Method and electronic device for determining a characteristic of a content item

• US 7,718,881 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2006
• Issued: 05/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: McKinney, Martin Franciscus, Skowronek, Janto
• Primary Examiner(s): Warren; David S.
• Application Number:
  US11/916,305
• Publication Number:
  US 20080202320A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,449 Days
• Field of Search: 84600-602, 700/94
• US Class Current: 84/600
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/634 Query by example, e.g. query by humming
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/036 of musical genre, i.e. analysing the style of musical pieces, usually for selection, filtering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/081 Genre classification, i.e. descriptive metadata for classification or selection of musical pieces according to style analysis genre G10H2210/036
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2240/085 Mood, i.e. generation, detection or selection of a particular emotional content or atmosphere in a musical piece
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/48 specially adapted for particular use

Abstract

The method of determining a characteristic of a content item comprises the steps of selecting (1) data representative of a plurality of sounds from the content item, determining (3) a characteristic of each of the plurality of sounds by analyzing said data, each characteristic representing a temporal aspect of an amplitude of one of the plurality of sounds, and determining (5) the characteristic of the content item based on the plurality of determined characteristics. The characteristic of the content item and/or a genre and/or mood based on the characteristic of the content item may be associated with the content item as an attribute value. If the content item is part of a collection of content items, the attribute value can be used in a method of searching for a content item in the collection of content items. The electronic device of the invention comprises electronic circuitry. The electronic circuitry is operative to perform one or both methods of the invention.

Claims

1. A method of determining a percussiveness measure of a content item, comprising the steps of:

selecting (1) data representative of a plurality of sounds from the content item;

determining (3) a characteristic of each of the plurality of sounds by analyzing said data without determining a source type of the sounds, each characteristic representing an aspect of temporal envelope of one of the plurality of sounds; and

determining (5) the percussiveness measure of the content item based on the plurality of determined characteristics.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining (5) the percussiveness measure of the content item comprises determining a percentage.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining (5) the percussiveness measure of the content item comprises determining a dominant instrument.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of determining (7) a classification category of the content item based on the percussiveness measure of the content item, the classification category selected from the group consisting of genre, mood, and combinations thereof.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the step of determining (5) the percussiveness measure of the content item comprises determining a first characteristic and a second characteristic of the content item and the step of determining (7) a classification category of the content item comprises comparing the first characteristic with a characteristic of a first classification category and comparing a second characteristic with a characteristic of a second classification category.

6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of determining (3) a characteristic of each of the plurality of sounds comprises determining a characteristic of a first phase (A) of each of the plurality of sounds and a characteristic of a second phase (D&

S, R) of each of the plurality of sounds.

8. A computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement the method of claim 1.

7. A method of searching for a content item in a plurality of content items, each content item in the plurality of content items being associated with an attribute value, a found content item being associated with an attribute value that is similar to a desired attribute value, the attribute value of said each content item being a percussiveness measure of said each content item or being based on a percussiveness measure of said each content item, and said percussiveness measure of said each content item having been determined by:

selecting data representative of a plurality of sounds from the content item;

determining a characteristic of each of the plurality of sounds by analyzing said data without determining a source type of the sounds, each characteristic representing an aspect of temporal envelope of one of the plurality of sounds; and

determining the percussiveness measure of the content item based on the plurality of determined characteristics.

9. An electronic device (51) comprising electronic circuitry (53), the electronic circuitry (53) being operative to:

select data representative of a plurality of sounds from a content item;

determine a characteristic of each of the plurality of sounds by analyzing said data without determining a source type of the sounds, such as a music instrument, each characteristic representing an aspect of the temporal envelope of one of the plurality of sounds; and

determine a measure of percussiveness of the content item based on the plurality of determined characteristics.

10. An electronic device (51) comprising electronic circuitry (53), the electronic circuitry (53) being operative to:

search for a content item in a plurality of content items, each content item in the plurality of content items being associated with an attribute value, a found content item being associated with an attribute value that is similar to a desired attribute value, the attribute value of said each content item being a percussiveness measure of said each content item or being based on a percussiveness measure of said each content item, and said percussiveness of said each content item having been determined by;

selecting data representative of a plurality of sounds from the content item;

determining a characteristic of each of the plurality of sounds by analyzing said data without determining a source type of the sounds, each characteristic representing an aspect of temporal envelope of one of the plurality of sounds; and

determining the percussiveness measure of the content item based on the plurality of determined characteristics.