Patent ID: 8290178

Claim:
A sound source characteristic determining device, comprising: a plurality of beamformers each of which, responsive to a plurality of microphones capturing a sound produced by a sound source at any given position in a predetermined space, weights signals detected by the respective microphones using a filter function and produces a sum of the weighted signals, each of the beamformers having a filter function of a cardioid-directivity pattern corresponding to an orientation at an assumed sound source position in the space, one beamformer being provided for each of different positions and different orientations in the space; means, responsive to the microphones detecting the sound, for estimating a position and orientation of the sound source in the space based on the beamformer that produces a highest output value wherein the position and orientation corresponding to the beamformer that has produced the highest output value is estimated to be the position and orientation of the sound source; and means for summing outputs from a plurality of beamformers that correspond to the estimated position of the sound source and that have different cardioid-directivity, a summed value of the outputs from the plurality of beamformers being determined to be a sound signal from the sound source.