Method and apparatus for removing noise signal from input signal

• US 8,615,075 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2010
• Issued: 12/24/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Sang-yoon
• Primary Examiner(s): SING, SIMON P
• Application Number:
  US12/977,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20110188641A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,097 Days
• Field of Search: 3794061-40616, 37939001-39003, 379/392.01, 381 711- 7114
• US Class Current: 379/392.01
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0232 Processing in the frequency domain
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/22 Arrangements for supervision, monitoring or testing
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method for removing a noise signal from an input signal that is received. In the method, the amount of energy of the input signal is detected, a noise signal included in the input signal is estimated, an intermediate output signal is generated by removing the estimated noise signal from the input signal, and a final output signal is generated by amplifying the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal based on a difference between the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal.

Claims

1. A method for removing a noise signal from an input signal, the method comprising:

detecting an amount of energy of the input signal;

removing the noise signal from the input signal, the input signal with the noise signal removed being an intermediate output signal; and

amplifying the intermediate output signal, based on a difference between an amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal, as a final output signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether an audio signal is included in the input signal,

wherein the detecting, the removing, and the amplifying are performed in response to determining that the audio signal is included in the input signal.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining of whether an audio signal is included in the input signal is performed using a Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the determining of whether an audio signal is included in the input signal is performed based on a frequency spectrum of the input signal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

estimating the noise signal included in the input signal, the noise signal being a first noise signal,

wherein the estimating is performed based on a second noise signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal are obtained by calculating a Root Mean Square (RMS) of each of the energy of the intermediate output signal and the energy of the input signal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the amplifying comprises:

detecting the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal;

calculating a difference between the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal;

determining whether the difference is equal to or greater than a predetermined value; and

amplifying the intermediate output signal based on the difference in response to determining that the difference is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, as the final output signal.

15. A computer readable recording medium storing a computer readable program for executing the method of claim 1.

8. An apparatus for removing a noise signal from an input signal, the apparatus comprising:

an input signal analyzer that detects an amount of energy of the input signal;

an intermediate output that removes the noise signal from the input signal, the input signal with the noise signal removed being an intermediate output signal; and

a final output generator that amplifies the intermediate output signal, based on a difference between an amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal, as a final output signal.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the input signal analyzer further determines whether an audio signal is included in the input signal, and

wherein the detecting the amount of energy of the input signal performed by the input signal analyzer, the detecting performed by the input signal analyzer, the removing performed by the intermediate output generator, and the amplifying performed by the final output generator are performed in response to determining that the audio signal is included in the input signal.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the input signal analyzer determines whether an audio signal is included in the input signal using a Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the input signal analyzer determines whether an audio signal is included in the input signal based on a frequency spectrum of the input signal.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the noise signal is a first noise signal, and

wherein the input signal analyzer estimates the noise signal included in the input signal based on a second noise signal.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal are obtained by calculating a Root Mean Square (RMS) of each of the energy of the intermediate output signal and the energy of the input signal.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the final output generator detects the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal, calculates a difference between the amount of energy of the intermediate output signal and the amount of energy of the input signal, determines whether the difference is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and amplifies the intermediate output signal based on the difference in response to determining that the difference is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, as the final output signal.

16. A method of generating an output voice signal from an input signal that omits a noise signal included in the input signal, the method comprising:

filtering the noise signal from the input signal;

amplifying the filtered input signal, based on a difference between an energy of the input signal and an energy of the filtered input signal, as the output voice signal.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the filtering comprises subtracting a frequency spectrum of the noise signal from a frequency spectrum of the input signal.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving the input signal; and

outputting the amplified filtered input signal as the output voice signal.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

estimating the noise signal included in the input signal, and

wherein the filtering comprises filtering the estimated noise signal from the input signal.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the noise signal is a first noise signal, and

wherein the estimating comprises:

detecting a second noise signal in a second input signal received prior to the receiving the input signal; and

estimating the noise signal to be the second noise signal.