Patent ID: 8737634

Claim:
A wide area noise cancellation system for reducing the effect of noise generated by at least one noise source within a noise producing area at locations outside the noise producing area, the system comprising: a plurality of spaced apart microphone arrays positioned within the noise producing area, each microphone array detecting noise from at least one noise source located in the noise producing area and generating an output signal indicative of the detected noise; a noise signal processor configured to receive the output signals from the plurality of microphone arrays, the processor processing the output signals to determine noise cancellation signals to reduce the effect of noise from the at least one noise source; and a plurality of speaker arrays located at spaced apart locations around a periphery of the noise producing area, the plurality of speaker arrays receiving the noise cancellation signals from the processor and generating inverse sound waves to reduce the effect of the noise from the at least one noise source before the noise from exits the noise producing area; wherein the noise signal processor generates signals to drive the at least one speaker array to produce calibration sound waves, the calibration sound waves being detected by the at least one microphone array, the processor processing output signals from the at least one microphone array representing the detected calibration sound waves to determine areas of sound interference within a noise producing area, and wherein the processor adjusts the determined inverse sound wave based on the determined areas of sound interference within the noise producing area.