Audio Caption Synchronization and Prioritization System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face difficulties in following along with audiobooks due to the lack of synchronized text, as existing solutions require manual reference to physical books, which is burdensome, and not all audio content has accompanying text.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for providing captions with audio content items, where an electronic device receives captions data from a remote system, synchronizes them with audio output, and displays relevant text portions, allowing users to easily follow along by highlighting corresponding words and managing captions generation and prioritization based on user preferences and audio content usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If users acquire a physical book to follow along with an audiobook, then they can reference the text, but it becomes burdensome to both listen and read simultaneously
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a digital copy of the book text that is synchronized with the audiobook playback. The system generates or retrieves text content from the source material and displays it on the electronic device screen, allowing users to follow along without needing a physical book. This digital copying eliminates the burden of handling physical texts while maintaining text availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the audio playback function with the text display function into a single integrated system. The electronic device simultaneously outputs audio content and displays corresponding text portions, synchronizing both functions. This combination allows users to access both audio and text through one device, eliminating the need to manage separate physical books while listening.
2Reliability
If no physical text is available for some audio content, then users cannot follow along, but acquiring or creating text adds complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal system that can handle both audiobooks with existing text and those without. The system automatically detects whether source text is available and adapts its behavior accordingly - retrieving existing text when available or generating text from the audio content itself when not available. This multi-functionality ensures text availability across different audio content types without requiring separate systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs self-service by automatically generating or retrieving text content without requiring manual user intervention. When text is not pre-available, the system uses speech-to-text conversion or retrieves text from the source material automatically. This automation eliminates the need for users to manually create or locate text, reducing system complexity from the user's perspective.
3Reliability
If the system generates captions for all audio content, then text availability improves, but processing time and resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-processing audio content to generate text captions during or after the audio recording process. The system identifies audio content that requires caption generation and processes it in advance, storing the generated text for future playback sessions. This preliminary processing ensures caption availability when users need it, while distributing the processing load over time rather than requiring immediate generation during playback.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by selectively generating captions only for specific portions of audio content or for specific audio items based on user needs and system resources. Rather than uniformly processing all audio content, the system prioritizes caption generation for frequently accessed or currently playing audio items, optimizing resource allocation and reducing overall processing time while maintaining caption availability where most needed.
Data Source
AI summary
This disclosure describes, in part, techniques for generating captions for audio content items. For instance, a system may store a user profile that is associated with audio content items. When a user associated with the user profile requests captions, the system may determine which audio content items have available captions and which audio content items do not have available captions. For the audio content items that do not have available captions, the system may determine priorities for the audio content items. The system may then cause the captions to be generated based on the priorities. When the captions are generated, the system may update statuses of the audio content items to indicate that the captions are available. The system may further store the captions in a database that is accessible to the user.