Sound Library and Method

• US 20100142715A1
• Filed: 09/15/2009
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Staton Techiya, LLC
• Original Assignee: Personics Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Keady, John P., Boillot, Marc, Hoshizaki, Gary, Goldstein, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 9,253,560 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/56
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/68 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/683 using metadata automatically derived from the content
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/686 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, title or artist information, time, location or usage information, user ratings
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/687 using geographical or spatial information, e.g. location
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/165 Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 17/05 Geographic models
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 15/22 Procedures used during a speech recognition process, e.g. man-machine dialogue
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 2015/223 Execution procedure of a spoken command
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 25/51 for comparison or discrimination
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 20/10527 Audio or video recording; Data buffering arrangements G11B20/12 - G11B20/18 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G11B 2020/10546 specifically adapted for audio data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6066 including a wireless connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/083 Special constructions of mouthpieces
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/1083 Reduction of ambient noise active noise reduction per se G10K11/175; protective devices for the ear, e.g. providing acoustic protection A61F11/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 29/00 Monitoring arrangements; Testing arrangements for hearing aids H04R25/30; detection of loudspeaker connection H04R5/04; sound-field adaptation dependent on speaker detection H04S7/308

Abstract

At least one exemplary embodiment is directed to a website configured to collect sound signatures from around the world and beyond. A communication device automatically stores acoustic information received by a microphone of the communication device. The acoustic information is analyzed for a trigger event. The trigger event stores the acoustic information, attaches metadata, creates a Gaussian Mixture Model, and measures sound pressure level. The communication device automatically sends the sound signature to a database when a communication path is opened to communication device. Each sound signature has associated metadata including a time stamp and geocode. Automatically collecting sounds using a communication device adapted for the process enables a database that captures sounds globally on a continuous basis.

Claims

1. A method of collecting acoustic information comprising the steps of:

configuring a device to automatically receive, collect, and send acoustic information;

analyzing a first set of acoustic information to determine whether a trigger event has occurred;

collecting a second set of acoustic information when the trigger event has occurred; and

providing the second set of acoustic information to a database.

2. The method according to claim 1 where a trigger event has occurred when the first set of acoustic information indicates that a sound pressure level exceeds a predetermined threshold.

3. The method according to claim 1 where a trigger event has occurred when the first set of acoustic information indicates that a sound pressure level has changed by a predetermined amount.

4. The method according to claim 1 where a trigger event has occurred when the first set of acoustic information indicates that the device is within a predetermined location range.

5. The method according to claim 1 where a trigger event has occurred when the first set of acoustic information indicates that first set of acoustic information is within a predetermined time range.

6. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

comparing the first set of acoustic information to at least one sound signature; and

collecting the second set of acoustic information when the sound is similar to the at least one sound signature.

7. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

comparing the first set of acoustic information to at least one sound signature; and

collecting the second set of acoustic information when the sound is dissimilar to the at least one sound signature.

8. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

storing the first set of acoustic information when a trigger event occurs;

attaching metadata to the first set of acoustic information;

building a queue of a third acoustic information in memory; and

sending the queue of third acoustic information to the database when a communication path between the communication device and the database is enabled.

10. The method according to claim 1 further including a step of providing a sound signature that includes a Gaussian Mixture Model of the acoustic information to the database.

11. The method according to claim 1 further including a step of providing a sound pressure level measurement of the second set of acoustic information to the database.

12. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

storing at least one of the first set and the second set of acoustic information

13. The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of:

searching a topic;

providing a map associated with the topic;

searching the database for information related to the topic; and

providing the information for playback with the map.

32. The method according to claim 1 where a trigger event has occurred when the analysis of the first set of acoustic information indicates that a periodic signal has been detected.

9. The method according to 8 further including a step of including a time stamp and a geocode with the metadata for respectively providing a time and geographic location.

14. A method of collecting and providing acoustic information:

providing a website which has access to a repository of acoustic information;

collecting a first plurality of sound pressure levels (SPL) using a second plurality of communication devices configured to measure SPL levels;

attaching metadata with each sound pressure level including a time stamp and geocode; and

storing the sound pressure levels in a database for use with the website.

15. The method of claim 14 further including a step of automatically collecting and uploading sound pressure levels.

16. The method of claim 14 further including a step of collecting a sound pressure level with a cell phone.

17. The method of claim 14 further including a step of collecting a sound pressure level with an earpiece.

18. The method of claim 14 where a user interface facilitates editing, policing, and managing content.

19. A method of collecting and providing acoustic information:

accessing a stored acoustic database;

uploading acoustic information using at least one page of the web based GUI interface;

comparing the uploaded acoustic information to sonic signature parameters, where the parameters are associated with a trained model;

identifying the uploaded acoustic information using the parameters and adding an identifier to the uploaded acoustic information; and

storing the uploaded acoustic information and the identifier into the base.

20. The method according to claim 19, where the uploading is accomplished automatically.

21. The method according to claim 20, where the uploading is accomplished using a plurality of communication devices.

22. The method according to claim 20, where a web based GUI interface is configured to facilitate user access.

23. The method of claim 19 further including the steps of:

posting recordings that are accessible from at least one page of the web based GUI interface; and

providing a forum on the website to facilitate discussion of the posted recordings.

24. The method of claim 19 further including the steps of:

recording sound pressure level data with a cell phone where the cell phone adds a time stamp and geocode to the sound pressure level data;

uploading the sound pressure level data to the website; and

posting the sound pressure level data that is accessible from at least one page of the web based GUI interface.

25. The method of claim 19 further including the steps of:

recording a sound signature with an earpiece where the earpiece generates metadata that includes data that time stamps and geocodes the sound signature;

uploading the sound signature and metadata to the website; and

posting the sound signature and metadata to the website for discussion.

26. The method of claim 19 further including the steps of:

recording a sound pressure level with an earpiece where the earpiece generates metadata that includes data that time stamps and geocodes the sound pressure level;

uploading the sound pressure level and metadata to the website; and

posting the sound pressure level data that is accessible from at least one page of the web based GUI interface.

27. A method of collecting and providing sound signatures:

accessing an uploaded sonic signature in a stored acoustic database; and

providing at least one sonic signature from the database to a device whereby the device performs a comparison using the at least one sound signature with sound received by the device to determine the presence of a sound similar to the at least one sound signature.

28. A method of collecting acoustic information comprising the steps of:

measuring a sound pressure level with a communication device;

capturing metadata with the sound pressure level including time information and geographic information of when and where the sound pressure level was measured;

storing the sound pressure level and metadata in memory of the communication device; and

uploading the sound pressure level and metadata to a database from the communication device.

33. The method according to claim 28, further including:

comparing the first set of acoustic information to at least one sound signature when a periodic signal is detected; and

collecting the second set of acoustic information when the sound is similar to the at least one sound signature.

29. A method of collecting acoustic information comprising the steps of:

recording acoustic information with a communication device;

generating a sonic signature from the acoustic information where the sonic signature includes model parameters and features representing the acoustic information;

capturing metadata including time information and geographic information of when and where the sonic signature was recorded;

storing the sonic signature and metadata in memory of the communication device; and

uploading the sonic signature data and metadata to a database from the communication device.

30. A method of mapping comprising the steps of:

identifying a geographic area;

retrieving sound signature information from an acoustic database associated with the geographic area; and

creating an acoustic map illustrating acoustic information related to the geographic area using data from the acoustic database.

31. A method of providing acoustic information with a map comprising the steps of:

searching a topic;

providing a map associated with the topic;

searching an acoustic database for acoustic information related to the topic; and

providing the acoustic information related to the topic for playback with the map.