Sound source direction detecting apparatus, sound source direction detecting method, and sound source direction detecting camera

1. A sound source direction detecting apparatus comprising:

a plurality of microphones configured to collect sounds from a sound source in order to form an audio frame;

a frequency decomposition section configured to decompose said audio frame into frequency components;

an error range determination section configured to determine the effects of noises collected together with said sounds as an error range relative to phases;

a power level dispersion section configured to disperse power levels of said sounds for each of the frequency components decomposed by said frequency decomposition section, on the basis of said error range determined by said error range determination section;

a power level addition section configured to add the power levels dispersed by said power level dispersion section; and

a sound source direction detection section configured to detect the direction of said sound source based on the phase at which is located the highest of the power levels added by said power level addition section.

2. A sound source direction detecting method comprising the steps of:

decomposing an audio frame formed by a plurality of microphones collecting sounds from a sound source, into frequency components at intervals of a predetermined unit time;

determining as an error range the effects of noises occurring around said sound source;

dispersing power levels determined for the frequency components decomposed in said frequency decomposing step on the basis of said error range determined in said error range determining step;

adding the dispersed power levels; and

detecting the phase at which is located the highest of the added power levels as the direction of said sound source.

3. A sound source direction detecting camera comprising:

a plurality of microphones configured to collect sounds from a sound source in order to form an audio frame;

a frequency decomposition section configured to decompose said audio frame into frequency components at intervals of a predetermined unit time;

an error range determination section configured to determine the effects of noises occurring around said sound source;

a power level dispersion section configured to disperse power levels determined for the frequency components decomposed by said frequency decomposition section on the basis of said error range determined by said error range determination section;

a power level addition section configured to add the power levels dispersed by said power level dispersion section; and

a sound source direction detection section configured to detect as the direction of said sound source the phase at which is located the highest of the power levels added by said power level addition section.

4. A sound source direction detecting method comprising the steps of:

decomposing a first audio frame formed by a plurality of microphones collecting sounds from a sound source, into frequency components at intervals of a predetermined unit time;

adding power levels determined for each of the decomposed frequency components;

detecting the direction of said sound source based on the phase at which the highest of the added power levels is located;

smoothing the added power levels;

storing the smoothed power levels; and

adding the smoothed power levels derived from said first audio frame, to the power levels determined for each of the frequency components in a second audio frame formed by said plurality of microphones collecting the sounds continuing from said first audio frame.

5. A sound source direction detecting camera comprising:

a plurality of microphones configured to collect sounds from a sound source in order to form a first audio frame;

a frequency decomposition section configured to decompose said first audio frame into frequency components at intervals of a predetermined unit time;

a power level addition section configured to add power levels determined for each of the frequency components decomposed by said frequency decomposition section;

a sound source direction detection section configured to detect the direction of said sound source based on the phase at which is located the highest of the power levels added by said power level addition section;

an additional power level smoothing section configured to smooth the power levels added by said power level addition section; and

a smoothed additional power level storage section configured to store the smoothed power levels;

wherein said power level addition section adds the power levels derived from said first audio frame and retrieved from said smoothed additional power level storage section, to the power levels determined for each of the frequency components in a second audio frame formed by said plurality of microphones collecting the sounds continuing from said first audio frame.

6. A sound source direction detecting apparatus comprising:

a plurality of microphones configured to collect sounds from a sound source in order to form a first audio frame;

a frequency decomposition section configured to decompose said first audio frame into frequency components;

a power level addition section configured to add power levels determined for each of the frequency components decomposed by said frequency decomposition section;

a sound source direction detection section configured to detect the direction of said sound source based on the phase at which is located the highest of the power levels added by said power level addition section;

an additional power level smoothing section configured to smooth the power levels added by said power level addition section; and

a smoothed additional power level storage section configured to store the smoothed power levels;

wherein said power level addition section adds the power levels derived from said first audio frame and retrieved from said smoothed additional power level storage section, to the power levels determined for each of the frequency components in a second audio frame formed by said plurality of microphones collecting the sounds continuing from said first audio frame.

7. The sound source direction detecting apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein said power level addition section multiplies the additional power levels determined for the frequency components decomposed from said first and said second audio frames, by a coefficient of confidence in order to make the direction of said sound source more accurate.

8. The sound source direction detecting apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein said power level addition section adds low power levels to frequency components having high audio power ratios as opposed to the frequency components with low audio power ratios regarding the sounds collected by said plurality of microphones.