System and method for the creation and playback of soundtrack-enhanced audiobooks

A system for automated creation of a soundtrack-enhanced audiobook, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to implement a plurality of processing modules configured to share data via application programming interfaces or other data sharing protocols or interfaces, the plurality of processing modules comprising:
• a semantic analysis module configured to receive electronic text corresponding to the narration in an audiobook and analyze the electronic text to identify mood or other semantic characteristics associated with one or more portions of the electronic text;
• a soundtrack generation module configured to receive the identified mood or semantic characteristics from the semantic analysis module and automatically configure one or more audio regions of a soundtrack, each audio region having an associated audio track and being defined by a start text position in the electronic text corresponding to a narration region in the audiobook;
• a mapping module configured to generate or receive mapping data comprising data representing a mapping between audiobook playback times and corresponding text positions in the electronic text;
• and
• a synchronization module configured to receive the one or more audio regions from the soundtrack generation module and the mapping data from the mapping module and coordinate the playback timing of the audio regions along a soundtrack timeline synchronized to the audiobook playback timeline based on the mapping data;
• wherein the system is configured to execute the plurality of processing modules to output a soundtrack-enhanced audiobook comprising the audiobook, soundtrack data defining the one or more audio regions, and the mapping data.

A system for dynamically synchronizing soundtrack audio with audiobook narration, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to implement:
• a mapping module configured to generate mapping data representing a plurality of reference markers, each reference marker mapping an audiobook playback time in an audiobook playback timeline to a corresponding text position in electronic text corresponding to narration of an audiobook;
• and
• a synchronization module configured to receive soundtrack data defining a plurality of audio regions arranged along a soundtrack timeline for synchronized playback with corresponding narration regions in the audiobook playback timeline, determine a narration speed variable indicative of a playback narration speed of the audiobook, and dynamically adjust playback timing of the plurality of audio regions along the soundtrack timeline based on the mapping data and the narration speed variable such that the plurality of audio regions remain synchronized with the corresponding narration regions when the narration speed variable changes.

A system for automatically creating a soundtrack-enhanced audiobook, the system comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:
• receive audiobook data representing narration of an audiobook and associated text corresponding to narrated words in the audiobook;
• semantically analyze the audiobook data or the associated text to identify a plurality of narration regions and, for each narration region of the plurality of narration regions, mood data or semantic characteristic data corresponding to narration in the narration region;
• automatically select, for each narration region of the plurality of narration regions, an audio track based on the mood data or semantic characteristic data corresponding to the narration region;
• automatically configure a plurality of audio regions of a soundtrack for the audiobook, each audio region of the plurality of audio regions corresponding to a respective narration region of the plurality of narration regions and comprising audio region data defining the selected audio track for the respective narration region and playback timing for commencing playback of the selected audio track relative to the respective narration region;
• and
• generate soundtrack data representing the soundtrack, the soundtrack data being configured to cause the plurality of audio regions to play back in synchronization with the plurality of narration regions of the audiobook.