LOUDNESS NORMALIZATION BASED ON USER FEEDBACK

• US 20150146886A1
• Filed: 11/25/2013
• Published: 05/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/25/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Baumgarte, Frank M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,240,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/107
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/02 Manually-operated control H03G3/001 and H03G3/002 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3005 in amplifiers suitable for low-frequencies, e.g. audio amplifiers H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3089 Control of digital or coded signals

Abstract

A system for performing loudness normalization based on user feedback is described herein. The system includes a content delivery system and a plurality of audio playback devices. The audio playback devices may communicate volume settings used during playback of pieces of sound program content to the content delivery system. Based on these collected data points, a statistical analysis may be performed to generate loudness adjustment values for pieces of sound program content. The loudness adjustment values may be communicated to the audio playback devices through metadata in associated pieces of sound program content or as separate communications from the content delivery system. An offline version is also described that supports individual loudness normalization adjustments based on a single user'"'"'s preferences. Under either system, loudness normalization may be achieved based on real world volume settings for individual pieces of sound program content played using various playback configurations.

Claims

1. A method for adjusting audio loudness, comprising:

receiving, from each of one or more audio playback devices, data describing a piece of sound program content played by each of the one or more audio playback devices and user adjusted volume settings used by each of the one or more audio playback devices to play the piece of sound program content;

determining a loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content based on the received user adjusted volume settings; and

transmitting the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content to an audio playback device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content includes performing a statistical analysis on the received user adjusted volume settings.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the statistical analysis is performed relative to configurations of the one or more audio playback devices from which the user adjusted volume settings were received.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the configurations of the one or more audio playback devices describe one or more of 1) a type of the one or more audio playback devices used to play the piece of sound program content, 2) a type of speakers used by the one or more audio playback devices, and 3) a mode of the one or more audio playback devices used while playing the piece of sound program content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content to the audio playback device comprises:

inserting the loudness adjustment level into metadata of the piece of sound program content prior to transmitting the piece of sound program content to the audio playback device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein transmitting the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content to the audio playback device comprises:

transmitting the piece of sound program content, with the loudness adjustment level, to the audio playback device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content to the audio playback device comprises:

transmitting the loudness adjustment level to the audio playback device separate from the piece of sound program content.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing an audio file stored on the audio playback device with a copy of a piece of sound program content stored on a remote server, wherein determining the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content based on the received user adjusted volume settings is performed in response to determining a match between the copy of the piece of sound program content stored on the remote server and the audio file stored on the audio playback device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

playing, by the audio playback device, the piece of sound program content using the loudness adjustment level to normalize the loudness of sound generated by the audio playback device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio playback device is part of the one or more audio playback devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the audio playback device is separate from the one or more audio playback devices.

12. A method for adjusting audio loudness, comprising:

collecting, by an audio playback device, data describing a piece of sound program content played by the audio playback device and user adjusted volume settings used by the audio playback devices to play the piece of sound program content;

determining a loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content based on the received user adjusted volume settings; and

playing the piece of sound program content using the loudness adjustment level to normalize the loudness of sound generated by the audio playback device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content includes performing a statistical analysis on the collected user adjusted volume settings.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the statistical analysis is performed relative to configurations of the audio playback device while the piece of sound program content was played before application of the loudness adjustment level.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the configurations of the audio playback device describe one or more of 1) a type of the audio playback device, 2) a type of speakers used by the audio playback device, and 3) a mode of the audio playback device used while playing the piece of sound program content.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

inserting the loudness adjustment level into metadata of the piece of sound program content.

17. An article of manufacture for adjusting audio loudness, comprising:

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that stores instructions which, when executed by a processor in a computer,

determine a loudness adjustment level for a piece of sound program content based on user adjusted volume settings used by each of one or more audio playback devices to play the piece of sound program content; and

insert the loudness adjustment level into metadata of the piece of sound program content prior to transmitting the piece of sound program content to an audio playback device.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein determining the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content includes performing a statistical analysis on the received user adjusted volume settings.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, wherein the statistical analysis is performed relative to configurations of the one or more audio playback devices from which the user adjusted volume settings were received.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, wherein the configurations of the one or more audio playback devices describe one or more of 1) a type of the one or more audio playback devices used to play the piece of sound program content, 2) a type of speakers used by the one or more audio playback devices, and 3) a mode of the one or more audio playback devices while playing the piece of sound program content.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes further instructions which, when executed by the processor:

compare an audio file stored on the audio playback device with a copy of the piece of sound program content stored on a remote server, wherein determining the loudness adjustment level for the piece of sound program content based on the received user adjusted volume settings is performed in response to determining a match between the copy of the piece of sound program content stored on the remote server and the audio file stored on the audio playback device.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the non-transitory machine-readable storage medium includes further instructions which, when executed by the processor:

transmit the piece of sound program content, with the loudness adjustment level, to the audio playback device.