Method and apparatus for encoding and decoding pause informantion
Assigneefastmobile, Inc.
InventorsDale R. Buchholz, Bashar Jano, Ira Gerson
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Abstract
At an audio source, pause information is added to audio data, the combination of which is subsequently packetized. The resulting packets are transmitted to an audio destination via a network in which different packets may be subjected to varying levels of delay. At the audio destination, the pause information may be used to insert pauses at appropriate times to accommodate the occurrence of delays in packet delivery. In one embodiment, pauses are inserted based on a hierarchy of pause types. During pauses, audio filler information may be injected. In this manner, the effects of variable network delays upon reconstructed audio may be mitigated.
Claims68
A computer readable medium having stored thereon a data structure comprising:
- digitized audio;
- and
- pause information that indicates at least one pause location within the digitized audio.
A method for marking pauses within digitized audio, the method comprising steps of:
- identifying at least one pause location within the digitized audio;
- and
- adding, to the digitized audio, pause information that indicates the at least one pause location within the digitized audio.
A method for decoding digitized audio, wherein pause information has been added to the digitized audio, the method comprising steps of:
- receiving the digitized audio;
- providing reconstructed audio based on the digitized audio;
- detecting a condition requiring at least temporary discontinuation of the reconstructed audio;
- pausing provision of the reconstructed audio based on the pause information and in response to detecting the condition.
An apparatus for marking pauses in digitized audio comprising:
- means for identifying at least one pause location within the digitized audio;
- and
- means for adding pause information to the digitized audio, wherein the pause information indicates the at least one pause location within the digitized audio.
An apparatus for marking pauses in digitized speech comprising:
- a parser, that takes a text string as input and identifies pauses within the text string and that provides portions of the text string and pause information corresponding to the portions of the text stream as output;
- a text-to-speech converter, coupled to the parser, that converts the portions of the text string to provide the digitized speech as output;
- and
- a marker, coupled to the parser and the text-to-speech converter, that adds the pause information to the digitized speech.
An apparatus for marking pauses in digitized audio comprising:
- an audio editor, that takes the digitized audio as input and identifies pauses within the digitized audio and that provides the digitized audio and pause information corresponding to the portions of the audio as output;
- a marker, coupled to the audio editor, that adds the pause information to the digitized audio.
An apparatus for marking pauses in digitized audio comprising:
- a pause analyzer, that takes the digitized audio as input and identifies at least one period of silence longer than a predetermined length within the digitized audio and that provides the digitized audio and pause information corresponding to the portions of the audio as output;
- a marker, coupled to the pause analyzer, that adds the pause information to the digitized audio.
An apparatus for decoding digitized audio, wherein pause information has been added to the digitized audio, the apparatus comprising:
- a controller;
- a receiver, coupled to the controller, that receives the digitized audio and the pause information and that stores the digitized audio in an audio buffer;
- an audio reconstructor, coupled to the controller and the audio buffer, that provides reconstructed audio based on the digitized audio stored in the audio buffer,
- wherein the controller detects a condition requiring at least temporary discontinuation of the reconstructed audio and, in response to the condition, instructs the audio reconstructor to pause the reconstructed audio based on the pause information.
A system for marking pauses in digitized audio comprising:
- a voice activity detector, that takes the digitized audio as input and identifies at least one period of silence longer than a predetermined length within the digitized audio;
- an encoder that provides the digitized audio as output, and that provides silence description information as output when the voice activity detector identifies the at least one period of silence;
- a transmitter, coupled to the encoder, that transmits the digitized audio and the silence description information;
- a receiver, in communication with the transmitter that receives the digitized audio and the silence description information from the transmitter;
- an audio reconstructor, coupled to the receiver, that provides reconstructed audio based on the digitized audio;
- and
- a controller, coupled to the receiver, that at least temporarily discontinues provision of the reconstructed audio and instructs the audio reconstructor to pause the reconstructed audio based on the silence description information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.