Vehicle Audio Filter Using STFT and Beamformers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing audio filter systems in vehicles suffer from high white noise gain when using beamformers for interference cancellation, leading to residual interference signals and degraded application layer performance.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented method that processes multiple audio signals from a sensor array using short-time Fourier transform (STFT) and beamformers to generate output vectors, estimates noise variance, and determines a prior-signal-to-noise ratio (prior-SNR) to design an audio filter that enhances the target audio signal while attenuating interference signals.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If beamformers are used for interference cancellation, then spatial filtering is achieved, but white noise gain increases and residual interference signals remain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an auxiliary microphone array that captures reference interference signals, which serve as an intermediary to help the main beamformer better cancel interference. The reference array provides additional information about the interference environment, enabling more effective interference suppression without degrading noise reduction performance
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines outputs from multiple beamformers (main beamformer and auxiliary beamformers) to create a composite filtered output. This composite approach integrates multiple processing paths, leveraging the strengths of each to achieve better overall interference cancellation while maintaining noise reduction performance
2Measurement precision
If multiple audio signals are processed using STFT and beamformers, then output vectors are generated for each signal, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the audio processing task into separate segments: the main microphone array processes target speech signals through a main beamformer, while the auxiliary microphone array processes interference signals through auxiliary beamformers. This segmentation allows each processor to specialize in specific signal types, improving accuracy while managing complexity through functional division
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method executed by data processing hardware that causes the data processing hardware to perform operations to design an audio filter. The operations include receiving multiple audio signals from a sensor array, the multiple audio signals including a target audio signal and interference audio signals and leveraging the interference audio signals. The multiple audio signals are processed using short-time Fourier transform (STFT) for each of the multiple audio signals. The operations also include designing the audio filter using the determined prior-SNR and enhancing the target audio signal using the leveraged interference audio signals and the designed audio filter and attenuating the interference audio signals.