Frequency thinning device and method for compressing information by thinning out frequency components of signal

A frequency thinning device comprising:

• an analyzer for generating a spectrum signal representative of a spectrum of a signal to be thinned;
• a frequency band masking unit for determining correlation coefficients for all the possible combinations of selected two bands, determining as a fundamental frequency band the band which has correlation coefficients equal to or less than a predetermined value for all the possible combinations of bands having the lowest frequency lower than that of the band among all the bands received from the spectrum generating means, determining the bands other than the fundamental frequency band as higher harmonic bands;
• and
• wherein the frequency band masking unit partially removes spectrum components contained in the higher harmonic bands.

A frequency thinning method for compressing a given signal by removing signal components in a specific frequency band, comprising the steps of:

• generating frequency spectrum signals in a plurality of frequency bands;
• determining correlation coefficients for all the possible combinations of selected two bands;
• determining as a fundamental frequency band the band which has correlation coefficients equal to or less than a predetermined value for all the possible combinations of bands having the lowest frequency lower than that of the band among all the bands;
• determining the bands other than the fundamental frequency band as higher harmonic bands;
• and
• determining, among the higher harmonic bands, bands of which the spectra are to be removed, as removal bands.

A computer readable storage medium storing a program comprising:

• an analyzer for generating a spectrum signal representative of a spectrum of a signal to be thinned;
• a frequency band masking unit for determining correlation coefficients for all the possible combinations of selected two bands, determining as a fundamental frequency band the band which has correlation coefficients equal to or less than a predetermined value for all the possible combinations of bands having the lowest frequency lower than that of the band among all the bands received from the spectrum generating means, and determining the bands other than the fundamental frequency band as higher harmonic bands;
• and
• wherein the frequency band masking unit partially removes spectrum components contained in the higher harmonic bands.