APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR ADJUSTING THE COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY OF AN AUDIOVISUAL CONTENT TO A VIEWER ATTENTION LEVEL

• US 20110102674A1
• Filed: 05/28/2009
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Mertens, Mark Jozef Willem
• Granted Patent: US 9,032,472 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 348/515
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/031 Electronic editing of digitised analogue information signals, e.g. audio or video signals
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 27/10 Indexing; Addressing; Timing or synchronising; Measuring tape travel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4398 involving reformatting operations of audio signals details of audio signal transcoding G10L19/173
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44008 involving operations for analysing video streams, e.g. detecting features or characteristics in the video stream arrangements characterised by components specially adapted for monitoring, identification or recognition of video in broadcast systems H04H60/59
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4402 involving reformatting operations of video signals for household redistribution, storage or real-time display details of conversion of video standards at pixel level H04N7/01; video transcoding H04N19/40; adapting incoming signals to the display format of the display terminal G09G5/005; media handling at the source in data packet switching networks H04L65/764
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4852 for modifying audio parameters, e.g. switching between mono and stereo
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/2625 for obtaining an image which is composed of images from a temporal image sequence, e.g. for a stroboscopic effect sequence generated by event triggered capturing H04N7/188
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/163 by receiver means only

Abstract

To allow viewer to adapt audiovisual content to their attention level, the audiovisual signal processing arrangement (104, 106), comprising an audiovisual signal processing unit (104) arranged to receive from a control unit (106) at least one complexity setting value (S_Inf-c) specifying a complexity of information in an audiovisual signal, the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) being arranged to process an inputted audiovisual signal S(A, V) to decrease or increase its information complexity as determined by the complexity setting value (S_Inf-c), wherein the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to process at least an audio component (A) of the audiovisual signal S(A, V).

Claims

1. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement (104, 106), comprising an audiovisual signal processing unit (104) arranged to receive from a control unit (106) at least one complexity setting value (S_Inf-c) specifying a complexity of information in an audiovisual signal, the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) being arranged to process an inputted audiovisual signal S(A,V) to decrease or increase its information complexity as determined by the complexity setting value (S_Inf-c), wherein the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to process at least an audio component (A) of the audiovisual signal S(A,V).

2. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 1, in which the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to process a video component (V) of the audiovisual signal S(A,V) to change its complexity.

3. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 1, in which the audio processing comprises at least one and preferably an optimized synchroneous combination of:

{changing the number of words in a time unit, changing the volume of certain temporal parts of the audio, and changing the spectral characteristics of the voice data}.

4. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 1 in which the complexity setting value (S_Inf-c) is a relative complexity value, receivable as a user-specified value, via a user control means (122) having a sensor (123) allowing a viewer to change the complexity setting value (S_Inf-c) upwards or downwards in discrete steps.

5. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 2, in which the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to assign different temporal parts of the video to different spatial sub-regions of an output video signal O(A,V), usable for viewing on a display (150).

6. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 5, comprising a selection unit (160) arranged to select under viewer control a particular temporal part of the video component (V) and assign it to a spatial sub-regions of the output video signal O(A,V).

7. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an analysis unit (170) arranged to analyze the audiovisual signal to determine at least one of {a shot interval, a scene interval, a program interval, a reportage interval, a shot type, a scene type or identification, a program type or identification, a reportage type}.

8. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 7, in which the analysis unit (170) is arranged to detect a characteristic shot by means of a spatial histogram of pictures, and preferably further arranged to store in a memory (190) identifying information of the characteristic shot from analysis of the inputted audiovisual signal S(A,V) over a time interval of more than a day.

9. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 7, in which the analysis unit (170) is arranged to detect a relevant part of the audiovisual signal S(A,V) by means of identification of a characteristic speaker, and preferably, wherein the analysis unit (170) is further arranged to store in a memory characterizing data of a set of characteristic speakers.

10. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 7, in which the analysis unit (170) is arranged to process the audiovisual signal S(A,V) according to metadata describing different temporal subparts of the audiovisual signal S(A,V).

11. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 7, in which the analysis unit (170) is arranged to recognize a commercial program, and in which the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to convert the commercial program in an essential summary audiovisual signal, for combination with the output video signal O(A,V).

12. An audiovisual rendering apparatus (102) comprising a storage unit (192) for audiovisual signals, and an audiovisual signal processing arrangement as claimed in claim 1.

15. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement (104, 106) as claimed in claim 1, in which the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to create a temporally repeating sequence of at least one temporal part of a part of the inputted audiovisual signal S(A,V), e.g. a spatial subregion corresponding to a subwindow or a part to be displayed on a secondary display such as a surround display, whereby the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) may be arranged to allocate different time spans to different subparts of the at least one temporal part.

16. A computer program product comprising code for enabling a computer to execute the method of claim 11.

13. A method of changing the complexity of an audiovisual signal, comprising the steps of:

determining, preferably by a viewer, a complexity setting value (S_Inf-c) specifying a complexity of information in an audiovisual signal; and

processing an inputted audiovisual signal S(A,V) to decrease or increase its information complexity as determined by the complexity setting value (S_Inf-c).

14. An audiovisual signal processing arrangement (104, 106), comprising an audiovisual signal processing unit (104) arranged to receive from a control unit (106) at least one complexity setting value (S_Inf-c) specifying a complexity of information in an audiovisual signal, the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) being arranged to process an inputted audiovisual signal S(A,V) to decrease or increase its information complexity as determined by the complexity setting value (S_Inf-c), wherein the audiovisual signal processing unit (104) is arranged to process at least a video component (V) of the audiovisual signal S(A,V).