Patent Document

TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0001]    This invention relates to a method for conditioning audio signals using filter sections in a digital signal processor.  
         BACKGROUND  
         [0002]    Non-uniform environments surfaces such as an automotive vehicle interior have non-ideal acoustic responses. These degradations in the audio system can be overcome by using analog or digital filter sections in a digital signal processor (DSP) to equalize or shape audio signal content prior to being sent to the speakers. In a vehicle that has equalization, front and rear channels are equalized with a different number of filter sections for a given signal. For example, the DSP in the radio can be programmed and adjusted to equalize a vehicle for a desired acoustical sound. A programmer can determine which equalization characteristics are needed in a desired output for a given environment of a vehicle. Such equalization characteristics are programmed into the nonvolatile memory such as the ROM of the DSP for filtering.  
           [0003]    The digital filter structures within the DSP manipulate discrete samples of an input signal to produce a filter signal output. During the processing of a signal, it may become necessary to change the filtering of the signal. To minimize hardware/or software requirements, it may be desirable to use the same filter section or minimal filter sections with different digital filter coefficients. A programmer can write and execute code for the DSP utilizing more filter sections, but this is not practical since an end user is limited by the processor&#39;s bandwidth. The more filter structures the programmer uses the larger the memory will have to be to store the executable code. That is, a programmer would have to allocate additional memory every time the same or a different equalization structure is utilized.  
           [0004]    To alleviate this issue, some DSP&#39;s have hardware registers for looping sections of code that can be changed even after the DSP has been masked into a ROM, although not all DSP&#39;s have this type of looping hardware.  
           [0005]    What would be desirable to have is new and improved device and method for conditioning audio signals using a DSP overcoming the disadvantages described above. Such a device that uses volatile memory to initiate the executable code for a variable number of equalization filter sections would overcome such disadvantages.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0006]    Consonant with an aspect of the present invention, the amount of memory used to equalize a given environment is reduced.  
           [0007]    In one aspect of the invention, the method allows a variable number of filter sections to be dynamically allocated within the available DSP bandwidth where filtering is needed most. A jump and lookup table, which contains a variable number of addresses of executable code for filtering, is stored into a volatile memory such as RAM. Filter coefficients, which are used to create a specific filter structure to produce the desired audio output, are also stored into volatile memory. The jump and lookup table can execute a variable number of filter structures also known as equalization structures in conjunction with the filter coefficients for equalization of an input signal to obtain a desired output signal.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0008]    A more complete appreciation of the present invention and many of its advantages will be readily obtained as they become better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings and detailed specification.  
         [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing portions of a DSP radio receiver, in accordance with the preset invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing elements to configure the input signal of a DSP in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0011]    [0011]FIGS. 3 a  and  3   b  shows various equalization structures in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 4 is a table showing a set of filter coefficients for a given equalization structure in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 5 is a jump and lookup table showing addresses for executable code to be executed for an equalization structure in accordance with the present invention; and  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a preferred method for modifying an equalization structure dynamically in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]    Referring to FIG. 1, a processing module  11  according to the present invention is shown. Processing module  11  includes a DSP  12  and a controller  30  for executing and processing an input signal  14 . In a preferred embodiment the input signal  14  is that of an audio signal. An A/D converter  18  and a D/A converter  20  in communication with DSP  12  that are used to convert the input signal  14  from analog to digital and digital to analog are provided for input and output respectively. A nonvolatile memory  24  is also provided, such as an EEPROM, to initially store a jump and lookup table  28  and filter coefficients  26  which will be described in greater detail hereinafter. A volatile memory  32  in communication with DSP  12  is used to temporarily store data for filtering. Volatile memory  32  may be integrated into DSP  12  or be provided in a stand alone package. After processing has been executed and the D/A conversion has been completed input signal  14  is then distributed to various channels  22  such as stereo speakers.  
         [0016]    A block diagram of an equalization design system  10  which implements the executable code and filter characteristics is shown in FIG. 2. The nonvolatile memory  24  initially stores data containing filter coefficients  26  and jump and lookup table  28 . The filter coefficients  26  and jump and lookup table  28  are created and programmed using a PC with desired filter characteristics created using a PC software Graphical User Interface, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,617,480, prior to being stored in the nonvolatile memory  24 . The filter coefficients  28  are settable so that an equalization structure  34  may be configured as desired. The controller  30  manages the communication between the nonvolatile memory  24  and the DSP  12 . The controller  30  may be integrated into the DSP  12 . Controller  30  is executed at the time the data stored in the nonvolatile memory  24  will be downloaded to the volatile memory  32  to begin processing the input signal  14 . During the processing of the input signal  14 , addresses in the jump and lookup table  28  contain locations that direct which equalization structure  34  will be utilized and the number of times the equalization structure  34  or an EQ band will be executed to filter the input signal  14 .  
         [0017]    [0017]FIGS. 3 a  and  3   b  are schematic diagrams illustrating typical architecture for a second order equalization structure. In a first embodiment, a plurality of equalization structures are cascaded in series between an input and an output. The plurality of equalization structures may be of a same order or varying orders. An output of a predetermined first equalization structure known as an intermediate result  15  will become an input of a predetermined second equalization structure.  
         [0018]    In another embodiment, an equalization structure may be used repeatedly for an entire bandwidth or for a certain number of bands. In this embodiment, an output of a predetermined first equalization structure will be stored in a data storage device (not shown) as an intermediate result  15  and reapplied to the predetermined first equalization structure for further processing until a desired output signal is achieved. The data storage device may be RAM, a register, an accumulator, or the like.  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 4 shows a table containing filter coefficients  26  which are initially stored in the nonvolatile memory  24  for processing. The filter coefficients  26  are used to modify and shape the plurality of equalization structures. The filter coefficients  26  are segregated or grouped into sets of filter coefficients  36 . A predetermined first set of filter coefficients will be executed with a predetermined first equalization structure to modify the input signal  14  (shown in FIG. 1) to obtain a desired intermediate result  15  (shown in FIGS. 3 a  and  3   b ). If the predetermined first equalization structure is re-utilized, then intermediate result  15  will be transmitted to the predetermined first equalization structure and a predetermined subsequent set of coefficients will be utilized to modify the predetermined first equalization structure. If a predetermined second equalization structure is utilized, then the intermediate result  15  will be transmitted to the predetermined second equalization structure utilizing the predetermined subsequent set of coefficients. Processing will continue with the subsequent set of coefficients using either the predetermined first equalization structure or a predetermined subsequent equalization structure until jump and lookup table  28  shows that a last equalization task has been executed and is redirected to a next task.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 5 shows a jump and lookup table  28  containing a list of addresses that direct DSP  12  to an appropriate executable code. The executable code is stored in a second nonvolatile memory  25  (shown in FIG. 1) of the DSP  12 . The second nonvolatile memory  25  may reside on or off of the DSP  12 . The executable code contains instructions as to which equalization structure  34  is to be executed and the number of times the predetermined first equalization structure or the predetermined subsequent equalization structures will be executed. Jump and lookup table  28  is downloaded from nonvolatile memory  24  into volatile memory  32 . The controller  30  initiates the executable code in a first address  40  in the jump and lookup table  28  by use of a first pointer  38 . A predetermined first address  40  contains a location of the executable code to run for initiating the processing of the predetermined first equalization structure. A second pointer  39  (shown in FIG. 4) is used to retrieve the predetermined first set of filter coefficients corresponding to the predetermined first equalization structure to be executed. After the executable code for the predetermined first address has been executed and processing is complete, first pointer  38  is incremented to a predetermined subsequent address of jump and lookup table  28 . The predetermined subsequent address will contain a location of the executable code to execute either the predetermined first equalization structure or the predetermined subsequent equalization structure. Second pointer  39  will also be incremented to retrieve the predetermined subsequent set of coefficients. Incrementing first pointer  38  will continue until first pointer  38  indicates filtering is complete for a given channel. If other channels require filtering first pointer  38  and second pointer  39  will continue to increment, as previously described herein, until filtering has been completed for all channels.  
         [0021]    The new and improved method of the present invention is shown in greater detail in FIG. 6. In step  50 , filter coefficients and a jump and lookup table sequence are loaded and stored into a programmable memory unit such as a volatile memory device. The order of the filter coefficients and the jump and lookup table sequence are structured such that a pointer can be incremented so as to step through addresses of the jump and lookup table so as to run an executable code and apply a corresponding set of filter coefficients associated with an equalization structure to be executed. In step  52 , an input signal is received by a DSP for filtering. In step  54 , a pointer will be loaded with a first jump and lookup table entry which directs the DSP as to which equalization structure is to be executed. In step  56 , a second pointer is loaded with an address of a set of coefficients to be transferred to the DSP for filtering the input signal. In step  58 , the input signal is applied to a predetermined equalization structure and the output from said predetermined equalization structure is stored as intermediate result. In step  60 , the pointer of said jump and lookup table is incremented to determine if the filtering is complete. If the filtering is not complete, then a return is made to step  54  for further filtering, otherwise the desired filtered signal is communicated to a respective channel as represented by step  62 .  
         [0022]    With the advantages described herein above, it is evident that by allocating the jump and lookup table  28  in volatile memory  32  containing addresses of the executable code to implement different equalization structures, less nonvolatile memory  25  will be utilized. Such efficiency is recognized wherein an equalization structure is stored only once in nonvolatile memory  25  and may be utilized as many times as needed without allocating additional addresses in nonvolatile memory  25  for subsequent uses.  
         [0023]    Although the present invention has been described with regard to a vehicle audio system, the invention is not limited to such a system. The present invention may be used with equal utility in other embodiments and is not limited to those embodiments disclosed, and variations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Technology Category: h