Audio control of multimedia objects

• US 8,280,541 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 10/02/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Johnny
• Primary Examiner(s): Briney, III, Walter F
• Assistant Examiner(s): SELLERS, DANIEL R
• Application Number:
  US13/251,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20120263319A1
• Time in Patent Office: 368 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94, 715/716
• US Class Current: 700/94
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/162 Interface to dedicated audio devices, e.g. audio drivers, interface to CODECs
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path

Abstract

In some examples, aspects of the present disclosure may include techniques for audio control of one or more multimedia objects. In one example, a method includes receiving an electronic document that includes a group of one or more multimedia objects capable of generating audio data. The method also includes registering a multimedia object of the group of one or more multimedia objects, wherein registering the multimedia object comprises storing a multimedia object identifier that identifies the multimedia object. The method further includes receiving audio data; and determining, by a computing device, a volume level of the audio data generated by the registered multimedia object based on one or more configuration parameters, wherein the one or more configuration parameters define one or more volume levels associated with the multimedia object identifier. The method also includes outputting, to an output device, the audio data at the determined volume level.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, an electronic document that includes a group of one or more multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

registering, by the computing device, first and second multimedia objects of the group of one or more multimedia objects, wherein registering the first and second multimedia objects comprises determining first and second multimedia object identifiers that identify the respective multimedia objects;

receiving, by the computing device, first audio data generated by the registered first multimedia object and receiving second audio data generated by the registered second multimedia object;

determining based on a dominant heuristic, by the computing device, that the second registered multimedia object is a dominant multimedia object, wherein the dominant heuristic indicates that the second registered multimedia object is a most probable multimedia object of the group of multimedia objects to be focused on by a user;

in response to determining that the second registered multimedia object is the dominant multimedia object, determining, by the computing device, at least one configuration parameter configured to change a volume level associated with at least the registered first or second multimedia object, wherein the at least one configuration parameter defines one or more volume levels associated with the dominant multimedia object;

in response to determining the at least one configuration parameter, determining based on the at least one configuration parameter, by the computing device, a first volume level of the first audio data and a second volume level of the second audio data; and

outputting, to an output device, the first and second audio data at the respective first and second volume levels.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one configuration parameter defines a mute volume level indicating no volume, and wherein the method further comprises:

associating, by the computing device, the mute volume level with each multimedia object of the group of one or more multimedia objects except the dominant multimedia object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant heuristic is based on a spatial position of the second multimedia object in the electronic document.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant heuristic is based on a content type of the second multimedia object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant heuristic is based on comparing a first spatial size of the first multimedia object relative to a second spatial size of the second multimedia object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the dominant heuristic is based at least on:

determining, by the computing device, that the registered first multimedia object is displayed in an inactive region of a graphical user interface of the computing device, wherein the inactive region is not visible to the user;

determining, by the computing device, that the registered second multimedia object is displayed in an active region of the graphical user interface of the computing device, wherein the active region is visible to the user; and

determining, by the computing device, that the second registered multimedia object is the dominant multimedia object based on the second registered multimedia object being displayed in the active region.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, that a sound device of the computing device is receiving the audio data; and

assigning, by the computing device, a mute volume level to each registered multimedia object of the one or more multimedia objects, wherein the mute level volume indicates no volume.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sound device comprises a sound card or an audio speaker of the computing device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein registering the first and second multimedia objects further comprises:

scanning, by the computing device, the electronic document to identify one or more multimedia tags associated with the first and second multimedia objects; and

responsive to identifying the one or more multimedia tags, registering, by the computing device, the first and second multimedia objects based on the one or more multimedia tags.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more multimedia tags each indicate a content type of the first and second multimedia objects.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, that an application executing on the computing device is accessing a sound device of the computing device;

generating, by the computing device, a request for exclusive access to the sound device; and

sending, by the computing device, the request to the sound device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by the computing device, an audio control panel that includes first and second volume selectors indicating the volume levels of the first and second multimedia objects, wherein each volume selector indicates a range of selectable volume levels;

receiving, by the computing device, a user input to select a third volume level of the volume selector associated with the second multimedia object; and

outputting, to the output device, the audio data at the third volume level.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

generating, by the computing device, a preference heuristic that is based on an attribute of the second multimedia object and the second volume level;

registering, by the computing device, a third multimedia object of the group of one or more multimedia objects, wherein the third multimedia object includes the attribute of the second multimedia object; and

in response to determining that the registered third multimedia object includes the attribute of the second multimedia object, assigning, by the computing device, the second volume level to the second third multimedia object based on the preference heuristic.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the attribute further comprises a multimedia type or a domain name of the second multimedia object.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

displaying, by the computing device, a first representation of the first multimedia object identifier in the audio control panel; and

displaying, by the computing device, a second representation of the first multimedia object identifier at the display of first multimedia object in a graphical user interface, wherein the multimedia object is displayed in the electronic document.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second multimedia objects comprises an animation that includes audio content.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors of a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an electronic document that includes a group of one or more multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

registering first and second multimedia objects of the group of one or more multimedia objects, wherein registering the first and second multimedia objects comprises determining first and second multimedia object identifiers that identify the respective multimedia objects;

receiving audio data generated by the registered first multimedia object and receiving second audio data generated by the registered second multimedia object;

determining based on a dominant heuristic that the second registered multimedia object is a dominant multimedia object, wherein the dominant heuristic indicates that the second registered multimedia object is a most probable multimedia object of the group of multimedia objects to be focused on by a user;

in response to determining that the second registered multimedia object is the dominant multimedia object, determining at least one configuration parameter configured to change a volume level associated with at least the registered first or second multimedia object, wherein the at least one configuration parameter defines one or more volume levels associated with the dominant multimedia object;

in response to determining the at least one configuration parameter, determining based on the at least one configuration parameter a first volume level of the first audio data and a second volume level of the second audio data; and

outputting, to an output device, the first and second audio data at the respective first and second volume levels.

18. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors;

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

receive an electronic document that includes a group of one or more multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

register first and second multimedia objects of the group of one or more multimedia objects, wherein registering the first and second multimedia objects comprises determining first and second multimedia object identifiers that identify the respective multimedia objects; and

receive audio data generated by the registered first multimedia object and receive second audio data generated by the registered second multimedia object;

determine based on a dominant heuristic that the second registered multimedia object is a dominant multimedia object, wherein the dominant heuristic indicates that the second registered multimedia object is a most probable multimedia object of the group of multimedia objects to be focused on by a user;

in response to determining that the second registered multimedia object is the dominant multimedia object, determine at least one configuration parameter configured to change a volume level associated with at least the registered first or second multimedia object, wherein the at least one configuration parameter defines one or more volume levels associated with the dominant multimedia object;

in response to determining the at least one configuration parameter, determine, based on the at least one configuration parameter, a first volume level of the first audio data and a second volume level of the second audio data based; and

an output device to output the first and second audio data at the respective first and second volume levels.

19. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computing an electronic document that includes a group of two or more multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

registering with an application, by the computing device, a first multimedia object and a second multimedia object of the group, wherein registering the first multimedia object comprises determining a first multimedia object identifier that identifies the first multimedia object, and wherein registering the second multimedia object comprises storing a second multimedia object identifier that identifies the second multimedia object;

receiving, by the computing device, first audio data generated by the first multimedia object and second audio data generated by the second multimedia object;

determining based on a dominant heuristic, by the computing device, that the second multimedia object is a dominant multimedia object, wherein the dominant heuristic indicates that the second multimedia object is a most probable multimedia object of the group of multimedia objects to be focused on by a user;

in response to determining that the second multimedia object is the dominant multimedia object, determining, by the computing device, a first configuration parameter configured to change a volume level associated with at least the first or second multimedia object, wherein the first configuration parameter defines one or more volume levels associated with the dominant multimedia object;

receiving, during execution of the application, a second configuration parameter from the user that indicates a volume level of at least one of the first or second multimedia object;

in response to determining the first and second configuration parameters, determining based on at least one of the first and second configuration parameters, by the computing device, a first volume level of the first audio data and a second volume level of the second audio data;

outputting, to an output device, the first and second audio data at the respective first and second volume levels.