System and method to monitor audio loudness and provide audio automatic gain control

• US 9,729,120 B1
• Filed: 07/13/2011
• Issued: 08/08/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/13/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: The DIRECTV Group, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nguyen, Uy X., Truong, Heather N., Stanger, Leon J., Michener, James A., Culwell, Kevin S., Miner, Daniel M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lao, Lun-See
• Application Number:
  US13/182,078
• Time in Patent Office: 2,218 Days
• Field of Search: 381 56- 58, 381104-109, 700 94, 348 1408, 348705, 379 9102
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3005 in amplifiers suitable for low-frequencies, e.g. audio amplifiers H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/3089 Control of digital or coded signals
• CPC Class Codes: H03G 3/32 the control being dependent upon ambient noise level or sound level

Abstract

An audio loudness data collection module collects and stores audio data. The data can be stored for a first time period. A monitoring system can access and store the audio data collected and stored by the loudness data collection module according to a second time period. The stored audio data can be processed and displayed to a user in a number of ways. The data can also be used to provide loudness data control. For example, a loudness data control module can perform an audio AGC function to control audio loudness.

Claims

1. A system to process and display audio loudness data, comprising a monitor application executing on a computer to obtain audio loudness data stored at a remote location associated with a transport processing system located in a head end of a satellite broadcasting system, and prior to broadcast of a content stream from which the audio loudness data is derived to a set top box associated with a subscriber, the monitor application configured to obtain the data and store the data historically, and to process the historically stored data for display on a display to a user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitor stores data for a first interval of time at a first periodic rate and the monitor obtains the stored data for a second interval of time at a second periodic rate, wherein the second interval of time is less than the first interval of time.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the monitor is configured to determine where there is overlapping data and to discard the overlapping data.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the stored historical data is displayed to the user in tabular form.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitor displays the data at the data sampling rate.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitor displays an average of the data values in accordance with a step period.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising a loudness data controller to control audio loudness in accordance with the data stored by the monitor.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the loudness data controller uses audio automatic gain control (AGC).

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the AGC uses data sample averages to determine an average baseline and compares the average loudness baseline to a target loudness baseline to determine an adjustment.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the adjustment is applied to a header in the audio data to control audio loudness.

11. A method for monitoring audio loudness in a transport processing system, comprising:

obtaining audio loudness data stored on the transport processing system that is located in a head end of a satellite broadcasting system prior to broadcast of a content stream from which the audio loudness data is derived to a set top box associated with a subscriber using a device located remotely to the transport processing system;

storing the obtained audio loudness data along with audio loudness data previously obtained from the transport processing system by the remote device so that a history of the audio loudness data obtained from the transport processing system is stored; and

displaying the stored obtained audio loudness data to a user on a display.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising storing the audio loudness data for a first interval of time at a first periodic rate and obtaining the stored data for a second interval at a second periodic rate, wherein the second interval of time is shorter than the first interval of time.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining wherein there is overlapping data; and

discarding the overlapping data.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

processing the obtained data prior to displaying the data to the user; and

displaying the stored history of the audio loudness data to the user in tabular form.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying the audio loudness data at a data sampling rate.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising displaying an average of the audio loudness data in accordance with a step size.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising controlling audio loudness in accordance with the obtained audio loudness data.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising performing audio automatic gain control.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

using data sample averages to determine an average baseline; and

comparing the average loudness baseline to a target loudness baseline to determine an adjustment.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising applying the adjustment to a header in the audio data to control audio loudness.