System and method for adaptive multi-sensor arrays

1. An adaptive differential microphone array method comprises:

receiving a signal;

estimating a measured signal spectral covariance matrix of the signal;

estimating a direction of arrival of the signal;

determining a presence of a source of interest in the signal based on the direction of arrival of the signal, a noise spectral covariance matrix of the signal, and a source signal spectral power of the signal;

estimating the noise spectral covariance matrix based on a determination of the presence of the source of interest and the measured signal spectral covariance matrix of the signal;

estimating a source signal spectral power of the signal according to the presence of the source of interest the noise spectral covariance matrix and the noise spectral covariance matrix; and

applying a differential microphone array filter to signal according to the direction of arrival, the noise spectral covariance matrix, and the source signal spectral power of the signal,

wherein the noise spectral covariance matrix is adapted based on the presence of the source of interest over time.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal is a sample.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a fractional delay; and

applying the fractional delay in the differential microphone array filter.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the two fractional delays further comprises determining (τ 1 ,τ 2 )=argmax d 1, d 2 I(d 1 ,d 2 ), wherein τ 1 ,τ 2 are optimized values of the signal corresponding to the signal received at the microphone array d 1 ,d 2 , and criterion I(d 1 ,d 2 ) is a generalization of a directivity index.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the differential microphone array filter suppresses directions including noise, amplifies directions including the source of interest, and determines an optimization for directions including both noise and the source of interest.

6. A digital processor for reducing a noise portion of a signal comprising:

means for estimating a measured signal spectral covariance matrix of the signal;

means for estimating a direction of arrival of the signal;

a voice activity detector outputting a signal indicating the presence of a source of interest in the signal;

means for estimating a noise spectral covariance matrix based on the signal indicating the presence of a source of interest in the signal and the measured signal spectral covariance matrix, and adapting the estimate of the noise spectral covariance matrix based on the presence of a source of interest in the signal at different frequencies;

means for estimating a source signal spectral power of the signal according to the noise spectral covariance matrix, and the measured signal spectral covariance matrix; and

a differential microphone array filter.

7. A program storage device readable by computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for an adaptive differential microphone array method, wherein said method steps comprising:

receiving a signal;

estimating a measured signal spectral covariance matrix of the signal;

estimating a direction of arrival of the signal;

determining a presence of a source of interest in the signal based on the direction of arrival of the signal, a noise spectral covariance matrix of the signal, and a source signal spectral power of the signal;

estimating the noise spectral covariance matrix based on a determination of the presence of the source of interest and the measured signal spectral covariance matrix of the signal;

estimating a source signal spectral power of the signal according to the presence of the source of interest the noise spectral covariance matrix and the noise spectral covariance matrix; and

applying a differential microphone array filter to signal according to the direction of arrival, the noise spectral covariance matrix, and the source signal spectral power of the signal.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the signal is a sample.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

determining a fractional delay; and

applying the fractional delay in the differential microphone array filter.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining the two fractional delays further comprises determining (τ 1 ,τ 2 )=argmax d 1, d 2 I(d 1 ,d 2 ), wherein τ 1 ,τ 2 are optimized values of the signal corresponding to the signal received at the microphone array d 1 ,d 2 , and criterion I(d 1 ,d 2 ) is a generalization of a directivity index.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein the differential microphone array filter suppresses directions including noise, amplifies directions including the source of interest, and determines an optimization for directions including both noise and the source of interest.