Method and apparatus for detecting audio signals

• US 8,116,463 B2
• Filed: 12/27/2010
• Issued: 02/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Wang, Zhe
• Primary Examiner(s): Mei, Xu
• Application Number:
  US12/979,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20110091043A1
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• Field of Search: 381/56, 381/57, 381/110, 381/124, 704/205, 704/206, 704/278, 84601-604, 846/09, 846/15, 846/16, 700/94
• US Class Current: 381/56
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/046 for differentiation between music and non-music signals, based on the identification of musical parameters, e.g. based on tempo detection
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2250/235 Fourier transform; Discrete Fourier Transform [DFT]; Fast Fourier Transform [FFT]
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2250/571 Waveform compression, adapted for music synthesisers, sound banks or wavetables
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/81 for discriminating voice from music

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for detecting audio signals are disclosed. The input audio signal is inspected to check whether it is a foreground frame or a background frame; the detected background signal is further inspected according to the music eigenvalue and the decision rule. Therefore, background music can be detected, and the classifying performance of the voice/music classifier is improved.

Claims

1. A method for detecting audio signals, the method comprising:

dividing an input audio signal into multiple audio signal frames;

inspecting every audio signal frame to check whether it is a foreground signal frame or a background signal frame;

adding a step length value to a background frame counter when a background signal frame is detected;

obtaining a music eigenvalue of the background signal frame, and adding the music eigenvalue to an accumulated background music eigenvalue; and

comparing the accumulated background music eigenvalue with a threshold when the background frame counter reaches a preset number, and determining the signal as background music if the accumulated background music eigenvalue fulfills a threshold decision rule.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining a music eigenvalue of the background signal frame comprises:

obtaining a spectrum of the background signal frame;

obtaining positions and energy values of local peak points in at least a part of the spectrum;

calculating a normalized peak-valley distance corresponding to every local peak point according to the position and energy value to obtain multiple normalized peak-valley distance values; and

obtaining the music eigenvalue according to the multiple normalized peak-valley distance values.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the normalized peak-valley distance of the local peak point is calculated in the following way:

for each local peak point, obtaining a minimum value among four frequencies adjacent to the left side of the local peak point and a minimum value among four frequencies adjacent to the right side of the local peak point; and

calculating a difference between the local peak point and the left-side minimum value, and a difference between the local peak point and the right-side minimum value; and

dividing a sum of the two differences by an average energy value of the spectrum of the audio frame or an average energy value of apart of the spectrum to generate a normalized peak-valley distance.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the normalized peak-valley distance of the local peak point is calculated in the following way:

for every local peak point, calculating a distance between the local peak point and at least one frequency to the left side of the local peak point, and calculating a distance between the local peak point and at least one frequency to the right side of the local peak point; and

dividing a sum of the two differences by an average energy value of the spectrum or a part of the spectrum of the audio frame to generate a normalized peak-valley distance.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the obtaining the music eigenvalue according to the multiple normalized peak-valley distance values comprises:

selecting a maximum value of the normalized peak-valley distance values as the music eigenvalue;

or

adding up at least two maximum values of the normalized peak-valley distance values to obtain the music eigenvalue.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the threshold decision rule is:

the accumulated music eigenvalue is greater than the threshold.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining a music eigenvalue of the background signal frame comprises:

according to a spectrum of the background signal frame, obtaining a first position of a frequency whose peak-valley distance is the greatest among all local peak values on the spectrum;

according to a spectrum of a frame before the background signal frame, obtaining a second position of a frequency whose peak-valley distance is the greatest among all local peak values on the spectrum; and

calculating a difference between the first position and the second position to obtain the music eigenvalue.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the threshold decision rule is:

the accumulated music eigenvalue is less than the threshold.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the threshold is adjusted according to a protection frame value;

if the protection frame value is greater than 0, a first threshold is applied;

otherwise, a second threshold is applied.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the background music is detected, the method further comprises:

identifying a preset number of audio frames after a current audio frame as background music.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

decreasing a preset protection frame value by 1 when a background signal frame is detected; and

applying a first threshold if the protection frame value is greater than 0, or else, applying a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is less than the second threshold if the threshold decision rule indicates that the accumulated music eigenvalue is greater than the threshold, and the first threshold is greater than the second threshold if the threshold decision rule indicates that the accumulated music eigenvalue is less than the threshold.

12. A coder, comprising:

a background frame recognizer, configured to inspect every input audio signal frame, and output a detection result indicating whether the frame is a background signal frame or a foreground signal frame; and

a background music recognizer, configured to inspect a background signal frame according to a music eigenvalue of the background signal frame once the background signal frame is detected, and output a detection result indicating that background music is detected, wherein the background music recognizer comprises;

a background frame counter, configured to add a step length value to the counter once a background signal frame is detected;

a music eigenvalue obtaining unit, configured to obtain the music eigenvalue of the background signal frame;

a music eigenvalue accumulator, configured to accumulate the music eigenvalue; and

a decider, configured to determine that a accumulated background music eigenvalue fulfills a threshold decision rule when the background frame counter reaches a preset number, and output the detection result indicating that the background music is detected.

13. The coder according to claim 12, wherein the music eigenvalue obtaining unit comprises:

a spectrum obtaining unit, configured to obtain a spectrum of the background signal frame;

a peak point obtaining unit, configured to obtain local peak points in at least a part of the spectrum; and

a calculating unit, configured to calculate a normalized peak-valley distance corresponding to every local peak point to obtain multiple normalized peak-valley distance values, and obtain the music eigenvalue according to the multiple normalized peak-valley distance values.

14. The coder according to claim 13, wherein the normalized peak-valley distance of the local peak point is calculated in the following way:

for each local peak point, obtaining a minimum value among four frequencies adjacent to the left side of the local peak point and a minimum value among four frequencies adjacent to the right side of the local peak point;

calculating a difference between the local peak value and the left-side minimum value, and a difference between the local peak value and right-side minimum value, and dividing a sum of the two differences by an average energy value of the spectrum of the audio frame or an average energy value of a part of the spectrum to generate a normalized peak-valley distance.

15. The coder according to claim 13, wherein the normalized peak-valley distance of the local peak point is calculated in the following way:

for every local peak point, calculating a distance between the local peak point and at least one frequency to the left side of the local peak point, and calculating a distance between the local peak point and at least one frequency to the right side of the local peak point;

dividing a sum of the two differences by an average energy value of the spectrum or a part of the spectrum of the audio frame to generate a normalized peak-valley distance.

16. The coder according to claim 12, wherein the music eigenvalue obtaining unit comprises:

a first position obtaining unit, configured to obtain a spectrum of the background signal frame, and obtain a first position of a frequency whose peak-valley distance is the greatest among all local peak values on the spectrum;

a second position obtaining unit, configured to obtain a spectrum of a frame before the background signal frame, and obtain a second position of the frequency whose peak-valley distance is the greatest among all local peak values on the spectrum; and

a calculating unit, configured to calculate a difference between the first position and the second position to obtain the music eigenvalue.

17. The coder according to claim 12, further comprising:

an identifying unit, configured to identify a preset number of audio frames after a current audio frame as background music.

18. The coder according to claim 17, further comprising:

a threshold adjusting unit, configured to;

decrease a preset protection frame value by 1 when a background signal frame is detected; and

apply a first threshold if the protection frame value is greater than 0, or else, apply a second threshold, wherein the first threshold is less than the second threshold if the threshold decision rule indicates that the accumulated music eigenvalue is greater than the threshold, and the first threshold is greater than the second threshold if the threshold decision rule indicates that the accumulated music eigenvalue is less than the threshold.

19. The coder according to claim 12, wherein:

the decider is further configured to determine that an accumulated background music eigenvalue does not fulfill the threshold decision rule when the background frame counter reaches the preset number, and output a detection result indicating that non-background music is detected.