Selective Audio Segment Compression for Comprehensible Accelerated Playback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional audio compression techniques for accelerated media playback fail to selectively compress specific audio segments within a predefined playback time period while maintaining user comprehension, as they cannot effectively determine which segments to play back and at what compression rates.
Innovation Solution
A system that analyzes audio segments for similarity, assigns priority weights, removes lower-priority segments, and adjusts playback speeds to fit the predefined time, using techniques like Fourier Transform and predefined priority schemes to ensure comprehension.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If conventional audio compression techniques uniformly accelerate all audio segments to match video playback speed, then the playback time is reduced to fit the predefined time period, but the pitch increases making user comprehension difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the audio track into multiple segments based on content type (dialogue, music, sound effects, etc.). Each segment is then selectively compressed at different rates according to its priority weight, rather than uniformly compressing the entire audio track. This segmentation allows critical dialogue segments to be preserved at higher quality while less important segments are compressed more aggressively, resolving the contradiction between reducing playback time and maintaining comprehension.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different compression qualities to different audio segments based on their local characteristics and importance. High-priority segments (e.g., dialogue) receive minimal compression to maintain intelligibility, while low-priority segments (e.g., background music) undergo more aggressive compression. This local quality approach ensures that comprehension-critical areas retain their quality while overall playback time is reduced.
2Loss of information
If selective audio segment compression is implemented to maintain comprehension, then audio quality is preserved for important segments, but the system complexity increases due to segment analysis and priority assignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary analysis of audio segments and assigns priority weights before the actual compression process. Audio segments are pre-categorized into types (dialogue, music, effects) and assigned priority levels based on their importance to comprehension. This preliminary action simplifies the subsequent compression stage, as the system only needs to apply pre-determined compression rates to already-categorized segments, reducing overall system complexity.
3Loss of time
If all audio segments are compressed to fit a shorter playback time, then the playback speed increases, but the duration of each audio segment becomes too short for user comprehension
Solution Approach 1:
The patent dynamically adjusts the compression rate for each audio segment based on its priority weight and duration. Critical segments maintain longer durations with lower compression rates to ensure comprehension, while less important segments are compressed more aggressively. The system dynamically balances playback speed and segment duration to fit within the target time period while preserving comprehension of essential content.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for selective audio segment compression for accelerated playback of media assets by service providers. A playback speed of the video segment of a media asset is calculated based on the duration of the video segment and a received playback time period. The system receives audio segments and corresponding priority weights. The audio segments with the lowest priority weight are removed from the group of various audio segments. The system then determines whether the duration of the remaining audio segments exceeds the received playback time period. If so, the system modifies the remaining audio segments by removing another audio segment with the lowest priority weight from the remaining audio segments. The system then rechecks whether the received playback time period is exceeded. If not, the system generates for playback the video segment based on the video playback speed and the remaining audio segments.