Multi-channel echo cancellation with adaptive filters having selectable coefficient vectors

Claim 2

In a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, an echo canceller located in each of said conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; inter-channel time difference estimator means for receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signal for selecting one of the received distant signals having a largest content of echo components and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 3

In a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, an echo canceller located in each of said conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; a plurality of inter-channel time difference estimators for receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signals for selecting one of the received distant signals having a largest content of echo components and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 4

In a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, an echo canceller located in each of said conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; a plurality of inter-channel time difference estimators for receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signals for selecting one of the received distant signals having a largest content of echo components and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 5

In a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; inter-channel time difference estimator means for receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signal for selecting one of the received distant signals having a minimum propagation delay and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 6

In a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; inter-channel time difference estimator means for receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signal for selecting one of the received distant signals having a minimum propagation delay and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 7

In a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, an echo canceller located in each of said conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; a plurality of inter-channel time difference estimators for receiving signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signals for selecting one of the received distant signals having a minimum propagation delay and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 8

In a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, an echo canceller located in each of said conference rooms, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising: a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the received transmit signals with a cancelling signal; a plurality of inter-channel time difference estimators for receiving signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; control means for receiving the distant signals through said receive channels and responsive to the time-difference estimate signals for selecting one of the received distant signals having a minimum propagation delay and identifying one of a plurality of vectors; and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors and connected to said control means for receiving said selected distant signal, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of said vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, each of said adaptive filters selecting the filter coefficients of the vector identified by said control means for filtering said selected distant signal to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, the filter coefficients of said identified vector of each adaptive filter being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor.

Claim 9

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 1 or 3, further comprising: detector means for detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signal; and means responsive to the detection of a change by said detector means for disabling said control means for a predetermined interval.

Claim 10

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 5, further comprising means responsive to the detection of a change by said detector means for preventing said adaptive filters from updating the filter coefficients of said identified vector for a predetermined interval.

Claim 11

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 6, wherein said detector means includes delay means for delaying said time-difference estimate signal to produce a delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal, and comparator means for comparing the delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal and a non-delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal for disabling said control means for a predetermined period when there is a difference between the delayed and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signal.

Claim 12

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 5, wherein said detector means includes delay means for delaying said time-difference estimate signal to produce a delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal, and comparator means for comparing the delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal and a non-delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal for disabling said control means for a predetermined period when there is a difference between the delayed and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signal.

Claim 13

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 1 or 3, further comprising: detector means for detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signal; and means responsive to the detection of a change by said detector means for preventing said adaptive filters from updating the filter coefficients of said identified vector for a predetermined interval.

Claim 14

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 9, wherein said detector means includes delay means for delaying said time-difference estimate signal to produce a delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal, and comparator means for comparing the delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal and a non-delayed version of said time-difference estimate signal for disabling said control means for a predetermined period when there is a difference between the delayed and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signal.

Claim 15

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein said inter-channel time difference estimator means comprises: a first adaptive filter having an input port connected to a first one of said receive channels and a plurality of adjustable filter coefficients; a first subtractor having a first input port connected to an output port of the first adaptive filter and a second input port connected to a second one of said receive channels and supplying a difference output to said first adaptive filter for controlling the filter coefficients thereof; a second adaptive filter having a first input port connected to said second one of said receive channels and a plurality of adjustable filter coefficients; a second subtractor having a first input port connected to an output port of the second adaptive filter and a second input port connected to said first one of said receive channels and supplying a difference output to said second adaptive filter for controlling the filter coefficients thereof; first means, connected to said first and second adaptive filters, for converting the filter coefficients of said first and second adaptive filters to a plurality of absolute values; and second means, connected to said first means, for detecting a maximum absolute value from said plurality of said absolute values.

Claim 16

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein said inter-channel time difference estimator means comprises: a first tapped delay line connected to a first one of said receive channels; a plurality of first multipliers connected respectively to successive taps of said first tapped delay line, said first multipliers respectively providing multiplication on signals at said successive taps of the first tapped delay line and a signal from a second one of the receive channels; a plurality of first integrators connected respectively to outputs of said first multipliers; a second tapped delay line connected to said second one of said receive channels; a plurality of second multipliers connected respectively to successive taps of said second tapped delay line, said second multipliers respectively providing multiplication on signals at said successive taps of the second tapped delay line and a signal from said first one of the receive channels; a plurality of second integrators connected respectively to outputs of said second multipliers; a third multiplier for providing multiplication on signals from said first and second ones of said receive channels; a third integrator connected to an output of the third multiplier; first means, connected to said first, second and third integrators, for converting output signals from said first, second and third integrators to a plurality of absolute values; and second means, connected to said first means, for detecting a maximum absolute value from said plurality of said absolute values.

Claim 17

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 1, 2, 3 or 4 wherein each of said adaptive filters comprises: a data memory for storing samples of the signal selected by said control means; a plurality of coefficient memories respectively corresponding to said vectors of filter coefficients, each of the coefficient memories storing a corresponding one of said vectors; and means for multiplying an output signal from the associated subtractor with a sample stored in said data memory to produce a correction value, summing the correction value with a previous value of the filter coefficient in one of the coefficient memories corresponding to the vector identified by the control means to produce an updated value, and writing the updated value into said one coefficient memory as a filter coefficient, successively multiplying each filter coefficient in said one coefficient memory with a successive sample in said data memory to produce a plurality of products, and summing said products to produce the echo replica for the adaptive filter.

Claim 18

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 2 or 4, further comprising: detector means for detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signals; and means responsive to the detection of a change by said detector means for disabling said control means for a predetermined interval.

Claim 19

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 14, wherein said detector means includes delay means for delaying said time-difference estimate signals to produce delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals, and comparator means for comparing the delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals for disabling said control means for a predetermined period when there is a difference between the delayed versions and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals.

Claim 20

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 2 or 4, further comprising: detector means for detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signals; and means responsive to the detection of a change by said detector means for preventing said adaptive filters from updating the filter coefficients of said identified vector for a predetermined interval.

Claim 21

An echo canceller as claimed in claim 16, wherein said detector means includes delay means for delaying said time-difference estimate signals to produce delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals, and comparator means for comparing the delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals for disabling said control means for a predetermined period when there is a difference between the delayed versions and non-delayed versions of said time-difference estimate signals.

Claim 22

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of the received distant signals of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a largest content of echo components according to said time-difference estimate signals and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signals and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 23

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of the received distant signals of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a largest content of echo components according to said time-difference estimate signals and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signals and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 24

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit channels and said receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable in proportion to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of the received distant signals of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a minimum propagation delay according to said time-difference estimate signals and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signals and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 25

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a plurality of transmit channels and a plurality of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a set of microphones and a set of loudspeakers connected by said transmit channels and said receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a plurality of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a plurality of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable in proportion to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating propagation time differences between pairs of the received distant signals of adjacent receive channels to produce a plurality of time-difference estimate signals; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a minimum propagation delay according to said time-difference estimate signals and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signals and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 26

A method as claimed in claim 18 or 19, further comprising the steps of detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signals, and disabling the step (b) for a predetermined interval from the instant said change is detected.

Claim 27

A method as claimed in claim 18 or 19, further comprising the steps of detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signals, and preventing said adaptive filters from updating the filter coefficients of said identified vector for a predetermined interval from the instant said change is detected.

Claim 28

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a largest content of echo components according to said time-difference estimate signal and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signal and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 29

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit and receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a largest content of echo components according to said time-difference estimate signal and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signal and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 30

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit channels and said receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a minimum propagation delay according to said time-difference estimate signal and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signal and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 31

In an echo canceller for a teleconferencing system having a pair of transmit channels and a pair of receive channels interconnecting separated conference rooms, each of said conference rooms having an echo canceller, a pair of microphones and a pair of loudspeakers connected by said transmit channels and said receive channels to corresponding loudspeakers and microphones of the other conference room, the echo canceller of each conference room comprising a pair of subtractors connected respectively in said transmit channels for respectively receiving transmit signals from the microphones of the conference room and cancelling an echo contained in each of the transmit signals with a cancelling signal, and a pair of adaptive filters associated respectively with said subtractors, each of said adaptive filters having a plurality of vectors each comprising a set of filter coefficients, the filter coefficients of each vector being variable according to an output signal from the associated subtractor, each of said adaptive filters filtering an input signal applied thereto using one of said vectors to derive an echo replica and supplying the echo replica to the associated subtractor as said cancelling signal, a method comprising: a) receiving distant signals from said receive channels and estimating a propagation time difference between the received distant signals to produce a time-difference estimate signal; b) selecting one of said distant signals from said receive channels as having a minimum propagation delay according to said time-difference estimate signal and supplying said selected distant signal to said adaptive filters as said input signal; and c) identifying one of said vectors of said adaptive filters according to said time-difference estimate signal and said selected distant signal and causing each of said adaptive filters to use the identified vector.

Claim 32

A method as claimed in claim 22 or 23, further comprising the steps of detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signal, and disabling the step (b) for a predetermined interval from the instant said change is detected.

Claim 33

A method as claimed in claim 22 or 23, further comprising the steps of detecting a change in said time-difference estimate signal, and preventing said adaptive filters from updating the filter coefficients of said identified vector for a predetermined interval from the instant said change is detected.