Echo cancellation for channels with unknown time-varying gain

Abstract

After an initial training session, a 'Dynamic Echo Canceller' (DEC) provides echo cancellation where only access to an input signal and a composite output signal are available, and the input signal is subjected to an unknown variable gain function. In one embodiment, the DEC uses echo cancellation to provide a 'clean' copy of a second input signal where only a first input signal and a composite of the first and second input signal is available. An example is a “black box” amplifier coupled to a microphone and a phone line, with access to only the microphone input and a combined output signal where it is desired to retrieve a clean copy of a remote caller signal from the combined output. The DEC is applicable to many fields, including: signal separation; cancellation of echoes caused by impedance mismatches, periodic electrical noise, acoustic echoes caused by acoustic coupling, etc.