Patent US4809331A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
← Back to Patent Explorer
US4809331A Expired / Lapsed US ⏱️ 0.0 years remaining

Apparatus and methods for speech analysis

Assignee: BTG International Ltd
•
Filing: 1986-11-07
•
Granted: 1989-02-28
•
Expires: 2006-11-07
📄 Original PDF 🌐 Google Patents 🔄 Sync Now

Abstract

Abstract Input signals representative of speech are unreliable as inputs for speech recognition if processed conventionally by, among other processes, filtering into separate frequency bands. Further processing according to the invention takes the output from a filter bank and after operations of rectification and integration provides a process of median filtering and smoothing which significantly reduces the sampling rate of the filtered signals while retaining the important acoustic features of the input speech.

Inventors

  • 👤 John N. Holmes

Bibliographic Details

Application Number —
Jurisdiction US
Data Source google_patents
Last Synchronized 2026-10-28 14:37
CPC Classifications
G; G10; G10L; G10L19/00; G10L19/02

Claims Analysis

Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim 120 words
Apparatus for speech analysis comprising: an analogue to digital converter connected to receive a speech signal to be analyzed, filter means coupled to an output of said analogue to digital converter, for filtering said output to provide a plurality of signals, representative of power intensities in a plurality of frequency ranges in the audio frequency band, median-filtering means, coupled to said filter means, for repeatedly processing a group of successive samples in each said frequency range by multiplying the samples in each said group by respective coefficients and summing the resultants, and smoothing means for repeatedly processing a group of successive outputs of the median-filtering means in said each frequency range by selecting one output according to relative magnitudes thereof.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim 120 words
Apparatus for speech analysis comprising: an analogue to digital converter connected to receive a speech signal to be analyzed, filter means coupled to an output of said analogue to digital converter, for filtering said output to provide a plurality of signals, representative of power intensities in a plurality of frequency ranges in the audio frequency band, median-filtering means, coupled to said filter means, for repeatedly processing a group of successive samples in each said frequency range by multiplying the samples in each said group by respective coefficients and summing the resultants, and smoothing means for repeatedly processing a group of successive outputs of the median-filtering means in said each frequency range by selecting one output according to relative magnitudes thereof.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim 62 words
Apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means, receiving outputs of said smoothing means for computing a feature vector wherein one element of the vector is representative of the average power at the outputs of the smoothing means and the other elements of the vector are representative of the outputs of the smoothing means of respective ranges minus the said average output.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim 25 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said filter means includes means for integrating each output in each frequency range before application to the median-filtering means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim 26 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the outputs of the smoothing means are coupled to respective means for computing the logarithms of the output signals thereof.
Claim 6
Independent Claim 89 words
A method of spectrum analysis comprising the steps of converting an analogue signal, having a spectrum to be investigated, to digital form, filtering the digital signal to provide signals representative of power intensities in a plurality of frequency ranges in said spectrum, repeatedly processing a group of successive samples in each said frequency range by multiplying the samples in each group by a respective coefficient and summing the resultants, and repeatedly processing a group of successive summed resultants in each range by selecting one output according to relative magnitudes.
Claim 7
Independent Claim 89 words
A method of spectrum analysis comprising the steps of converting an analogue signal, having a spectrum to be investigated, to digital form, filtering the digital signal to provide signals representative of power intensities in a plurality of frequency ranges in said spectrum, repeatedly processing a group of successive samples in each said frequency range by multiplying the samples in each group by a respective coefficient and summing the resultants, and repeatedly processing a group of successive summed resultants in each range by selecting one output according to relative magnitudes.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim 20 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the selection according to relative magnitude is the selection of the highest magnitude output.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim 20 words
Apparatus according to claim 1 wherein one or more of the said means are provided by a single integrated circuit.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim 21 words
A method according to claim 5 wherein the selection according to relative magnitude is the selection of the highest magnitude output.

References Cited (Backward Citations)

US4389540A Cited
US4464782A Cited
US4574392A Cited
US4538234A Cited
US4622680A Cited

USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows

Annuity Stage Window Opens Payment Deadline Surcharge Period Until Estimated Fee Status
3.5 Years (Year 4) 1992-02-28 1992-08-29 1993-02-28 $2000.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8) 1996-02-28 1996-08-29 1997-02-28 $3760.00 Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12) 2000-02-28 2000-08-29 2001-02-28 $7700.00 Window Closed / Lapsed

Assigned Categories & Tags

No categories assigned to this patent yet.

Assign Category Tag