# US 12,604,146 B2 · Beamforming device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,604,146 B2 - Document ID: US12604146B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 18/539,276 - Filed: 2023-12-14 - Published: 2024-10-31 - Granted: 2026-04-14 - Earliest claimed: 2023-04-28 - Assignees: Mpwav Inc. - Applicants: mpWAV Inc. - Inventors: Hyung Min Park; Byung Joon Cho - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12604146B2 ## CPC - G10L 21/0216: characterised by the method used for estimating noise - H04R 25/407: {Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers} - G10L 25/78: Detection of presence or absence of voice signals (switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10) - H04R 3/005: {for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)} - H04R 25/405: {by combining a plurality of transducers} - G10L 2021/02166: {Microphone arrays; Beamforming} - G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING - H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K) ## Abstract A beamforming device in the present invention includes a probability estimation unit, a steering vector unit, and a beamforming unit, wherein the probability estimation unit estimates a speech existence probability corresponding to a probability that a target speech signal exists based on an input vector; the steering vector unit provides an estimated steering vector according to the speech existence probability and an input vector; and the beamforming unit calculates a weight vector based on the speech existence probability, the input vector, and the estimated steering vector to provide an output vector, and the beamforming device of the present invention can more accurately extract the target speech signal from the input signal by estimating the speech existence probability corresponding to the probability that the target speech signal exists based on the input vector to provide the steering vector and the weight vector. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A beamforming device, comprising: a probability estimation unit that estimates a speech existence probability corresponding to a probability that a target speech signal exists based on an input vector; a steering vector unit that provides an estimated steering vector according to the speech existence probability and the input vector; and a beamforming unit that calculates a weight vector based on the speech existence probability, the input vector, and the estimated steering vector to provide an output vector, wherein wherein the speech existence probability is determined according to a target speech signal spatial covariance matrix for the target speech signal included in the input vector; the target speech signal spatial covariance matrix for the target speech signal included in the input vector is calculated according to a noise spatial covariance matrix; the noise spatial covariance matrix for the noise included in the input vector is calculated according to a noise spatial covariance matrix estimate of a previous frame corresponding to the previous frame of a current frame; and when the beamforming device operates in a single channel, the input vector is configured by changing the frame and frequency based on the current frame and a reference frequency. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, wherein a noise spatial covariance inverse matrix for the noise included in the input vector is calculated according to a variance-weighted spatial covariance inverse matrix in the previous frame. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, wherein an estimated time-varying variance included in the noise spatial covariance inverse matrix is calculated by weighted-averaging a time-varying variance in the previous frame. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, further comprising: a probability providing unit that provides the speech existence probability based on the target speech signal spatial covariance matrix. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, further comprising: a mask unit that provides a target speech mask according to the speech existence probability. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, wherein the estimated steering vector is determined according to a re-estimated time-varying variance calculated based on the target speech mask. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The beamforming device of claim 6, wherein the weight vector is determined according to the re-estimated time-varying variance calculated based on the target speech mask. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The beamforming device of claim 7, wherein the time-varying variance is determined according to power of an output signal calculated based on the target speech mask. ### Claim 9 (depends on 2) The beamforming device of claim 2, wherein the variance-weighted spatial covariance inverse matrix is determined according to the re-estimated time-varying variance calculated based on the target speech mask. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, further comprising: a determination unit that determines whether a diagonal component of the target speech signal spatial covariance matrix is a negative number. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, wherein when the diagonal component of the target speech signal spatial covariance matrix is the negative number, the target speech mask of the current frame is the same as the target speech mask of the previous frame, and the estimated steering vector of the current frame is the same as the estimated steering vector of the previous frame. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The beamforming device of claim 1, wherein the input vector is composed of a portion of the input vector.