Patent ID: 7130797

Claim:
A method of locating a talker in a reverberant environment comprising the steps of: receiving multiple audio signals from a microphone array, said audio signals including direct path audio signal and reverberation signal components; calculating position estimates of a source of said audio signals based on said audio signals; rapidly detecting the direction of the direct path audio signal component of said multiple audio signals based on said calculated position estimates; using the rapidly detected direction to weight the calculated position estimates; detecting periods of speech activity; and generating a final position estimate of said source during said periods of speech activity based on the weighted position estimates, wherein the direction of the direct path audio signal component is detected based on the earliest calculated position estimates, wherein the direction of the direct path audio signal is detected over a duration equal to approximately 10 to 15 msec., wherein the direction of the direct path audio signal component is detected by: (i) storing a succession of calculated position estimates; (ii) counting occurrences of the calculated position estimates during periods of speech activity; and (iii) determining the direction of the direct path audio signal component when a current calculated position estimate occurs more than a threshold number of times, and wherein calculated position estimates are not weighted when the direction of the direct path audio signal component is not detected within said duration.