Method and Apparatus for Controlling Volume

• US 20080080721A1
• Filed: 12/03/2007
• Published: 04/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Glenn Reid, James Brasure
• Original Assignee: Glenn Reid, James Brasure
• Inventors: Reid, Glenn, Brasure, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,265,300 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04847 Interaction techniques to control parameter settings, e.g. interaction with sliders or dials
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/00 Speech or voice analysis techniques not restricted to a single one of groups G10L15/00 - G10L21/00 muting semiconductor-based amplifiers when some special characteristics of a signal are sensed by a speech detector, e.g. sensing when no signal is present, H03G3/34

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for controlling the volume of an audio track. This method represents the volume of an audio track with a graph. This graph is defined along two axes, with one axis representing time and the other representing the volume level. A user can adjust the graph at different instances in time in order to change the volume level in the audio track at these instances. Different embodiments use different types of graphs to represent volume. For instance, some embodiments use a deformable line bar.

Claims

1-22. -22. (canceled)

23. A method for controlling the volume of an audio track, the method comprising:

a) representing the volume of the audio track with a deformable graph, wherein the graph is defined along two axes, wherein one axis represents time and the other represents volume level;

b) receiving a modification to the graph;

c) illustrating the modification on the graph as two points on the graph; and

d) based on the illustrated modification, specifying the volume levels of the audio track at different instances in time.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the graph is a deformable line.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the modification produces three different portions of the graph.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the portion of the graph between the two points is nonlinear.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the portion of the graph between the two points is a spline curve.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the two points are separated along the time axis by a predetermined amount.

33. The method of claim 28, wherein at least one of the three portions of the graph remains unchanged.

29. A method for controlling the volume of an audio track, the method comprising:

a) representing the volume of the audio track with a deformable graph, wherein the graph is defined along two axes, wherein one axis represents time and the other represents volume level;

b) receiving a modification to the graph; and

c) based on the modification, specifying three different portions of the graph corresponding to at least three different volume levels of the audio track.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the graph is a deformable line.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein at least one of the three portions of the graph is nonlinear.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the nonlinear portion is a spline curve.

34. A method for controlling the volume of an audio track, the method comprising:

a) defining a graphical user interface (GUI)

b) defining a graph to represent the volume of the audio track as a user interface item in the GUI, the graph for receiving modifications to the volume of the audio track and for representing each modification in terms of a first control for controlling the amount by which the modification changes the volume and a second control for controlling the duration of the modification.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the first control is also for controlling the time location of the modification.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the first control is a volume-control knob.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the second control is a duration-control knob.

38. A method for editing the volume of an audio track, the method comprising:

a) displaying a graph representing the volume of an audio track in a graphical user interface, wherein the graph comprises two axes, a volume axis and a time axis;

b) receiving a modification to the volume of a first portion of the audio track through a click-and-drag operation;

c) during the click-and-drag operation, determining whether the modified volume is within a first threshold of the volume of a second portion of the audio track; and

d) upon determining that the modified volume is within the first threshold of the volume of the second portion, displaying a visual indication of the volume of the second portion.

39. The method of claim 38 further comprising:

e) during the click-and-drag operation, determining whether the modified volume is within a second threshold of the volume of the second portion of the audio track; and

f) upon determining that the modified volume is within the second threshold of the volume of the second portion, setting the modified volume equal to the volume of the second portion of the audio track.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the second threshold is smaller than the first threshold.

41. The method of claim 38, wherein the visual indication is a dashed line.

42. A graphical user interface (GUI) for an application stored on a computer readable medium, the application for execution by at least one processor, the GUI comprising:

a) a display area for displaying a video;

b) a first graph representing the volume level of a first audio track for the displayed video, the first graph for receiving modifications that modify the volume level of the first audio track during portions of the displayed video clip.

43. The GUI of claim 42 further comprising a second graph representing the volume level of a second audio track added to the video by a user, the second graph for receiving modifications that modify the volume level of the second audio track during portions of the displayed video clip.

44. The GUI of claim 42, wherein the graph is a line bar.

45. The GUI of claim 42, wherein each modification specifies three different portions of the graph.

46. The GUI of claim 42 further comprising a volume control bar for editing the overall volume of an audio track.