Multi-input noise suppression device, multi-input noise suppression method, program thereof, and integrated circuit thereof

• US 8,824,700 B2
• Filed: 07/26/2011
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Kanamori, Takeo, Yuzuriha, Shinichi, Banba, Yutaka, Terada, Yasuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): SING, SIMON P
• Application Number:
  US13/497,299
• Publication Number:
  US 20120177223A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,134 Days
• Field of Search: 381/94.2, 381/94.7
• US Class Current: 381/94.7
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2021/02165 Two microphones, one receiving mainly the noise signal and the other one mainly the speech signal
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/01 Noise reduction using microphones having different directional characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2410/05 Noise reduction with a separate noise microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2430/25 Array processing for suppression of unwanted side-lobes in directivity characteristics, e.g. a blocking matrix

Abstract

A power spectrum estimation unit (200) obtains an estimated sound power spectrum P_s(ω), based on a power spectrum P₁(ω) and on a first calculated value obtained by at least multiplying a power spectrum P₂(ω) by a weight coefficient A₂(ω). A coefficient update unit (300) updates the weight coefficient A₂(ω) and a weight coefficient A₁(ω) so that a second calculated value approximates to the power spectrum P₁(ω). The second calculated value is obtained by adding at least two values obtained by multiplying the power spectrum P₂(ω) and the estimated target sound power spectrum P_s(ω) by the weight coefficient A₂(ω) and the weight coefficient A₁(ω), respectively.

Claims

1. A multi-input noise suppression device which performs a process using a main signal and at least one noise reference signal, the main signal including a target sound component and a noise component, the noise reference signal including a noise component, and said multi-input noise suppression device comprising:

a power spectrum calculation unit configured to perform a calculation process to obtain a main power spectrum of the main signal and a reference power spectrum of the noise reference signal, after each expiration of a unit clock time corresponding to a unit of sound processing;

a power spectrum estimation unit configured to perform, every time the calculation process is performed, an estimation process to obtain an estimated target sound power spectrum that is assumed to be a power spectrum of a target sound, based on the main power spectrum and on a first calculated value obtained by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum by a first weight coefficient; and

a coefficient update unit configured to update, every time the estimation process is performed, the first weight coefficient and a second weight coefficient so that a second calculated value approximates to the main power spectrum, the second calculated value being obtained by adding at least two values obtained by multiplying the reference power spectrum and the estimated target sound power spectrum by the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient, respectively,

wherein said power spectrum estimation unit is configured to, in the estimation process, (i) obtain the estimated target power spectrum by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum calculated upon an expiration of a k+1^th unit clock time by the first weight coefficient updated by said coefficient update unit upon an expiration of a k^th unit clock time, and (ii) output the obtained estimated target power spectrum, k being an integer equal to or greater than 1.

2. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein said power spectrum estimation unit is configured to at least subtract the first calculated value from the main power spectrum to obtain the estimated target sound power spectrum that is different from a result obtained by simply subtracting the first calculated value from the main power spectrum.

3. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein said coefficient update unit is configured to update the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient according to a least mean square (LMS) method so that a difference between the main power spectrum and the second calculated value approximates to zero.

4. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein said coefficient update unit is configured to update the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient so that each of the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient is nonnegative.

5. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein said power spectrum estimation unit includes a filter calculation unit having a filter characteristic dependent on a difference between the main power spectrum and the first calculated value, and

said filter calculation unit is configured to obtain the estimated target sound power spectrum by filtering the main power spectrum using the filter characteristic.

6. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein said multi-input suppression device performs a process using a plurality of noise reference signals, and

one of a plurality of reference power spectrums respectively corresponding to the plurality of noise reference signals is a fixed value.

7. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein said power spectrum calculation unit is configured to calculate the main power spectrum and the reference power spectrum on a frame-by-frame basis, after each expiration of the unit clock time,

said power spectrum estimation unit is configured to obtain the estimated target sound power spectrum on a frame-by-frame basis, after each expiration of the unit clock time,

said coefficient update unit includes a time averaging unit configured to calculate a time average indicating an average per frame for each of the reference power spectrum and the estimated target sound power spectrum, and

said coefficient update unit is configured to update the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient so that the time average of the main power spectrum calculated by said time averaging unit approximates to a value dependent on a sum of the time average of the reference power spectrum and the time average of the estimated target sound power spectrum.

8. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1, further comprising

a target sound waveform extraction unit configured to estimate the power spectrum of the target sound using the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient updated by said coefficient update unit, and at least perform a transform to express the estimated power spectrum of the target sound in a time domain so as to extract a signal waveform of the target sound.

9. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a main microphone which has a sensitivity in a direction of an output source of the target sound and receives the main signal; and

a reference microphone which has a least or minimum sensitivity in the direction of the output source of the target sound and receives the noise reference signal.

10. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1,

wherein, whenever updating the first weight coefficient, said coefficient update unit is configured to output the updated first weight coefficient, and

said multi-input noise suppression device further comprises a storage unit configured to, every time the coefficient update unit outputs the first weight coefficient, store the first weight coefficient outputted most recently from said coefficient update unit.

11. The multi-input noise suppression device according to claim 1, further comprising

a determination unit configured to determine whether or not the number of updates performed by said coefficient update unit on the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient is a predetermined number of times or more,

wherein said power spectrum estimation unit is configured to perform the estimation process when said determination unit determines that the number of updates is smaller than the predetermined number of times, and

said coefficient update unit is configured to update the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient using the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient updated last time, when said determination unit determines that the number of updates is smaller than the predetermined number of times.

12. A multi-input noise suppression method for performing a process using a main signal and at least one noise reference signal, the main signal including a target sound component and a noise component, the noise reference signal including a noise component, and said multi-input noise suppression method comprising:

performing a calculation process to obtain a main power spectrum of the main signal and a reference power spectrum of the noise reference signal, after each expiration of a unit clock time corresponding to a unit of sound processing;

performing, every time the calculation process is performed, an estimation process to obtain an estimated target sound power spectrum that is assumed to be a power spectrum of a target sound, based on the main power spectrum and on a first calculated value obtained by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum by a first weight coefficient; and

updating, every time the estimation process is performed, the first weight coefficient and a second weight coefficient so that a second calculated value approximates to the main power spectrum, the second calculated value being obtained by adding at least two values obtained by multiplying the reference power spectrum and the estimated target sound power spectrum by the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient, respectively,

wherein, in said performing an estimation process, (i) the estimated target power spectrum is obtained by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum calculated upon an expiration of a k+1^th unit clock time by the first weight coefficient updated upon an expiration of a k^th unit clock time, and (ii) the obtained estimated target power spectrum is outputted, k being an integer equal to or greater than 1.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for use in a computer which performs a process using a main signal and at least one noise reference signal, the main signal including a target sound component and a noise component, the noise reference signal including a noise component, and the recording medium having a computer program recorded thereon for causing the computer to execute:

performing a calculation process to obtain a main power spectrum of the main signal and a reference power spectrum of the noise reference signal, after each expiration of a unit clock time corresponding to a unit of sound processing;

performing, every time the calculation process is performed, an estimation process to obtain an estimated target sound power spectrum that is assumed to be a power spectrum of a target sound, based on the main power spectrum and on a first calculated value obtained by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum by a first weight coefficient; and

updating, every time the estimation process is performed, the first weight coefficient and a second weight coefficient so that a second calculated value approximates to the main power spectrum, the second calculated value being obtained by adding at least two values obtained by multiplying the reference power spectrum and the estimated target sound power spectrum by the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient, respectively,

wherein, in said performing an estimation process, (i) the estimated target power spectrum is obtained by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum calculated upon an expiration of a k+1^th unit clock time by the first weight coefficient updated upon an expiration of a k^th unit clock time, and (ii) the obtained estimated target power spectrum is outputted, k being an integer equal to or greater than 1.

14. An integrated circuit which performs a process using a main signal and at least one noise reference signal, the main signal including a target sound component and a noise component, the noise reference signal including a noise component, and said integrated circuit comprising:

a power spectrum calculation unit configured to perform a calculation process to obtain a main power spectrum of the main signal and a reference power spectrum of the noise reference signal, after each expiration of a unit dock time corresponding to a unit of sound processing;

a power spectrum estimation unit configured to perform, every time the calculation process is performed, an estimation process to obtain an estimated target sound power spectrum that is assumed to be a power spectrum of a target sound, based on the main power spectrum and on a first calculated value obtained by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum by a first weight coefficient; and

a coefficient update unit configured to update, every time the estimation process is performed, the first weight coefficient and a second weight coefficient so that a second calculated value approximates to the main power spectrum, the second calculated value being obtained by adding at least two values obtained by multiplying the reference power spectrum and the estimated target sound power spectrum by the first weight coefficient and the second weight coefficient, respectively,

wherein said power spectrum estimation unit is configured to, in the estimation process, (i) obtain the estimated target power spectrum by at least multiplying the reference power spectrum calculated upon an expiration of a k+1^th unit clock time by the first weight coefficient updated by said coefficient update unit upon an expiration of a k^th unit clock time, and (ii) output the obtained estimated target power spectrum, k being an integer equal to or greater than 1.