<SYSTEM_TASK:>
Solve the following problem using Python, implementing the functions described below, one line at a time
<END_TASK>
<USER_TASK:>
Description:
 def unique_categories(categories):
 """Pass array-like categories, return sorted cleaned unique categories."""

    categories = np.unique(categories)
    categories = np.setdiff1d(categories, np.array(settings.categories_to_ignore))
    categories = np.array(natsorted(categories, key=lambda v: v.upper()))
    return categories