Interference suppression techniques
First Claim
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1. A method, comprising:
- detecting acoustic excitation with a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
establishing a number of frequency domain components for each of the sensor signals; and
determining an output signal representative of the acoustic excitation from a designated direction, said determining including weighting the components for each of the sensor signals to reduce variance of the output signal and provide a predefined gain of the acoustic excitation from the designated direction.
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Abstract
System (10) is disclosed including an acoustic sensor array (20) coupled to processor (42). System (10) processes inputs from array (20) to extract a desired acoustic signal through the suppression of interfering signals. The extraction/suppression is performed by modifying the array (20) inputs in the frequency domain with weights selected to minimize variance of the resulting output signal while maintaining unity gain of signals received in the direction of the desired acoustic signal. System (10) may be utilized in hearing aids, voice input devices, surveillance devices, and other applications.
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Citations
58 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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detecting acoustic excitation with a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
establishing a number of frequency domain components for each of the sensor signals; and
determining an output signal representative of the acoustic excitation from a designated direction, said determining including weighting the components for each of the sensor signals to reduce variance of the output signal and provide a predefined gain of the acoustic excitation from the designated direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method, comprising:
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operating a hearing aid including a number of acoustic sensors in the presence of multiple acoustic sources, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
monitoring a selected one of the acoustic sources;
determining a set of frequency components for each of the sensor signals; and
generating an output signal representative of the selected one of the acoustic sources, the output signal being a weighted combination of the set of frequency components for each of the sensor signals calculated to minimize variance of the output signal. - View Dependent Claims (14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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15. A method, comprising:
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operating a voice input device including a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
determining a set of frequency components for each of the sensor signals; and
generating an output signal representative of acoustic excitation from a designated direction, the output signal being a weighted combination of the set of frequency components for each of the sensor signals calculated to minimize variance of the output signal. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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22. A method, comprising:
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operating a hearing aid including a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
selecting a direction to monitor for acoustic excitation with the hearing aid;
determining a set of signal transform components for each of the sensor signals;
calculating a number of weight values as a function of a correlation of the signal transform components, an adjustment factor, and the direction; and
weighting the signal transform components with the weight values to provide an output signal representative of the acoustic excitation emanating from the direction. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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27. A method, comprising:
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operating a hearing aid including a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
providing a set of signal transform components for each of the sensor signals;
calculating a number of weight values as a function of a correlation of the transform components for each of a number different frequencies, said calculating including applying a first beamwidth control value for a first one of the frequencies and a second beamwidth control value for a second one of the frequencies different than the first beamwidth control value; and
weighting the signal transform components with the weight values to provide an output signal. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A method, comprising:
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operating a hearing aid including a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
providing a first plurality of signal transform components for the sensor signals;
calculating a first set of weight values as a function of a first correlation of the first signal transform components corresponding to a first correlation length;
providing a second plurality of signal transform components for the sensor signals;
calculating a second set of weight values as a function of a second correlation of the second signal transform components corresponding to a second correlation length different that the first correlation length; and
generating an output signal as a function of the first weight values and the second weight values. - View Dependent Claims (31)
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37. A method comprising:
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detecting acoustic excitation with a number of acoustic sensors, the acoustic sensors providing a corresponding number of sensor signals;
establishing a set of signal transform components for each of the sensor signals;
tracking location of a source of the acoustic excitation relative to a reference as a function of the transform components; and
providing an output signal as a function of the location and a correlation of the transform components. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. An apparatus, comprising:
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an acoustic sensor array operable to detect acoustic excitation, said acoustic sensor array including two or more acoustic sensors each operable to provide a respective one of a number of sensor signals; and
a processor operable to determine a set of frequency components for each of said sensor signals and generate an output signal representative of the acoustic excitation from a designated direction, said output signal being calculated from a weighted combination of said set of frequency components for each of said sensor signals to reduce variance of said output signal subject to a gain constraint for the acoustic excitation from said designated direction. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58)
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50. An apparatus, comprising:
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a first acoustic sensor operable to provide a first sensor signal;
a second acoustic sensor operable to provide a second sensor signal;
a processor operable to generate an output signal representative of acoustic excitation detected with said first acoustic sensor and said second acoustic sensor from a designated direction, said processor including;
means for transforming said first sensor signal to a first number of frequency domain transform components and said second sensor signal to a second number of frequency domain transform components, means for weighting said first transform components to provide a corresponding number of first weighted components and said second transform components to provide a corresponding number of second weighted components as a function of variance of said output signal and a gain constraint for the acoustic excitation from said designated direction, means for combining each of said first weighted components with a corresponding one of said second weighted components to provide a frequency domain form of said output signal; and
means for providing a time domain form of said output signal from said frequency domain form.
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Specification