Music classifier and related methods
AssigneeSemiconductor Components Industries, LLC
InventorsPejman Dehghani, Robert L. Brennan
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An audio device that includes a music classifier that determines when music is present in an audio signal is disclosed. The audio device is configured to receive audio, process the received audio, and to output the processed audio to a user. The processing may be adjusted based on the output of the music classifier. The music classifier utilizes a plurality of decision making units, each operating on the received audio independently. The decision making units are simplified to reduce the processing, and therefore the power, necessary for operation. Accordingly each decision making unit may be insufficient to determine music alone but in combination may accurately detect music while consuming power at a rate that is suitable for a mobile device, such as a hearing aid.
Claims19
A music classifier for an audio device, the music classifier comprising:
- a signal conditioning unit configured to transform a digitized, time-domain audio signal into a corresponding frequency domain signal including a plurality of frequency bands;
- a plurality of decision making units operating in parallel that are each configured to evaluate one or more of the plurality of frequency bands to determine a plurality of feature scores, each feature score corresponding to a characteristic associated with music, the plurality of decision making units including:
- a modulation activity tracking unit configured to output a feature score for modulation activity based on a ratio of a first value of an averaged wideband energy of the plurality of frequency bands to a second value of the averaged wideband energy of the plurality of frequency bands;
- and
- a tone detection unit configured to output feature scores for tone in each frequency band based on (i) an amount of energy in the frequency band and (ii) a variance of the energy in the frequency band based on a first order differentiation;
- and
- a combination and music detection unit configured to:
- asynchronously receive feature scores from the plurality of decision making units, the decision making units configured to output feature scores at different intervals;
- and
- combine the plurality of feature scores over a period of time to determine if the audio signal includes music.
A method for music detection in an audio signal, the method comprising:
- receiving an audio signal;
- digitizing the audio signal to obtain a digitized audio signal;
- transforming the digitized audio signal into a plurality of frequency bands;
- applying the plurality of frequency bands to a plurality of decision making units operating in parallel, the plurality of decision making units including:
- a modulation activity tracking unit configured to output a feature score for modulation activity based on a ratio of a first value of an averaged wideband energy of the plurality of frequency bands to a second value of the averaged wideband energy of the plurality of frequency bands;
- and
- a tone detection unit configured to output feature scores for tone in each frequency band based on (i) an amount of energy in the frequency band and (ii) a variance of the energy in the frequency band based on a first order differentiation;
- and
- obtaining, asynchronously, a feature score from each of the plurality of decision making units, the decision making units configured to output feature scores at different intervals, and the feature score from each decision making unit corresponding to a probability that a particular music characteristic is included in the audio signal;
- and
- combining the feature scores to detect music in the audio signal.
A hearing aid, comprising:
- a signal conditioning stage configured to convert a digitized audio signal to a plurality of frequency bands;
- and
- a music classifier coupled to the signal conditioning stage, the music classifier including:
- a feature detection and tracking unit that includes a plurality of decision making units operating in parallel, each decision making unit configured to generate a feature score corresponding to a probability that a particular music characteristic is included in the audio signal, the plurality of decision making units including:
- a modulation activity tracking unit, the modulation activity tracking unit configured to output a feature score for modulation activity based on a ratio of a first value of an averaged wideband energy of the plurality of frequency bands to a second value of the averaged wideband energy of the plurality of frequency bands;
- and
- a tone detection unit configured to output feature scores for tone in each frequency band based on (i) an amount of energy in the frequency band and (ii) a variance of the energy in the frequency band based on a first order differentiation;
- and
- a combination and music detection unit configured to:
- asynchronously receive feature scores from the plurality of decision making units, the decision making units configured to output feature scores at different intervals;
- and
- combine the plurality of feature scores over time to detect music in the audio signal, the combination and music detection unit configured to produce a first signal indicating music while music is detected in the audio signal and configured to produce a second signal indicating no-music signal otherwise.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.