Method and apparatus for canceling fan noise in a computer system

A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for canceling fan noise in a computer system, the method comprising:

• obtaining a fan noise signal using a microphone;
• generating a spectral pattern based on the obtained fan noise signal;
• identifying a cancellation spectrum in an anti-spectra library using the spectral pattern, wherein the anti-spectra library includes at least one cancellation spectrum computed based on a fan noise signal that includes a combination of multiple fan speeds;
• and
• generating a noise-canceling signal using the cancellation spectrum;
• wherein the amount of computation required to cancel fan noise is reduced because generating the noise-canceling signal using the anti-spectra library requires less computation than dynamically generating the noise-canceling signal.

An apparatus for canceling fan noise in a computer system, comprising:

• a microphone, which is configured to obtain a fan noise signal;
• a spectral-pattern-generating mechanism configured to generate a spectral pattern based on the obtained fan noise signal;
• an identifying mechanism configured to identify a cancellation spectrum in an anti-spectra library using the spectral pattern, wherein the anti-spectra library includes at least one cancellation spectrum computed based on a fan noise signal that includes a combination of multiple fan speeds;
• and
• a signal-generating mechanism configured to generate a noise-canceling signal using the cancellation spectrum;
• wherein the amount of computation required to cancel fan noise is reduced because generating the noise-canceling signal using the anti-spectra library requires less computation than dynamically generating the noise-canceling signal.