Adaptive music playback system

• US 9,595,932 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2013
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Nike, Inc.
• Inventors: Fraga, Justin, Patton, Levi J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Saunders, Jr., Joseph
• Application Number:
  US13/941,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20140254831A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,338 Days
• Field of Search: 700/94
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/00 Details of electrophonic musical instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/0025 Automatic or semi-automatic music composition, e.g. producing random music, applying rules from music theory or modifying a musical piece automatically producing a series of tones G10H1/26
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 1/46 Volume control
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/031 Musical analysis, i.e. isolation, extraction or identification of musical elements or musical parameters from a raw acoustic signal or from an encoded audio signal
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/101 Music Composition or musical creation; Tools or processes therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/125 Medley, i.e. linking parts of different musical pieces in one single piece, e.g. sound collage, DJ mix
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/136 Morphing interpolation, i.e. interpolating in pitch, harmony or time, tempo or rhythm, between two different musical pieces, e.g. to produce a new musical work
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2210/145 Composing rules, e.g. harmonic or musical rules, for use in automatic composition; Rule generation algorithms therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/201 for movement interpretation, i.e. capturing and recognizing a gesture or a specific kind of movement, e.g. to control a musical instrument
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2220/371 Vital parameter control, i.e. musical instrument control based on body signals, e.g. brainwaves, pulsation, temperature or perspiration; Biometric information
• 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: G10H 2240/131 Library retrieval, i.e. searching a database or selecting a specific musical piece, segment, pattern, rule or parameter set
• CPC Class Codes: G10H 2250/035 Crossfade, i.e. time domain amplitude envelope control of the transition between musical sounds or melodies, obtained for musical purposes, e.g. for ADSR tone generation, articulations, medley, remix
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/20 Automatic control H03G3/005 takes precedence; combined with volume compression or expansion H03G7/00

Abstract

An adaptive music playback system is disclosed. The system includes a composition system that receives information corresponding to user activity levels. The composition system modifies the composition of a song in response to changes in user activity. The modifications are made according to a set of composition rules to facilitate smooth musical transitions.

Claims

1. A method of adjusting playback of audio information, comprising:

playing, by a computing device, a first song, the first song comprising a plurality of song segments that are sequential in time and the song further comprising a set of audio tracks;

retrieving a set of composition rules;

receiving user activity information from at least one sensor configured to detect movements of a user and determining a user activity level from the user activity information while a first song segment of the first song is being played;

determining, by a processor, a target song intensity corresponding to the user activity level;

identifying a target song segment of the first song comprising a song state corresponding to the target song intensity; and

dynamically determining one or more audio tracks in the set of audio tracks to mute or unmute throughout a continuous segment of the song to transition from the first song segment to the target song segment.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

controlling the set of audio tracks to achieve the target song intensity.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein controlling the set of audio tracks includes controlling a relative volume of one or more audio tracks in the set of audio tracks.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the set of composition rules are used to determine the timing at which one or more audio tracks from the set of audio tracks are muted and unmuted.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein each audio track in the set of audio tracks corresponds to a different instrument.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is associated with an article of footwear worn by the user.

7. A method of adjusting playback of audio information, comprising:

playing a song, the song comprising a plurality of song segments that are sequential in time and the song further comprising a set of audio tracks that may be played simultaneously;

retrieving a set of composition rules;

receiving user activity information from at least one sensor configured to detect movements of a user;

determining, by a processor, a user activity level from the user activity information while a first song segment is being played;

determining, by a processor, a second song segment within the song comprising a song state that matches the determined user activity level; and

using the set of composition rules to dynamically determine one or more audio tracks in the set of audio tracks to mute or unmute throughout a continuous segment of the song to compose a musical transition from the first song segment to the second song segment.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein using the set of composition rules to compose the musical transition includes adjusting an entrance and exit of one or more audio tracks from the set of audio tracks during the musical transition.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein using the set of composition rules to compose the musical transition includes selecting a transition pattern.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the transition pattern is an attack pattern.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein the transition pattern is a decay pattern.

12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the song state corresponds to an intensity of the song.

13. The method according to claim 7, wherein the set of composition rules includes a set of user preferences that can be set by the user.

14. The method according to claim 7, wherein the set of composition rules includes at least one rule determining when two audio tracks from the set of audio tracks can be played together.

15. The method according to claim 7, wherein the musical transition includes at least one segment from the plurality of song segments.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein composing the musical transition includes adjusting a composition of audio tracks from the set of audio tracks in the at least one segment.