MANAGEMENT OF BROADCAST AUDIO LOUDNESS
First Claim
1. A method for controlling loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, the method comprising the steps in an audio processor of:
- obtaining at said audio processor a first representative loudness value P before the junction;
obtaining at said audio processor a second representative loudness value C after the junction in which the second representative loudness value is received from a playout automation system; and
applying a time-varying gain control to the content using said audio processor in order to smooth its loudness value across the junction.where the audio gain applied to the content has an original gain value; and
the audio gain applied to the content is smoothly increased prior to the junction to a gain (1+SA(C−
P)/P) times higher than the original gain value and is smoothly decreased after the junction from (1+S(1−
A)(P−
C)/C) times its original valuewhere A is a variable parameter between 0 and 1 representing the relative importance of preserving the loudness before and after the junctionS is a variable parameter greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 representing the relative importance of smoothing loudness values and preserving original loudness values.
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Accused Products
Abstract
To control loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, representative loudness values for content respectively before (P) and after (C) the junction are received from a playout automation system. A time-varying gain control is applied before and after the junction in order to smooth loudness around the junction. The audio gain is smoothly increased prior to the junction to a gain (P+C)/2P times higher than the original gain value. Then, the gain is reduced shortly before the junction to a value (P+C)/2C times lower than the original gain value. After the junction, the gain is returned smoothly to the original value.
28 Citations
6 Claims
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1. A method for controlling loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, the method comprising the steps in an audio processor of:
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obtaining at said audio processor a first representative loudness value P before the junction; obtaining at said audio processor a second representative loudness value C after the junction in which the second representative loudness value is received from a playout automation system; and applying a time-varying gain control to the content using said audio processor in order to smooth its loudness value across the junction. where the audio gain applied to the content has an original gain value; and the audio gain applied to the content is smoothly increased prior to the junction to a gain (1+SA(C−
P)/P) times higher than the original gain value and is smoothly decreased after the junction from (1+S(1−
A)(P−
C)/C) times its original valuewhere A is a variable parameter between 0 and 1 representing the relative importance of preserving the loudness before and after the junction S is a variable parameter greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 representing the relative importance of smoothing loudness values and preserving original loudness values. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing programming instructions for instruction for causing a programmable apparatus to implement a method for controlling loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, the method comprising the steps of:
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obtaining at said audio processor a first representative loudness value P before the junction; obtaining at said audio processor a second representative loudness value C after the junction in which the second representative loudness value is received from a playout automation system; and applying a time-varying gain control to the content using said audio processor in order to smooth its loudness value across the junction. where the audio gain applied to the content has an original gain value; and
the audio gain applied to the content is smoothly increased prior to the junction to a gain (1+SA(C−
P)/P) times higher than the original gain value and is smoothly decreased after the junction from (1+S(1−
A)(P−
C)/C) times its original valuewhere A is a variable parameter between 0 and 1 representing the relative importance of preserving the loudness before and after the junction S is a variable parameter greater than 0 and less than or equal to 1 representing the relative importance of smoothing loudness values and preserving original loudness values.
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Specification