone, and analyzes frames of the audio signal data using a measure of voice activity to produce near-end voice data;
• a far-end audio processor that receives an incoming audio stream, splits the incoming audio stream into a plurality of frames, and analyzes each frame using the measure of voice activity to produce far-end voice data;
• and
• a conference modeling circuit coupled to the both the near-end audio processor and the far-end audio processor, the conference modeling circuit determining a conference state based on both the near-end voice data and the far-end voice data, and, based on the determined conference state, modifying at least one of voice-activity thresholds for the measure of voice activity or noise suppression of the audio device.

An audio device comprising,

• a far-end audio processor that receives an incoming audio stream, splits the incoming audio stream into a plurality of frames, and analyzes each frame using two measures of voice activity to produce both binary voice data and continuous voice data associated with each frame;
• and
• a conference modeling circuit coupled to the far-end audio processor, the conference modeling circuit:
• determining whether a nuisance state exists within the incoming audio stream by, for each frame:
• defining a nuisance parameter value for the incoming audio stream that decays over time;
• modifying the nuisance parameter value based on one or more rules, the binary voice data for the frame, and the continuous voice data for the frame;
• and
• comparing the modified nuisance parameter value to a threshold, wherein a nuisance state is identified for the incoming audio stream when the modified nuisance parameter value exceeds the threshold;
• and
• when a nuisance state is identified, modifying at least one of a playback of the incoming audio stream on a speaker of the audio device and capture of local audio on the audio device.