Spectral and Spatial Modification of Noise Captured During Teleconferencing

A teleconferencing method, including the steps of:

• (a) at each endpoint of a set of at least two endpoints of a teleconferencing system, determining a sequence of audio frames indicative of audio captured at the endpoint during a conference, wherein each frame of a first subset of the frames is indicative of speech uttered by a conference participant, each frame of a second subset of the frames is indicative of noise but not a significant level of speech;
• (b) at said each endpoint, generating modified frames by modifying each frame of the second subset of the frames, such that each of the modified frames is indicative of modified noise having a frequency-amplitude spectrum which at least substantially matches a target spectrum, and a spatial property set which at least substantially matches a target spatial property set;
• and
• (c) at said each endpoint, generating encoded audio including by encoding the modified frames and encoding each frame of the first subset of the frames.

A system configured for use as a teleconferencing system endpoint, including:

• a microphone array;
• a first subsystem coupled and configured to generate noise samples indicative of noise captured during a conference by the microphone array;
• and
• a second subsystem coupled and configured to modify the noise samples to generate modified noise samples indicative of modified noise having a frequency-amplitude spectrum which at least substantially matches a target spectrum, and at least one spatial property which at least substantially matches at least one target spatial property.

A teleconferencing system, including:

• a link;
• and
• at least two endpoints coupled to the link,
• wherein each of the endpoints includes:
• a microphone array;
• a first subsystem coupled and configured to determine a sequence of audio frames indicative of audio captured using the microphone array during a conference, wherein each frame of a first subset of the frames is indicative of speech uttered by a conference participant, each frame of a second subset of the frames is indicative of noise but not a significant level of speech;
• a second subsystem coupled and configured to generate modified frames by modifying each frame of the second subset of the frames, such that each of the modified frames is indicative of modified noise having a frequency-amplitude spectrum which at least substantially matches a target spectrum, and a spatial property set which at least substantially matches a target spatial property set;
• and
• an encoding subsystem, coupled and configured to generate encoded audio including by encoding the modified frames and encoding each frame of the first subset of the frames.