Patent ID: 8073157

Claim:
A method for targeted sound detection using a microphone array having two or more microphones M 0 . . . M M , each microphone being coupled to a plurality of filters, the filters being configured to filter input signals corresponding to sounds detected by the microphones thereby generating a filtered output, the method comprising: pre-calibrating a plurality sets of filter parameters for the plurality of filters to determine a corresponding plurality of pre-calibrated listening zones, wherein each set of filter parameters is selected to detect portions of the input signals corresponding to sounds originating within a given listening zone and filter out sounds originating outside the given listening zones; and selecting a particular pre-calibrated listening zone at a runtime by applying to the plurality of filters sets of filter parameters corresponding to two or more different pre-calibrated listening zones, determining a value of an attenuation of the input signals for the two or more different pre-calibrated listening zones and selecting a particular zone of the two or more different pre-calibrated listening zones for which the attenuation is closest to an optimum value, and applying the filter parameters for the particular zone to the plurality of filters, whereby the microphone array may detect sounds originating within the particular listening zone and filters out sounds originating outside the particular listening zone; wherein the one or more pre-calibrated listening zones include a plurality of different pre-calibrated listening zones, the method further comprising: detecting a sound with the microphone array; identifying a particular pre-calibrated listening zone containing a source of the sound; characterizing the sound or the source of the sound; and emphasizing or filtering out the sound depending on how the sound is characterized.