Communication Support System

Abstract

To provide a "vehicle indoor communication support system" that prevents occurrence of howling in a comparatively simple configuration.SOLUTION: A noise canceling adaptive filter 31 outputs, from a front seat speaker 21, a noise canceling sound generated by applying a transfer function X(z) adapted by an adaptive operation using an output of a front seat microphone 22 as an error to an output sound of a sound source apparatus 13. An output of the front seat microphone 22 is added to an output of a howling canceling filter 32 by a second adder 35, added to an output sound of the sound source apparatus 13 by a third adder 36, and output from a rear seat speaker 11. The howling canceling filter 32 applies a transfer function X'(z) and a transfer function C^(z) on an output of the second adder 35 and outputs a resultant. The transfer function C^(z) corresponds to a transfer function C(z) from the front seat speaker 21 to the front seat microphone 22. In synchronization control, the transfer function X(z) is set as the transfer function X'(z).SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for supporting communication by speech between users in different areas. [Background technology]

[0002] A known technology for supporting speech-based communication between users in different areas involves using a microphone to pick up the speech of a user seated in the first seat of a car, adjusting the gain so that the speech can be clearly heard by a user in the second seat, and synthesizing the speech with output sounds such as music output by an audio device and outputting it from a speaker (for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Another technology for supporting speech-based communication inside a vehicle is a system that supports conversations between a user in a first area and a user in a second area by outputting the user's voice picked up by a microphone 41 in a first area from a speaker 43 in a second area and outputting the user's voice picked up by a microphone 44 in the second area from a speaker 42 in the first area, as shown in FIG. 4a. In this system, an echo cancellation technology is also known that uses an adaptive filter 45 to generate a cancellation sound that cancels the echo, and adds the cancellation sound to the output of the microphone 44 in the second area using an adder 46, thereby canceling the echo that has leaked from the speaker 43 in the second area to the microphone 44 in the second area (for example, Patent Document 2).

[0004] In this system, in the adaptive filter 45, the filter coefficient of the variable filter 451 that generates cancellation sound from the output of the microphone 41 in the first area is updated by a coefficient update unit 452 using an adaptive algorithm such as an LMS algorithm, with the output of the adder 46 as the error and the output of the microphone 41 in the first area as the reference signal, so that the error is minimized.

[0005] Also, as shown in FIG. 4b, there is known an active noise control technology in which, when a sound such as music is output from a sound source device 51 for a user in a first area to a speaker 52 for the user in the first area, the sound is treated as noise for a user in a second area, and a noise-canceling sound that cancels the noise is emitted from a speaker 54 in the second area (for example, Patent Document 3).

[0006] This active noise control technology uses an error microphone 55 placed in the second area and an adaptive filter 53. The adaptive filter is equipped with an estimation filter 531 that receives as input the output of sound source device 51 and has a transfer function C^(z) estimated as the transfer function C(z) from speaker 54 in the second area to error microphone 55, a variable filter 532 that generates noise-canceled sound from the output of sound source device 51, and a coefficient update unit 533, whereby coefficient update unit 533 uses the output of error microphone 55 as an error and the output of estimation filter 531 as a reference signal to perform an adaptive algorithm and update the filter coefficients of variable filter 532 that generates noise-canceled sound so as to minimize the error. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0007] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-51392 [Patent Document 2] JP 2010-16564 A [Patent Document 3] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-163054 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0008] In a system that supports in-car speech communication by outputting the user's voice picked up by a microphone in a first area from a speaker in a second area, and outputting the user's voice picked up by a microphone in the second area from a speaker in the first area, if the microphone in one area and the speaker in the other area that outputs the voice picked up by the microphone are located close to each other, the output sound from the speaker in the other area may be transmitted to the microphone in one area, causing feedback.

[0009] Therefore, it is conceivable to prevent the occurrence of howling by using an adaptive filter to cancel the output sound from the speaker in one area that has reached the microphone in the other area. However, when performing the above-mentioned active noise control or echo cancellation in this system, an adaptive filter for preventing feedback is required in addition to the adaptive filter for active noise control or echo cancellation, which leads to an excessive increase in the system size and processing volume. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to prevent the occurrence of howling in a relatively simple configuration in a communication support system that supports communication by speech between users in different areas. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a communication support system for supporting speech-based communication between a user in a first area and a user in a second area, the system including a sound source device, a first area speaker disposed in the first area to which a sound source output sound signal (sound output from the sound source device) is applied, a second area speaker disposed in the second area, a second area microphone disposed in the second area, and a signal processing device. The signal processing device includes a noise cancellation adaptive filter for generating a noise-canceling sound signal to be applied to the second area speaker, a feedback cancellation unit for generating a second area speech sound signal to be added to the sound source output sound signal and applied to the first area speaker, and a transfer function update processing unit. The noise cancellation adaptive filter generates the noise-canceling sound signal by applying a transfer function X(z) adapted by an adaptive operation in which a second area sound signal (sound signal picked up by the second area microphone) is treated as an error to the sound source output sound signal. The feedback cancellation unit includes a first filter, a second filter that receives an output from the first filter as input, and an adder that adds the second area sound signal and the output of the second filter and outputs the result as the second area speech sound signal, the first filter receives an output from the adder as input, and the second filter has a transfer function set thereto that is equivalent to a transfer function C(z) from the second area speaker to the second area microphone. The transfer function update processing unit updates the transfer function of the first filter so that the noise cancellation adaptive filter becomes the same as the transfer function X(z) adapted by the adaptive operation.

[0011] Here, such a communication support system may be provided with a first area microphone, which is a microphone placed in a first area, and the first area sound signal, which is a sound signal picked up by the first area microphone, may be added to the noise cancellation sound signal and applied to the second area speaker.

[0012] Furthermore, the above-described communication support system may be configured so that the noise cancellation adaptive filter adapts the transfer function X(z) by an adaptive operation using a Filtered-X LMS algorithm in which a signal obtained by applying a transfer function equivalent to the transfer function C(z) to a sound source output sound signal is used as a reference signal, and the second area sound signal is used as an error.

[0013] To achieve the above object, the present invention provides a communication support system for supporting speech-based communication between a user in a first area and a user in a second area, the system including: a sound source device; a first area speaker that is a speaker arranged in the first area to which a sound source output sound signal that is sound output from the sound source device is applied; a first area microphone that is a microphone arranged in the first area; a second area speaker that is a speaker arranged in the second area to which a first area sound signal that is a sound signal picked up by the first area microphone is applied; a second area microphone that is a microphone arranged in the second area; and a signal processing device. The signal processing device includes a noise cancellation adaptive filter that is added to the first area sound signal to generate a noise cancellation sound signal that is applied to the second area speaker, an echo cancellation unit, a feedback cancellation unit that is added to the sound source output sound signal to generate a second area speech sound signal that is applied to the first area speaker, a reference signal generation filter that receives the sound source output sound signal as an input; and a transfer function update processing unit. The echo cancellation unit also includes an echo cancellation adaptive filter that receives the first area sound signal as input, and an echo cancellation adder that adds and outputs an echo cancellation sound signal that is the output of the echo cancellation adaptive filter to an output of a second area sound signal that is a sound signal picked up by the second area microphone, and the echo cancellation adaptive filter, and the echo cancellation adaptive filter generates the echo cancellation sound signal by applying a transfer function Q(z) that has been adapted by an adaptive operation that uses the output of the echo cancellation adder as an error to the first area sound signal. The reference signal generation filter also shares the transfer function Q(z) of the echo cancellation adaptive filter as its transfer function, and the noise cancellation adaptive filter generates the noise cancellation sound signal by applying a transfer function X(z) that has been adapted by an adaptive operation based on a Filtered-X LMS algorithm that uses the output of the echo cancellation adder as an error and the output of the reference signal generation filter as a reference signal to the sound source output sound signal.The feedback cancellation unit includes a first filter, a second filter that receives as input the output of the first filter, and a feedback cancellation adder that adds the output of the echo cancellation adder and the output of the second filter and outputs the result as the second area speech sound signal, and the first filter receives as input the output of the feedback cancellation adder. The transfer function update processing unit updates the transfer function of the first filter so that the noise cancellation adaptive filter becomes the same as the transfer function X(z) adapted by the adaptive operation, and updates the transfer function of the second filter so that the echo cancellation adaptive filter becomes the same as the transfer function Q(z) adapted by the adaptive operation.

[0014] Here, the communication support system may be configured so that the echo cancellation adaptive filter adapts the transfer function Q(z) by an adaptive operation using an LMS algorithm with the first area sound signal as a reference signal and the output of the echo cancellation adder as an error.

[0015] In each of the above communication support systems, the first area and the second area may be areas in an automobile in which the seats are different from each other. According to the communication support system described above, by reusing the transfer function of an adaptive filter for noise cancellation that cancels the output sound of the sound source device output from the first area speaker in the second area, and an adaptive filter that cancels the echo of the speech of the user in the first area that has been transmitted from the second area speaker to the second area microphone, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of howling caused by the speech of the user in the second area that has been transmitted from the first area speaker to the second area microphone without providing a dedicated adaptive filter. [Effects of the Invention]

[0016] As described above, according to the present invention, in a communication support system that supports communication by speech between users in different areas, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of howling with a relatively simple configuration. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an in-vehicle system according to an embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 2] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a signal processing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a signal processing device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates known echo cancellation and active noise control techniques. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described taking as an example an application to an in-vehicle system that supports speech-based communication between the front and rear seats of an automobile. First, the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 1a shows the configuration of an in-vehicle system according to the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, the in-vehicle system includes a rear seat speaker 11 which is a speaker for users in the rear seat area within the vehicle cabin, a rear seat microphone 12 which is a microphone for users in the rear seat area, a sound source device 13 for users in the rear seat area, a front seat speaker 21 which is a speaker for users in the front seat area within the vehicle cabin, a front seat microphone 22 which is a microphone for users in the front seat area, and a signal processing device 3 to which the above components are connected.

[0019] The signal processing device 3 supports communication by conversation between the user in the rear seat area and the user in the front seat area by outputting the voice of the user in the rear seat area picked up by the rear seat microphone 12 in the rear seat area to the front seat speaker 21 in the front seat area, and outputting the voice of the user in the front seat area picked up by the front seat microphone 22 in the front seat area to the rear seat speaker 11 in the rear seat area.

[0020] 1b, the rear seat area is, for example, the area of ​​the seat behind the driver's seat of a car, and rear seat speaker 11 and rear seat microphone 12 are arranged in the rear seat area. Also, the front seat area is, for example, the area of ​​the driver's seat of a car, and front seat speaker 21 and front seat microphone 22 are arranged in the front seat area.

[0021] As shown in the figure, the rear seat speaker 11 and the front seat microphone 22 are located relatively close to each other, and the signal processing device 3 cancels the output sound of the rear seat speaker 11 that has reached the front seat microphone 22, thereby preventing feedback caused by the output sound of the rear seat speaker 11 reaching the front seat microphone 22.

[0022] Furthermore, the signal processing device 3 outputs the output sound of the sound source device 13 to the rear seat speaker 11 in the rear seat area, and outputs a noise canceling sound from the front seat speaker 21 in the front seat area that cancels the output sound of the sound source device 13 output from the rear seat speaker 11 at the position of the user in the front seat area, thereby preventing the user in the front seat area from being annoyed by the output sound of the sound source device 13 that the user in the rear seat area is listening to.

[0023] Next, the configuration of the signal processing device 3 is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the signal processing device 3 includes a noise cancellation adaptive filter 31, a howling cancellation filter 32, a first adder 34, a second adder 35, a third adder 36, and a synchronization control unit 37. The output of rear seat microphone 12 is sent to first adder 34, where it is added to the noise-canceled sound output by noise-canceling adaptive filter 31 and output from front seat speaker 21. The output of the front seat microphone 22 is sent to the second adder 35, where the output of the howling cancellation filter 32 is added, and then sent to the third adder 36, where it is added to the output of the sound source device 13 and output to the rear seat speaker 11. Next, the noise cancellation adaptive filter 31 includes a noise cancellation variable filter 311 , a noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 312 , and a reference signal generation filter 313 . The noise canceling variable filter 311 receives the output of the sound source device 13 as an input, and outputs the output to the first adder 34 as a noise-canceled sound. The reference signal generating filter 313 is preset with a transfer function C^(z) that is the same as the transfer function C(z) from the front seat speaker 21 to the front seat microphone 22, and applies the transfer function C^(Z) to the output of the sound source device 13 and outputs it to the noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 312 as a reference signal r(z).

[0024] The output of reference signal generation filter 313 is input as reference signal r(z), and the output of front seat microphone 22 is input as error e(z) to noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 312. The echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit performs an adaptive operation to update transfer function X(z) of noise cancellation variable filter 311 in accordance with the Filtered-X LMS algorithm so that the power of error e(z) is minimized.

[0025] More specifically, the sound cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit calculates, for example, in the following equation, where X(n) is the transfer function of the noise cancellation variable filter at time point n, μ is the step size parameter, e(n) is the output of the front seat microphone 22 at time point n, and r(n) is the reference signal at time point n output from the reference signal generation filter 313: X(n+1)=X(n)+μe(n)r(n) The transfer function X(n) of the noise cancellation variable filter 311 is updated by the above.

[0026] When only the output sound of sound source device 13 is output from rear seat speaker 11 and only the output sound of rear seat speaker 11 is picked up by front seat microphone 22, the transfer function from rear seat speaker 11 to front seat microphone 22 is represented as V(z): X(z)=-V(z)C(z) -1 As shown by the fact that e(z)=0 when -1 converges to.

[0027] Next, the howling cancellation filter 32 includes a first filter 321 and a second filter 322. The output of the front seat microphone 22 is added to the output of the howling cancellation filter 32 in the second adder 35, and the output of the second adder 35 becomes the input to the howling cancellation filter 32. The output of the second adder 35 passes through the first filter 321 and the second filter 322 and becomes the output of the howling cancellation filter 32.

[0028] The transfer function X′(z) of first filter 321 is set to the same transfer function as transfer function X(z) of noise canceling variable filter 311. The setting of the transfer function X'(z) of this first filter 321 is performed by the synchronization control unit 37 by updating the transfer function X'(z) of the first filter 321 as needed to the same transfer function as the transfer function X(z) of the noise canceling variable filter 311. Next, the second filter 322 is set with a transfer function C^(z) that is the same as the transfer function C(z) obtained in advance. Therefore, if the output of the second adder 35 is y(z), the output of the rear seat speaker 11 is h(z), and the speech of the user in the front seat area picked up by the front seat microphone 22 is s(z), then: The output sound of the rear seat speaker 11 that wraps around to the front seat microphone 22 is h(z)V(z), so when there is no wraparound from the front seat speaker 21 to the front seat microphone 22, the output of the front seat microphone 22 is s(z)+h(z)V(z).

[0029] Furthermore, since the output of the feedback cancellation filter 32 is y(z)X'(z)C^(z), the output y(z) of the second adder 35 is y(z)=s(z)+h(z)V(z)+y(z)X'(z)C^(z) This becomes:

[0030] C^(z)=C(z) X'(z)=X(z)=-V(z)C(z) -1 Therefore, y(z)=s(z)+h(z)V(z)+y(z){-V(z)C(z) -1 C^(z)} =s(z)+h(z)V(z)+y(z){-V(z)} =s(z)+{h(z)-y(z)}V(z) When h(z)=y(z), y(z)=s(z), and the output sound h(z)V(z) from the rear seat speaker 11 that is routed to the front seat microphone 22 and causes howling is canceled.

[0031] When there is no output sound from sound source device 13, h(z) = y(z), as shown by the fact that, by the action of feedback cancellation filter 32 and second adder 35, the component of output sound h(z)V(z) from rear seat speaker 11 that has reached front seat microphone 22 is cancelled from the output of front seat microphone 22, thereby suppressing the occurrence of feedback.

[0032] The first embodiment of the present invention has been described above. Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the second embodiment, in addition to the functions of the signal processing device 3 of the first embodiment, the signal processing device 3 is equipped with a function to cancel the echo of speech in the rear seat area output from the front seat speaker 21 that has reached the front seat microphone 22, and only a part of the configuration of the signal processing device 3 differs from that of the first embodiment.

[0033] FIG. 3 shows the configuration of a signal processing device 3 according to the second embodiment. The following describes the differences between the signal processing device 3 according to the second embodiment and the signal processing device 3 according to the first embodiment. As shown in the figure, the signal processing device 3 according to the second embodiment includes an echo cancellation adaptive filter 33 and a subtractor 38 as components for echo cancellation. Echo cancellation adaptive filter 33 includes echo cancellation variable filter 331 and echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 332. Echo cancellation variable filter 331 is a two-channel variable filter equipped with two signal processing systems, and the same transfer function is set for each channel by echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 332. In other words, echo cancellation variable filter 331 is equivalent to two variable filters for which the same transfer function is set by echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 332.

[0034] The first channel of echo cancellation variable filter 331 receives the output of rear seat microphone 12 as input, and the output of the first channel is output as echo-canceled sound to subtractor 38. The second channel of echo cancellation variable filter 331 receives the output of sound source device 13 as input, and the output of the second channel is output to noise cancellation adaptive filter 31.

[0035] The subtractor 38 subtracts the echo-canceled sound output from the first channel of the echo-canceling variable filter 331 from the output of the rear seat microphone 12 and outputs the result. The echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 332 uses the output of the subtractor 38 as the error eE(z) and the output of the rear seat microphone 12 as the reference signal rE(z), and updates the transfer function Q(z) of the first channel of the echo cancellation variable filter 331 using an LMS algorithm or the like so that the power of the error eE(z) is minimized. In addition, the transfer function Q(z) of the first channel is also used as the transfer function of the second channel, and as the transfer function Q(z) of the first channel is updated, the transfer function of the second channel is also updated so that it becomes equal to the transfer function Q(z) of the first channel.

[0036] Therefore, the echo-canceled sound output from the first channel of the echo cancellation variable filter 331 is a sound in which the echo, which is the output sound component of the rear seat microphone 12 contained in the output of the front seat microphone 22, is cancelled by the subtraction of the subtractor 38. Here, if the output of the rear seat microphone 12 is M(z), the error eE(z) related to M(z) output from the subtractor 38 to the echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 332 is given by: eE(z)=M(z)C(z)-M(z)Q(z) Since it is expressed as When the transfer functions of the first and second channels of the echo cancellation variable filters converge so that eE(z)=0 by the operation of the echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 332,

[0037] eE(z)=M(z)C(z)-M(z)Q(z)=0 Q(z)=C(z) This becomes: The output of the subtractor 38 is output from the rear seat speaker 11 via the second adder 35 and the third adder 36. The output of the subtractor 38 is also output to the noise cancellation adaptive filter 31. Next, the noise cancellation adaptive filter 31 according to the second embodiment has a configuration in which the reference signal generation filter 313 is eliminated from the noise cancellation adaptive filter 31 according to the first embodiment shown in Fig. 2, and the second channel signal of the echo cancellation variable filter 331 is input as the reference signal r(z) to the noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 312 instead of the output of the reference signal generation filter 313. Furthermore, whereas the output of the front seat microphone 22 was used as the error e(z) in the first embodiment, the noise cancellation adaptive filter 31 according to the second embodiment now inputs the output of the subtractor 38, i.e., the sound obtained by canceling the echo of the speech of the user in the rear seat area from the output of the front seat microphone 22, as the error e(z) to the noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 312.

[0038] As described above, the second channel of the echo cancellation variable filter 331 receives the output of the sound source device 13 as input, and its transfer function Q(z) is Q(z)=C(z), so the reference signal r(z) input to the noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit 312 is the same as in the first embodiment. In addition, the speech of the user in the rear seat area, which is canceled as an echo by the subtractor 38, is uncorrelated with the output sound of the sound source device 13.

[0039] Therefore, the transfer function X(z) of the noise cancellation variable filter 311 is X(z)=-V(z)C(z) as in the first embodiment. -1 A noise cancellation sound that cancels the output sound of the sound source device 13 output from the rear seat speaker 11 at the position of the user in the front seat area is generated by the noise cancellation variable filter 311, and is output from the front seat speaker 21 in the front seat area via the first adder 34.

[0040] Next, in the second embodiment, the output of the front seat microphone 22 is input to the second adder 35, whereas in the first embodiment, the output of the subtractor 38, i.e., the audio from the output of the front seat microphone 22 with the echo of the speech of the user in the rear seat area cancelled, is input to the second adder 35.

[0041] That is, the output of the subtractor 38 is added to the output of the feedback cancellation filter 32 in the second adder 35, the output of the second adder 35 becomes the input of the feedback cancellation filter 32, and the output of the second adder 35 passes through the first filter 321 and the second filter 322 to become the output of the feedback cancellation filter 32. In addition, the output of the second adder 35 is added to the output of the sound source device 13 in the third adder 36 and is output to the rear seat speakers 11.

[0042] Furthermore, in the second embodiment, synchronization control unit 37 updates transfer function X'(z) of first filter 321 to the same transfer function as transfer function X(z) of noise cancellation variable filter 311 as needed, and updates transfer function Q'(z) of second filter 322 to the same transfer function as transfer function Q(z) of echo cancellation variable filter 331 as needed.

[0043] Here, as described above, the transfer function Q(z) of the echo cancellation variable filter 331 is Q(z)=C(z), and the transfer function X(z) of the noise cancellation variable filter 311 is X(z)=-V(z)C(z). -1 Therefore, in the second embodiment as well, the same transfer functions as those in the first embodiment are set in the first filter 321 and the second filter 322, thereby suppressing the occurrence of howling.

[0044] The embodiments of the present invention have been described above. As described above, according to this embodiment, by utilizing the transfer function of an adaptive filter for noise cancellation or echo cancellation, howling can be canceled without providing a dedicated adaptive filter. Incidentally, the second embodiment described above may be configured by adding to the signal processing device 3 a configuration that cancels echoes that have traveled from the front seat speaker 21 to the front seat microphone 22 as described above, and a configuration that is symmetrical between the rear seat area and the front seat area, so that the audio picked up by the rear seat microphone 12 in the rear seat area can be output to the front seat speaker 21 after canceling echoes that have traveled from the rear seat speaker 11 to the rear seat microphone 12.

[0045] Furthermore, the first and second embodiments described above may be configured to provide a second sound source device for a user in the front seat area, and the signal processing device 3 may be configured to output the output sound of the sound source device 13 of the signal processing device 3 described above to the rear seat speaker 11, and output a noise-canceling sound from the front seat speaker 21 that cancels the output sound of the sound source device 13 output from the rear seat speaker 11 at the user's position in the front seat area. Alternatively, by adding a symmetrical configuration to the signal processing device 3 for the front and rear seat areas, the output sound of the second sound source device may be output to the front seat speaker 21, and a noise-canceling sound that cancels the output sound of the sound source device 13 output from the front seat speaker 21 at the user's position in the rear seat area may be output from the rear seat speaker 11.

[0046] Furthermore, in the first and second embodiments described above, by adding to the signal processing device 3 a configuration that cancels feedback caused by feedback from the rear seat speaker 11 to the front seat microphone 22 as described above, and a configuration that is symmetrical between the rear seat area and the front seat area, it is possible to cancel feedback caused by feedback from the front seat speaker 21 to the rear seat microphone 12.

[0047] Furthermore, although the above embodiments have been described using the example of application to supporting communication through speech between the front and rear seats, the above embodiments can also be applied to supporting communication through speech between seats for any combination of seats other than the front and rear seats.

[0048] Furthermore, although the above description has been given taking as an example an application to supporting communication through speech inside a car, each of the above embodiments can also be applied in the same way to cases where each area is outside a car. Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, the number of areas is two, but this embodiment may be expanded to accommodate three or more areas. [Explanation of symbols]

[0049] 3...signal processing device, 11...rear seat speaker, 12...rear seat microphone, 13...sound source device, 21...front seat speaker, 22...front seat microphone, 31...noise cancellation adaptive filter, 32...feedback cancellation filter, 33...echo cancellation adaptive filter, 34...first adder, 35...second adder, 36...third adder, 37...synchronization control unit, 38...subtractor, 311...noise cancellation variable filter, 312...noise cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit, 313...reference signal generation filter, 321...first filter, 322...second filter, 331...echo cancellation variable filter, 332...echo cancellation adaptive algorithm execution unit.

Claims

1. A communication support system that supports speech communication between a user in a first area and a user in a second area, comprising: A sound source device; a first area speaker that is a speaker disposed in a first area to which a sound source output sound signal that is a sound output by a sound source device is applied; a second area speaker that is a speaker arranged in the second area; a second area microphone that is a microphone arranged in a second area; a signal processing device; The signal processing device includes: a noise cancellation adaptive filter that generates a noise cancellation sound signal to be applied to the second area speaker; a howling cancellation unit that generates a second area speech sound signal that is added to the sound source output sound signal and applied to the first area speaker; a transfer function update processing unit; the noise cancellation adaptive filter applies a transfer function X(z) adapted by an adaptive operation that treats a second area sound signal, which is a sound signal picked up by the second area microphone, as an error to the sound source output sound signal to generate the noise cancellation sound signal; the howling cancellation unit includes a first filter, a second filter that receives an output of the first filter as an input, and an adder that adds the second area sound signal and the output of the second filter and outputs the result as the second area speech sound signal, the first filter receives the output of the adder as an input; a transfer function equivalent to a transfer function C(z) from the second area speaker to the second area microphone is set in the second filter; a transfer function update processing unit that updates the transfer function of the first filter so that the noise cancellation adaptive filter becomes the same as the transfer function X(z) adapted by the adaptive operation.

2. 2. The communication support system according to claim 1, a first area microphone that is a microphone arranged in a first area; A communication support system, characterized in that a first area sound signal, which is a sound signal picked up by the first area microphone, is added to the noise cancellation sound signal and applied to the second area speaker.

3. 3. The communication support system according to claim 1, the noise cancellation adaptive filter uses a signal obtained by applying a transfer function equivalent to the transfer function C(z) to the sound source output sound signal as a reference signal, and adapts the transfer function X(z) by an adaptive operation using a Filtered-X LMS algorithm that uses the second area sound signal as an error.

4. A communication support system that supports speech communication between a user in a first area and a user in a second area, comprising: A sound source device; a first area speaker that is a speaker disposed in a first area to which a sound source output sound signal that is a sound output by a sound source device is applied; a first area microphone that is a microphone placed in a first area; a second area speaker that is a speaker disposed in a second area and to which a first area sound signal that is a sound signal picked up by the first area microphone is applied; a second area microphone that is a microphone arranged in a second area; a signal processing device; The signal processing device includes: a noise cancellation adaptive filter that is added to the first area sound signal to generate a noise cancellation sound signal that is applied to the second area speaker; an echo cancellation unit; a howling cancellation unit that generates a second area speech sound signal that is added to the sound source output sound signal and applied to the first area speaker; a reference signal generating filter that receives the sound source output sound signal as an input; a transfer function update processing unit; The echo cancellation unit an echo cancellation adaptive filter that receives the first area sound signal as an input; and an echo cancellation adder that adds an output of a second area sound signal that is a sound signal picked up by the second area microphone and an echo cancellation sound signal that is an output of the echo cancellation adaptive filter and outputs the resultant signal; the echo cancellation adaptive filter applies a transfer function Q(z) adapted by an adaptive operation using the output of the echo cancellation adder as an error to the first area sound signal to generate the echo cancellation sound signal; the reference signal generating filter shares the transfer function Q(z) of the echo cancellation adaptive filter as the transfer function of the reference signal generating filter; the noise cancellation adaptive filter applies a transfer function X(z) adapted by an adaptive operation using a Filtered-X LMS algorithm, which uses the output of the echo cancellation adder as an error and the output of the reference signal generation filter as a reference signal, to the sound source output sound signal to generate the noise-canceled sound signal; the howling cancellation unit includes a first filter, a second filter that receives an output from the first filter as an input, and a howling cancellation adder that adds an output from the echo cancellation adder and an output from the second filter and outputs the result as the second area speech sound signal; the first filter receives the output of the feedback cancellation adder as an input; a transfer function update processor that updates the transfer function of the first filter so that the noise cancellation adaptive filter has the same transfer function as the transfer function X(z) adapted by the adaptive operation, and that updates the transfer function of the second filter so that the echo cancellation adaptive filter has the same transfer function as the transfer function Q(z) adapted by the adaptive operation.

5. 5. The communication support system according to claim 4, a communication support system, wherein the echo cancellation adaptive filter adapts the transfer function Q(z) by an adaptive operation using an LMS algorithm that uses the first area sound signal as a reference signal and an output of the echo cancellation adder as an error.

6. 6. A communication support system according to claim 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5, A communication support system characterized in that the first area and the second area are areas in an automobile in which the seats are different from each other.

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