Methods and systems for environmental noise compensation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10057532-B2
Application number	US-201615088633-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2016
Priority date	Apr 1, 2016
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

Some aspects of the disclosure relate to a system and methods for monitoring an audio signal that may comprise one or more device audio components, e.g., from a device presenting content and an ambient audio component. The system can determine the ambient audio component of the audio signal, and can determine whether the ambient audio component has satisfied an ambient audio component threshold. If the ambient audio component threshold has been satisfied, the system can cause the device to display a visual representation of the device audio component, such as presenting text corresponding to speech of the audio component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
monitoring an audio signal comprising a device audio component from a device presenting content and an ambient audio component;
determining the ambient audio component of the audio signal;
determining whether the ambient audio component satisfies an ambient noise threshold;
determining whether a dynamic time threshold is satisfied, wherein the dynamic time threshold is based on a volume of the ambient audio component, wherein the dynamic time threshold decreases as the volume of the ambient audio component increases;
in response to the ambient noise threshold and the dynamic time threshold being satisfied, activating an audio transcription feature of the device; and
in response to determining that the ambient audio component no longer satisfies the ambient noise threshold for a period of time, deactivating the activated audio transcription feature of the device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic time threshold is satisfied when the ambient audio component satisfies the ambient noise threshold for a predefined percentage of a time period.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ambient audio component comprises removing the device audio component from the audio signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the ambient audio component further comprises subtracting an average audio signal from the audio signal.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ambient noise threshold is determined based on a volume of the device audio component.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the period of time is a dynamic time period based on the volume of the ambient audio component, wherein the dynamic time period increases in relation to an increase in the volume of the ambient audio component.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic time threshold is further based on a volume of the device audio component.

8. A method comprising:
monitoring an audio signal comprising a device audio component from a device presenting content and an ambient audio component;
determining a dynamic time duration threshold based on a volume of the ambient audio component, wherein the dynamic time duration threshold is based on an ambient noise level being above a dynamic ambient audio component threshold;
determining, based on the ambient audio component and the dynamic time duration threshold, whether the ambient audio component satisfies the dynamic ambient audio component threshold, wherein the dynamic time duration threshold decreases as the volume of the ambient audio component increases;
sending, to a system component associated with the device, a notification to enable an audio transcription feature of the device when the dynamic ambient audio component threshold is satisfied; and
in response to determining that the ambient audio component no longer satisfies the dynamic ambient audio component threshold for a period of time, sending a notification to the system component associated with the device to disable the enabled audio transcription feature of the device.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising periodically receiving, from the device presenting the content, a request to determine whether the dynamic ambient audio component threshold is satisfied.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein monitoring the audio signal comprises monitoring the audio signal for a predetermined time after receiving the request.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein determining whether the ambient audio component satisfies the dynamic ambient audio component threshold, comprises:
determining the ambient audio component from the audio signal;
determining the volume of the ambient audio component;
determining whether the volume of the ambient audio component satisfies the dynamic ambient audio component threshold; and
determining whether the dynamic time duration threshold is satisfied.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the ambient noise level is measured in decibels.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the dynamic ambient audio component threshold is dynamically based on the device audio component.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the period of time is a dynamic time period based on the volume of the ambient audio component, wherein the dynamic time period increases in relation to an increase in the volume of the ambient audio component.

15. A method comprising:
monitoring an audio signal comprising a device audio component from a device presenting content and an ambient audio component;
determining the device audio component of the audio signal;
dynamically determining, based on a volume of the device audio component, an ambient audio component threshold, wherein the ambient audio component threshold comprises a dynamic time threshold that decreases as a volume of the ambient audio component increases;
determining whether the ambient audio component satisfies the ambient audio component threshold;
in response to the ambient audio component satisfying the ambient audio component threshold, activating an audio transcription feature of the device; and
in response to determining that the ambient audio component no longer satisfies the ambient audio component threshold for a period of time, deactivating the activated audio transcription feature of the device.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein determining whether the ambient audio component satisfies the ambient audio component threshold comprises:
determining whether an ambient noise level of the ambient audio component satisfies an ambient noise threshold; and
in response to determining that the ambient noise level of the ambient audio component satisfies the ambient noise threshold, determining whether the dynamic time threshold has been satisfied.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the ambient noise level is measured in decibels.

18. The method of claim 15 , wherein in response to the ambient audio component satisfying the ambient audio component threshold, activating the audio transcription feature of the device, comprises sending a notification to the device to enable the audio transcription feature of the device.

19. The method of claim 15 , wherein the ambient audio component threshold is proportional to a volume of the device audio component.

20. The method of claim 15 , wherein the period of time is a dynamic time period based on the volume of the ambient audio component, wherein the dynamic time period increases in relation to an increase in the volume of the ambient audio component.

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Stroffolino Philip John

Classifications

• H03G3/32

  the control being dependent upon ambient noise level or sound level · CPC title

• H04N5/44513 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H03G3/24

  Control dependent upon ambient noise level or sound level · CPC title

• H04N17/004

  for digital television systems · CPC title

• H04N2017/006

  for television sound · CPC title