Patent ID: 8073145

Claim:
A sound-source signal separating apparatus, comprising: a sound-source signal enhancing unit operable to enhance a target sound-source signal in an input audio signal to produce an enhanced sound-source signal, the input audio signal including a mixture of acoustic signals from a plurality of sound sources picked up by a plurality of sound pickup devices; a signal processor processing non-steady waveform signals only at a high frequency region in the enhanced sound-source signal by removing random portions from the non-steady waveform signals; a pitch detector operable to detect a pitch of the target sound-source signal in the input audio signal; and a sound-source signal separating unit operable to process signals at a middle and a lower frequency regions of the enhanced sound-source signal by separating the target sound-source signal from the input audio signal based on the detected pitch and the received middle and lower frequency signals of the enhanced sound-source signal, where information detected by the pitch detector is used to control only the sound-source signal separating unit, and not the signal processor.