Cadence and media content phase alignment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10282163-B2
Application number	US-201615396253-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 30, 2016
Priority date	May 19, 2015
Publication date	May 7, 2019
Grant date	May 7, 2019

Abstract

Systems, devices, apparatuses, components, methods, and techniques for cadence and media content phase alignment are provided. An example media-playback device includes a content output device that operates to output media content, a cadence-acquiring device, a phase-delay calibration engine, a cadence-based media content selection engine, and a phase-aligned media playback engine. The cadence-acquiring device includes a movement-determining device and a cadence-determination engine configured to determine a cadence based on movement data captured by the movement-determining device. The phase-delay calibration engine configured to determine phase delay values for at least one cadence value. The cadence-based media content selection engine configured to identify a media content item based on the cadence determined by the cadence-acquiring device. The phase-aligned media playback engine configured to align the identified media content item to the repetitive-motion activity and cause the media-output device to output the aligned media content item.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A media-playback device for aligning play back of media content for a user performing a running activity, the media-playback device comprising:
a content output device that operates to output media content;
a cadence-acquiring device comprising a movement-determining device and a cadence-determination engine configured to determine a cadence based on movement data captured by the movement-determining device;
a phase-delay calibration engine configured to determine phase delay values for at least one cadence value, wherein the phase-delay calibration engine determines the phase delay values based at least in part on a time required to detect a foot strike within the running activity;
a cadence-based media content selection engine configured to identify a media content item based on the cadence determined by the cadence-acquiring device, wherein the media content item comprises music with a tempo that corresponds to the cadence; and
a phase-aligned media playback engine configured to:
align the identified media content item to the running activity using at least one of the determined phase-delay values; and
cause the media-output device to output the aligned media content item so that a beat of the media content item is output coincidentally with an expected foot strike.

2. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the phase-aligned media playback engine is further configured to:
identify foot strikes within the running activity based on the movement data.

3. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the phase-aligned media playback engine is further configured to:
identify a wave action position within an oscillation of a filtered sequence of measurements captured by the measurement-determining device corresponding to the foot strike based on calculating an orientation of the media-playback device.

4. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the phase-aligned media playback engine is further configured to:
determine a phase delay value corresponding to the determined cadence; and
align the identified media content item to the running activity based on the determined phase delay.

5. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the cadence-based media content selection engine is configured to identify a media content item that includes music with a tempo that is within a predetermined threshold of the cadence.

6. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the cadence-based media content selection engine is further configured to:
monitor for changes in cadence; and
upon detecting a change in cadence:
identify a second media content item based on a changed cadence;
align the second media content item to the running activity; and
cause the media-output device to playback the aligned second media content item.

7. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the measurement-determining device comprises three orthogonally-oriented accelerometers and the cadence-determination engine is configured to:
capture a sequence of measurements from each of the three accelerometers;
filter the sequences of measurements based on frequency to generate filtered sequences;
identify the sequence of measurements corresponding to cadence, wherein the sequence is identified based on calculating energy values for each of the sequences.

8. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the media playback engine is configured to identify wave action positions corresponding to foot strikes.

9. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein measurements are captured at a sample rate in the range of 20-200 Hz.

10. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the media content item is stored locally on the media-playback device.

11. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the media content item is streamed to the media-playback device by a media-delivery system based on a request for media content items that specifies the cadence.

12. The media-playback device of claim 1 , wherein the media-playback device is a smartphone.

13. A method of cadence-based media playback for use during repetitive-motion activities comprising:
determining a cadence associated with a repetitive-motion activity based on acceleration data captured by a plurality of accelerometers, wherein the acceleration data comprises sequences of acceleration sample data captured from each of the plurality of accelerometers over a duration of time, the repetitive-motion activity including a repetitive cycle of motion having a repetitive action point;
identifying a media content item based on the determined cadence;
phase aligning the identified media content item to the repetitive-motion activity using a phase delay value, wherein the phase delay value is determined based at least in part on a time required to detect the repetitive action point within the repetitive-motion activity; and
playing back the aligned media content item so that a beat of the media content item is output coincidentally with an expected repetitive action point.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:
filtering the sequences of measurements based on frequency to generate filtered sequences;
identifying a cadence signal corresponding to the cadence of the repetitive-motion activity from the filtered sequences; and
analyzing the cadence signal to identify a wave action position corresponding to the repetitive action point within the repetitive-motion activity.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein analyzing the cadence signal comprises:
identifying a portion of the cadence signal corresponding to an oscillation of the repetitive-motion activity;
determining an orientation of the cadence signal relative to the ground; and
selecting a point within the oscillation that corresponds to the acceleration towards the ground stopping as the wave action position.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining a phase delay value corresponding to the determined cadence; and
aligning the identified media content item to the repetitive-motion activity using the determined phase delay.

17. A method of calibrating a cadence-based media playback device for use during repetitive-motion activities comprising:
generating media output, wherein the media output has a tempo;
determining a cadence associated with a repetitive-motion activity based on acceleration data captured by a plurality of accelerometers, wherein the acceleration data comprises sequences of acceleration sample data captured from each of the plurality of accelerometers over a duration of time, the repetitive-motion activity including a repetitive cycle of motion having a repetitive action point;
determining whether the tempo of the media output corresponds to the determined cadence; and
upon determining that the tempo of the media output corresponds to the determined cadence, calculating a phase delay value for the determined cadence based on the repetitive action point within the repetitive-motion activity and a beat within the media output, wherein the phase delay is determined based at least in part on a time required to detect the repetitive action point within the repetitive-motion activity, and wherein the phase delay indicates a shift in playback of the media output that is needed so that a beat of the media output is output coincidentally with an expected repetitive action point.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the tempo of the media output is selected to correspond to a goal cadence selected from a predefined list of cadence values.

19. The method o

Assignees

• Spotify Ab

Inventors

• Jehan Tristan

Classifications

• G06F3/011

  Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality (blind teaching G09B21/00) · CPC title

• G06F16/632 Primary

  Query formulation · CPC title

• G06F3/165 Primary

  Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path · CPC title

• G06F16/636

  by using biological or physiological data · CPC title

• A63B2071/0625

  Emitting sound, noise or music · CPC title