Patent ID: 8150069

Claim:
A signal processing apparatus comprising: at least one equalizing means, each of the equalizing means configured for setting a selected center frequency, a selected gain value at the selected center frequency, and a selected degree of sharpness (selected Q value) and modifying an input signal using the selected center frequency, the selected gain value, and the selected Q value; and computation means, wherein the computation means performs automatically an area identification process that identifies plural areas within a predetermined frequency range for which measured frequency-amplitude characteristics deviate from target characteristics, an area selection process that selects a largest area from the plural areas for which an equalizing means has not been applied as a next area for applying the at least one equalizing means, a center frequency determination process for identifying for each of the at least one equalizing means the selected center frequency from a finite set of predetermined frequencies based on a comparison of the measured or computed frequency-amplitude characteristics with the target characteristics, a gain value determination process for identifying for each of the at least one equalizing means the selected gain value based on a difference between the measured or computed frequency-amplitude characteristics and the target characteristics at the selected center frequency, and a Q value determination process for identifying for each of the at least one equalization means the selected Q value from a finite set of predetermined candidate Q values, the selected Q value identified based on a comparison of computed frequency-amplitude characteristics with the target characteristics.