Media Playback Speed Adaptation for Intelligible Audio
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face inconvenience when fast-forwarding through uninteresting portions of media content, as they must visually monitor progress and often miss or overshoot the desired section, and audio is unintelligible at typical fast-forward speeds.
Innovation Solution
A system that identifies normal and quick speed scenes within a media content stream, allowing users to view video at a faster rate without losing meaningful audio, by monitoring characteristics such as video and audio stream features and transitioning between normal and quick speed presentation rates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If fast forward presentation is used to skip uninteresting portions, then time consumption is reduced, but audio becomes unintelligible and user must visually monitor progress
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts the presentation rate based on scene characteristics. It identifies different types of scenes (e.g., dialogue-heavy vs. action-heavy) and applies appropriate playback speeds automatically, transitioning between normal speed and fast forward modes without user intervention. This resolves the contradiction by making the speed adjustment adaptive rather than static, allowing time savings while maintaining usability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs automatic scene analysis and speed adjustment without requiring user input. It monitors audio and video characteristics in real-time, identifies uninteresting portions, and autonomously switches to fast forward mode. This self-service approach eliminates the need for users to manually monitor progress or adjust settings, resolving the ease of operation issue while achieving time reduction.
2Loss of time
If fast forward presentation is used at 4-8x normal speed, then time consumption is reduced, but audio information becomes unintelligible
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the playback speed parameter dynamically based on scene analysis. Instead of using a fixed high speed for all content, it adjusts the speed parameter to higher values (4-8x) only for specific scenes identified as uninteresting, while maintaining normal speed for dialogue-heavy sections. This selective parameter change preserves audio intelligibility where needed while achieving time reduction where appropriate.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the media content into different portions based on scene characteristics, analyzing audio and video features to identify which segments are suitable for fast forward and which should be viewed at normal speed. By dividing the content into meaningful segments and applying different playback speeds to each, it maintains audio intelligibility in critical segments while achieving time reduction in others.
3Ease of operation
If user manually monitors fast forward progress, then control over playback is maintained, but user experience deteriorates due to overshooting or undershooting
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously monitors audio and video characteristics during playback, providing implicit feedback about scene type and appropriate playback speed. Based on this feedback, it automatically adjusts the presentation rate without requiring user input. This feedback mechanism eliminates the harmful effect of user frustration by removing the burden of manual monitoring while maintaining precise control over when fast forward mode activates and deactivates.
Data Source
AI summary
Media content quick speed presentation systems and methods are operable to present selected portions of a media content stream at a quick speed presentation rate. An exemplary embodiment receives the media content stream; identifies a normal speed scene in the received media content, wherein the normal speed scene is presented at a normal speed presentation rate; and identifies a quick speed scene in the received media content, wherein the quick speed scene is presented at a quick speed presentation rate.