Audio control of multimedia objects

• US 8,774,955 B2
• Filed: 04/13/2011
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• 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): Goins, Davetta W
• Assistant Examiner(s): SELLERS, DANIEL R
• Application Number:
  US13/086,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20120266071A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,182 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94, 715/716, 715/727, 381/104, 381/109, 719/321, 719/322, 719/328
• 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 an electronic document that includes at least two multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

scanning, by the computing device, the electronic document to identify one or more multimedia tags associated with the at least two multimedia objects;

for each of the at least two multimedia objects, and responsive to identifying a respective multimedia tag of the one or more multimedia tags that is associated with a respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects, registering the respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects, wherein registering the respective multimedia object comprises storing a multimedia object identifier for the respective multimedia object that uniquely identifies the respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects included in the electronic document;

receiving audio data associated with each multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects;

determining, by a computing device, a volume level of audio data of one of the at least two multimedia objects 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 that uniquely identifies the one of the at least two multimedia objects; and

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

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the at least two multimedia objects is a first multimedia object, the method further comprising:

receiving second audio data generated by a second registered multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects;

determining, by the computing device, a volume level of the second audio data based on the one or more configuration parameters, wherein the one or more configuration parameters further define one or more volume levels associated with the second multimedia object identifier; and

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

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

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

in response to determining that the second registered multimedia object comprises the dominant multimedia object, executing, by the computing device, at least one configuration parameter of the one or more configuration parameters to change a volume level of at least one of the one or more multimedia objects.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one configuration parameter of the one or more configuration parameters 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 at least two multimedia objects except the dominant multimedia object.

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

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the dominant heuristic is based on a content type of the second multimedia object.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the one of the at least two multimedia objects is a first multimedia object, 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.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the one of the at least two multimedia objects is a first multimedia object, wherein the dominant heuristic is based at least on:

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

9. 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 at least two multimedia objects, wherein the mute level volume indicates no volume.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the sound device comprises a sound card or an audio speaker of the computing device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more multimedia tags each indicate a content type of the one of the at least two multimedia objects.

12. 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.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by the computing device, an audio control panel that includes a volume selector indicating the volume level of one of the least two multimedia objects, wherein the volume selector indicates a range of selectable volume levels;

receiving, by the computing device, a user input to select a second volume level of the volume selector associated with the one of the least two multimedia objects; and

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

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one of the at least two multimedia objects is a first multimedia object, the method further comprising:

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

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

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

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

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

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

displaying, by the computing device, a second representation of the multimedia object identifier at the one of the at least two multimedia objects, wherein the one of the at least two multimedia objects is displayed in the electronic document.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the one of the at least two multimedia objects comprises an animation that includes audio content.

18. 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 at least two multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

scanning the electronic document to identify one or more multimedia tags associated with the at least two multimedia objects;

for each of the at least two multimedia objects, and responsive to identifying a respective multimedia tag of the one or more multimedia tags that is associated with a respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects, registering the respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects, wherein registering the respective multimedia object comprises storing a multimedia object identifier for the respective multimedia object that uniquely identifies the respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects included in the electronic document;

receiving audio data associated with each multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects;

determining, by a computing device, a volume level of audio data of one of the at least two multimedia objects 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 that uniquely identifies the one of the at least two multimedia objects; and

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

19. A computing device, comprising:

one or more processors,

wherein the one or more processors are configured to;

receive an electronic document that includes at least two multimedia objects capable of generating audio data;

scan the electronic document to identify one or more multimedia tags associated with the at least two multimedia objects;

for each of the at least two multimedia objects, and responsive to identifying a respective multimedia tag of the one or more multimedia tags that is associated with a respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects, register the respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects, wherein registering the respective multimedia object comprises storing a multimedia object identifier for the respective multimedia object that uniquely identifies the respective multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects; and

receive audio data associated with each multimedia object of the at least two multimedia objects included in the electronic document;

determine a volume level of audio data of one of the at least two multimedia objects 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 that uniquely identifies the one of the at least two multimedia objects; and

an output device to output the audio data at the determined volume level.

20. A method comprising:

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

scanning the electronic document to identify one or more multimedia tags associated with the group of two or more multimedia objects;

for each of the at least two multimedia objects, and responsive to identifying a first multimedia tag that is associated with a first multimedia object of the group of two or more multimedia objects and a second multimedia tag that is associated with a second multimedia object of the group of two or more multimedia objects, registering the first multimedia object and the second multimedia object of the group with an application, wherein registering the first multimedia object comprises storing a first multimedia object identifier that uniquely identifies the first multimedia object, and wherein registering the second multimedia object comprises storing a second multimedia object identifier that uniquely identifies the second multimedia object;

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

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

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

outputting, to an output device, the first audio data at the first volume level; and

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