System and method for automatically controlling the audio output of a television

• US 5,369,440 A
• Filed: 11/19/1992
• Issued: 11/29/1994
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Barry Sussman
• Original Assignee: Barry Sussman
• Inventors: Sussman, Barry
• Primary Examiner(s): Groody, James J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murrell, Jeffrey S.
• Application Number:
  US07/978,728
• Time in Patent Office: 740 Days
• Field of Search: 381/41, 381/43, 381/45, 381/42, 381/44, 358/198, 358/165, 358/194.1, 358/903, 358/908, 348/738, 348/632, 348/734, 348/462
• US Class Current: 725/28
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/60 for the sound signals

Abstract

A system and method for automatically controlling the audio output from a television so as to avoid listening to undesired material includes a microphone for converting the audio output from the television into audio signals, an audio amplifier for amplifying the audio signals from the microphone, a waveform pattern comparator, a waveform digitizer and recorder, a speech recognition unit, an external device controller, a computer and an input/output device. In setting up the system for subsequent use, waveform patterns of audio signals corresponding to material being outputted from the television which the listener considers undesirable are digitized by the waveform digitizer and recorder and then stored in the waveform pattern comparator. In addition, digital signals corresponding to key words in undesired material are entered into the computer through the input/output device and then transferred from the computer to the speech recognition unit. Once the system has been loaded with the undesired material, waveform pattern comparator continually digitizes and compares the audio signal output from the audio amplifier with the stored data. At the same time, the speech recognition unit compares the audio signal output with the stored key words. When the undesired material is detected an indicator signal is sent to the external device controller which outputs a control signal which is applied to the television to make some adjustment to either the sound or the channel to avoid listening to the undesired material.

Claims

1. A method of automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired program material comprising the steps of:

a. generating digital information corresponding to at least a portion of said undesired program material and unique to said undesired program material, then,

b. comparing digital information corresponding to the audio output of said television with said generated digital information corresponding to said at least a portion of said undesired program material to determine the presence of said undesired program material in said audio output and generating an indicator signal as soon as said undesired program material is detected,

c. generating a control signal in response to said indicator signal, and

d. applying said control signal to said television to control the audio output of said television.

2. The method of claim 1 and wherein said step of generating digital information unique to said undesired program material comprises entering data corresponding to words in at least a portion of said undesired program material into a computer using an input/output device.

3. The method of claim 1 and wherein said step of generating digital information unique to said undesired program material comprises entering data corresponding to words using a keyboard.

4. A system for automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired program material comprising:

a. means for generating digital information corresponding to at least a portion of said undesired program material,

b. means for comparing said digital information corresponding to said portion of said undesired program material with digital information corresponding to said audio output and producing an indicator signal when said undesired material is detected, and

c. means for receiving said indicator signal and producing a control signal in response thereto for controlling the audio output of said television.

5. A system for automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired material comprising:

a. microphone for converting the audio output of said television into an audio signal,

b. an audio amplifier for amplifying the audio signals signal from said microphone,

c. a waveform pattern digitizer and recorder for digitizing and storing patterns of audio signals received from said audio amplifier corresponding to undesired material,

d. a computer for controlling the operations of the system,

e. an input/output device coupled to said computer for entering digital signals into said computer corresponding to key words representing said undesired material,

f. a waveform pattern comparator, said waveform pattern comparator having a memory for receiving and storing digital signals of waveform patterns from said waveform pattern digitzer and recorder, said waveform pattern comparator receiving and digitizing the output of said audio amplifier and comparing said digitized output to the waveform patterns stored in said memory of said waveform pattern comparator and outputting an indicator signal if there is a match, and

g. a speech recognition unit, said speech recognition unit having a memory for storing keywords, said speech recognition unit converting the audio output of the audio amplifier into data signals corresponding to speech and comparing said speech with key words stored in said memory and outputting an indicator signal if there is a match,

h. an external device controller coupled to said waveform pattern comparator and said speech recognition system for receiving said indicator signal from either said waveform pattern comparator or said speech recognition system and generating pursuant thereto a control signal for controlling the audio output of the television.

6. A system for automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired material comprising:

a. means for generating digital information corresponding to a waveform pattern of said undesired material,

b. means for comparing said digital information corresponding to said undesired material with digital information corresponding to a waveform pattern of said audio output and producing an indicator signal when said undesired material is detected,

c. means for receiving said indicator signal and producing a control signal in response thereto for controlling the audio output of said television, and

d. a computer for controlling the operations of said system.

7. A method of automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired material comprising the steps of:

a. generating digital information unique to said undesired material, said digital information being generated by converting waveform patterns of sound of said undesired material into data, then,

b. comparing digital information corresponding to waveform patterns of the audio output of said television with said generated digital information unique to said undesired material to determine the presence of said undesired material in said audio output and generating an indicator signal as soon as said undesired material is detected,

c. generating a control signal in response to said indicator signal, and

d. applying said control signal to said television to control the audio output of said television.

8. A method of automatically controlling the output of a television so as to exclude undesired program material comprising the steps of:

a. generating digital information corresponding to at least a portion of said undesired program material unique to said undesired program material, then,

b. comparing digital information corresponding the output of said television with said generated digital information corresponding to said at least a portion of said undesired program material to determine the presence of said undesired program material in said audio output, and then

c. adjusting the output of said television when said undesirable program material is detected so as to inhibit the output of said undesired program material.

9. A system for automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired program material comprising:

a. a waveform digitizer and recorder for digitizing a waveform pattern corresponding to at least a portion of said undesired program material and recording said waveform pattern so digitized,

b. means for comparing said digital information corresponding to said waveform pattern so recorded with digital information corresponding to a waveform pattern of said audio output and producing an indicator signal when said undesired material is detected, and

c. means for receiving said indicator signal and producing a control signal in response thereto for controlling the audio output of said television.

10. A system for automatically controlling the audio output of a television so as to avoid listening to undesired program material comprising:

a. a speech recognition unit for generating digital information of words corresponding to at least a portion of said undesired program material and for controlling the operations of said system,

b. means for comparing said digital information of words corresponding to said portion of said undesired program material with digital information of words corresponding to said audio output and producing an indicator signal when said undesired material is detected, and

c. means for receiving said indicator signal and producing a control signal in response thereto for controlling the audio output of said television.