Patent ID: 6023514
Filing Date: 2000-02-08
Classification: H04R

Abstract:
A method of factoring a merged wave field into independent source signals, wherein each of said independent source signals is generated by a respective one of a plurality of energy sources that together produce said merged wave field, said method comprising:sensing said merged wave field with an array of sensors;converting said merged wave field sensed by each of said plurality of sensors into a plurality of electrical sensor signals representing said merged wave field sensed by each of said sensors;digitizing each of said plurality of electrical sensor signals to form sampled sensor signal data representing said merged wave field sensed by each of said sensors;establishing a plurality of predicted source signal data arrays, for storing predicted source signal data corresponding to each of said plurality of energy sources;determining source delay values for each of said plurality of energy sources, wherein said source delay values represent a time differential of each of said independent source signals arriving at each sensor in said array of sensors;verifying said replicated sensor signal data by combining said predicted source signal data corresponding to each of said energy sources with respective source delay values for each of said plurality of energy sources to produce replicated sensor signal data corresponding to each sensor in said array of sensors and by calculating a prediction verification factor using said replicated sensor signal data and said sampled sensor signal data;adjusting said predicted source signal data using a random process;repeating the steps of verifying and adjusting said predicted source signal data for a plurality of iterations until said prediction verification factor reaches a predetermined value wherein said predicted source signals are verified; andoutputting verified predicted source signals as said factored independent source signals.