# US 2021/0241781 A1 · Signal processing device, signal processing method, and program

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- Number: US 2021/0241781 A1
- Document ID: US20210241781A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 16/972,563
- Filed: 2019-04-22
- Published: 2021-08-05
- Earliest claimed: 2018-06-11
- Assignees: Sony Corporation
- Applicants: Sony Corporation
- Inventors: Kazuya Tateishi; Shusuke Takahashi; Akira Takahashi; Kazuki Ochiai; Yoshiaki Oikawa
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210241781A1

## CPC

- G10L 21/0216: characterised by the method used for estimating noise
- G10L 21/0316: by changing the amplitude
- H04R 3/005: {for combining the signals of two or more microphones (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407)}
- H04R 3/02: for preventing acoustic reaction {, i.e. acoustic oscillatory feedback (specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/453)}
- H04S 7/305: {Electronic adaptation of stereophonic audio signals to reverberation of the listening space (H04S7/301 takes precedence)}
- G10L 2021/02082: {the noise being echo, reverberation of the speech}
- H04R 1/40: by combining a number of identical transducers {(specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/405)}
- H04R 2430/23: Direction finding using a sum-delay beam-former
- 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)
- H04S: STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS

## Abstract

Compensation accuracy is increased with respect to clip compensation in a case where signals from a plurality of microphones are subjected to an echo cancellation process. A signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present technology includes an echo cancellation unit that performs an echo cancellation process of canceling an output signal component from a speaker on signals from a plurality of microphones, a clip detection unit that performs a clip detection for signals from the plurality of microphones, and a clip compensation unit that compensates for a signal after the echo cancellation process of clipped one of the microphones on the basis of a signal of non-clipped one of the microphones.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A signal processing device comprises:
an echo cancellation unit that performs an echo cancellation process of canceling an output signal component from a speaker on signals from a plurality of microphones;
a clip detection unit that performs a clip detection for signals from the plurality of microphones; and
a clip compensation unit that compensates for a signal after the echo cancellation process of clipped one of the microphones on a basis of a signal of non-clipped one of the microphones.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The signal processing device according to claim 1, wherein
the clip compensation unit compensates for a signal of the clipped microphone by suppressing the signal.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The signal processing device according to claim 2, wherein
the clip compensation unit suppresses a signal of the clipped microphone on a basis of an average power ratio between a signal of the non-clipped microphone and a signal of the clipped microphone.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The signal processing device according to claim 3, wherein
the clip compensation unit uses, as the average power ratio, an average power ratio with a signal of the microphone having a minimum average power among the signals of the non-clipped microphones is used.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The signal processing device according to claim 1, wherein
the clip compensation unit adjusts a suppression amount of a signal of the clipped microphone according to a speech level in a case where a user speech is present and a speaker output is present.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The signal processing device according to claim 1, wherein
the clip compensation unit suppresses a signal of the clipped microphone by a suppression amount according to a characteristic of a voice recognition process in a subsequent stage in a case where a user speech is present and no speaker output is present.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The signal processing device according to claim 1, wherein
the clip compensation unit does not perform the compensation for the clipped microphone signal in a case where a user speech is present and no speaker output is present.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The signal processing device according to claim 1, further comprising:
a drive unit that changes a position of at least one of the plurality of microphones or the speaker; and
a control unit that changes the position of at least one of the plurality of microphones or the speaker by the drive unit in response to detection of a clip by the clip detection unit.

### Claim 9

A signal processing method comprising:
an echo cancellation procedure to perform an echo cancellation process of canceling an output signal component from a speaker on signals from a plurality of microphones;
a clip detection procedure to perform a clip detection for signals from the plurality of microphones; and
a clip compensation procedure to compensate for a signal after the echo cancellation process of clipped one of the microphones on a basis of a signal of non-clipped one of the microphones.

### Claim 10

A program executed by an information processing device, the program causing the information processing device to implement functions comprising:
an echo cancellation function to perform an echo cancellation process of canceling an output signal component from a speaker on signals from a plurality of microphones;
a clip detection function to perform a clip detection for signals from the plurality of microphones; and
a clip compensation function to compensate for a signal after the echo cancellation process of clipped one of the microphones on a basis of a signal of non-clipped one of the microphones.