SMART CIRCULAR AUDIO BUFFER

• US 20150066494A1
• Filed: 09/03/2013
• Published: 03/05/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Salvador, Stan Weidner, Schaaf, Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 9,633,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/16 Sound input; Sound output speech processing G10L
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/167 Audio in a user interface, e.g. using voice commands for navigating, audio feedback
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/55 Rule-based translation
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/00 Speech recognition G10L17/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 17/00 Speaker identification or verification techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/00 Speech or voice signal processing techniques to produce another audible or non-audible signal, e.g. visual or tactile, in order to modify its quality or its intelligibility G10L19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0208 Noise filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/78 Detection of presence or absence of voice signals switching of direction of transmission by voice frequency in two-way loud-speaking telephone systems H04M9/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1874 Buffer management

Abstract

An audio buffer is used to capture audio in anticipation of a user command to do so. Sensors and processor activity may be monitored, looking for indicia suggesting that the user command may be forthcoming. Upon detecting such indicia, a circular buffer is activated. Audio correction may be applied to the audio stored in the circular buffer. After receiving the user command instructing the device to process or record audio, at least a portion of the audio that was stored in the buffer before the command is combined with audio received after the command. The combined audio may then be processed, transmitted or stored.

Claims

1. A method of buffering audio on an electronic device, comprising:

detecting an indicia of impending device activity, the indicia comprising one or more of an activation of an application that records or processes audio, a change in incident light intensity, a visual detection of motion, a visual detection of a user in proximity to the device, visual recognition of a face, detection of a finger proximal to a touch-sensitive display screen, movement of the device, detection of an ambient sound, detection of speech, or detection of a particular speaker;

activating a circular buffer, in response to detecting the indicia;

storing received audio in the circular buffer;

receiving an indication to process or record audio;

in response to the indication, combining at least a portion of the audio stored in the buffer prior to the indication with audio received after the indication; and

transmitting or processing the combined audio.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received indication is a pressing of a physical button, a pressing of a virtual button provided via a graphical user interface, or a command gesture.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating an audio correction to be applied to the received audio, in response to detecting the indicia and before receiving the indication; and

applying the audio correction to audio received after the indication.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the audio correction comprises one or more of channel normalization or noise reduction.

5. A computing device, comprising:

at least one processor;

a memory device including instructions operable to be executed by the at least one processor to perform a set of actions, configuring the at least one processor to;

detect an indicia of impending device activity;

activate a circular buffer, based at least in part on detecting the indicia of impending device activity;

store received audio in the circular buffer;

receive a signal to process or record audio;

combine at least a portion of the audio stored in the circular buffer prior to receipt of the signal with audio received after the signal; and

transmit or process the combined audio.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the detecting of the indicia of impending device activity is based at least in part on monitoring sensors coupled to said at least one processor.

7. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the indicia comprises one or more of an activation of an application that records or processes audio, a change in incident light intensity, a visual detection of motion, a visual detection of a user in proximity to the device, visual recognition of a face, detection of a finger proximal to a touch-sensitive display screen, movement of the device, detection of an ambient sound, detection of speech, or detection of a particular speaker.

8. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the signal to process or record audio is generated in response to a pressing of a physical button, a pressing of a virtual button provided via a graphical user interface of the device, or a gesture.

9. The computing device of claim 5, further comprising instructions configuring the at least one processor to:

calculate an audio correction, prior to receipt of the signal to process or record audio; and

apply the audio correction to audio received after the signal.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

calculate the audio correction based at least in part on audio stored in a first circular buffer;

apply the audio correction to audio stored in a second circular buffer; and

combine a portion of the audio stored in the second circular buffer with audio received after the signal.

11. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the audio correction comprises one or more of channel normalization or noise reduction.

12. The computing device of claim 5, further comprising instructions configuring the at least one processor to:

recognize patterns of device activity relating to utilization of captured audio based at least in part on a user history; and

compare at least the detected indicia of impending device activity and other data relating to occurrence of the indicia with the recognized patterns,

wherein activating the circular buffer is further based at least in part on the comparison.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions for controlling a computing device, comprising:

program code to detect an indicia of impending device activity;

program code to activate a circular buffer, based at least in part on detecting the indicia of impending device activity;

program code to store received audio in the circular buffer;

program code to receive a signal to process or record audio;

program code to combine at least a portion of the audio stored in the circular buffer prior to receipt of the signal with audio received after the signal; and

program code to transmit or process the combined audio.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the program code to detect the indicia of impending device activity is based at least in part on monitoring sensors of the computing device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the indicia comprises one or more of an activation of an application that records or processes audio, a change in incident light intensity, a visual detection of motion, a visual detection of a user in proximity to the device, visual recognition of a face, detection of a finger proximal to a touch-sensitive display screen, movement of the device, detection of an ambient sound, detection of speech, or detection of a particular speaker.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the signal to process or record audio is generated in response to a pressing of a physical button, a pressing of a virtual button provided via a graphical user interface of the computing device, or a gesture.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

program code to calculate an audio correction, prior to receipt of the signal to process or record audio; and

program code to apply the audio correction to audio received after the signal.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein:

the program code to calculate the audio correction is based at least in part on audio stored in a first circular buffer;

the program code to apply the audio correction comprises program code to apply the audio correction to audio stored in a second circular buffer; and

the program code to combine a portion of the audio comprises program code to combine a portion of the audio stored in the second circular buffer with audio received after the signal.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the audio correction comprises one or more of channel normalization or noise reduction.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

program code to recognize patterns of device activity relating to utilization of captured audio based at least in part on a user history; and

program code to compare at least the detected indicia of impending device activity and other data relating to occurrence of the indicia with the recognized patterns,

wherein the program code to activate the circular buffer is further based at least in part on the comparison.