Abstract:
Disclosed is a technique for presenting audible items to a user in a manner that allows the user to easily distinguish them and to select from among them. A number of audible items are rendered simultaneously to the user. To prevent the sounds from blending together into a sonic mishmash, some of the items are “conditioned” while they are being rendered. For example, one audible item might be rendered more quietly than another, or one item can be moved up in register compared with another. Some embodiments combine audible conditioning with visual avatars portrayed on, for example, a display screen of a user device. During the rendering, each audible item is paired with an avatar, the pairing based on some suitable criterion, such as a type of conditioning applied to the audible item. Audible spatial placement is mimicked by visual placement of the avatars on the user&#39;s display screen.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0001]    The present invention is related generally to computer-mediated search tools and, more particularly, to searching through a list of audible items. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    So much information is now available on-line that users are often faced with the problem not of accessing what they want, but with identifying what they want within a huge list of possibilities. For example, on-line searches can return so many “hits,” that they overwhelm the user and become essentially useless. To address this information overload, search engines are becoming more intelligent and more selective in what they present. Popular search engines, for example, organize the hits they return by popularity or by some other recognized measure of quality (including revenue paid to the search engine provider by the sponsor of a hit), putting the “best” hits nearer the top so that users can focus on the hits with the greatest potential relevance. 
         [0003]    In other developments, user interfaces are becoming very sophisticated in how they present a list of multiple items to a user. Rather than producing a simple ordered list, these interfaces take advantage of the human brain&#39;s enormous visual processing capacity by creating and presenting ornate “pictographs” that represent items on the list and the relationships among them with color highlighting, connecting lines, and virtual three-dimensional placement. The user can quickly grasp not only which items are ranked the “best” (by whatever criteria), but also how much “better” those items are than others, why they were ranked better, and what other alternatives exist. 
         [0004]    These techniques of ranking items on a list and of presenting them visually have been applied for the most part to text-based items. More primitive, but still partially successful, are interfaces that attempt to apply these techniques to visual items, such as still images or even video clips. However, these systems are in fact usually hybrids, because their ranking and organization are usually based on textual metadata attached to the visual images. 
         [0005]    Even more primitive than the visual user interfaces are interfaces developed for presenting audible items. Because the human brain is much less adept at processing audio samples than at processing visual samples, few if any interfaces have been shown that are very useful in helping a user search through a list of audible items. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0006]    The above considerations, and others, are addressed by the present invention, which can be understood by referring to the specification, drawings, and claims. According to aspects of the present invention, audible items from a list of such items are presented to a user in a manner that allows the user to easily distinguish them and to select from among them. 
         [0007]    According to one embodiment, a number (at least two) of audible items are rendered (e.g., played through headphones or speakers) simultaneously to the user. To prevent the sounds from blending together into a sonic mishmash, some of the items are “conditioned” while they are being rendered. For example, one audible item might be rendered more quietly than another, or one item can be moved up in register compared with another. Also, the human brain&#39;s audio placement capabilities can be brought into play by subtly altering the dynamics of rendering the items so that one item seems to come from farther away than another item, or some items can be perceived as coming from the hearer&#39;s right side and some from the left. While the human brain&#39;s audio spatial capabilities are limited, experiments have been shown that these placement techniques can be used while simultaneously rendering up to four audible items, and a user can reliably distinguish among the four. 
         [0008]    In some embodiments, the audible items are the results of a search. When rendered with suitable conditioning, the items are presented to a user who can then filter the search results. 
         [0009]    Some embodiments combine audible conditioning with visual avatars portrayed on, for example, a display screen of a user device. During the rendering, each audible item is paired with an avatar, the pairing based on some suitable criterion, such as a type of conditioning applied to the audible item. For example, an item rendered louder than others has a larger than normal avatar. An item that is rendered up-register is associated with a female (or child) avatar, while a down-register item is associated with a male avatar. Audible spatial placement is mimicked by visual placement of the avatars on the user&#39;s display screen. An avatar can move in synchrony with its audible item. In experiments, these avatars greatly help the user in distinguishing among the simultaneously rendered audible items. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]    While the appended claims set forth the features of the present invention with particularity, the invention, together with its objects and advantages, may be best understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of which: 
           [0011]      FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  are simplified schematics of a personal communication device that supports filtering of a list of audible items according to aspects of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart of an exemplary method for conditioning audible items so that they can be filtered by a user; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a dataflow diagram showing possibilities for conditioning audible items; and 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a screen shot of an exemplary user interface. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    Turning to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elements, the invention is illustrated as being implemented in a suitable environment. The following description is based on embodiments of the invention and should not be taken as limiting the invention with regard to alternative embodiments that are not explicitly described herein. 
         [0016]      FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  show a personal communication device  100  (e.g., a cellular telephone, personal digital assistant, or personal computer) that incorporates an embodiment of the present invention in order to filter a list of audible items.  FIGS. 1   a  and  1   b  show the device  100  in an open configuration, presenting its main display screen  102  to a user. Typically, the main display  102  is used for most high-fidelity interactions with the user. For example, the main display  102  is used to show video or still images, is part of a user interface for changing configuration settings, and is used for viewing call logs and contact lists. To support these interactions, the main display  102  is of high resolution and is as large as can be comfortably accommodated in the device  100 . A device  100  may have a second and possibly a third display screen for presenting status messages. These screens are generally smaller than the main display screen  102 . They can be safely ignored for the remainder of the present discussion. 
         [0017]    The typical user interface of the personal communication device  100  includes, in addition to the main display  102 , a keypad  104  or other user-input devices. 
         [0018]      FIG. 1   b  illustrates some of the more important internal components of the personal communication device  100 . The device  100  includes a communications transceiver  106 , a processor  108 , and a memory  110 . A microphone  112  (or two) and a speaker  114  are usually present. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  presents an embodiment of the methods of the present invention.  FIG. 3  shows how data flow through an embodiment of the present invention. These two figures are considered together in the following discussion. 
         [0020]    Before the method of  FIG. 2  begins, a list of audible items is prepared. This list can represent, for example, the results of a search or can be the contents of a song directory stored on the personal communication device  100 . The method of  FIG. 2  begins in step  200  by selecting at least two audible items from the list. The selected audible items are labeled  300  and  302  at the upper left side of  FIG. 3 . 
         [0021]    The selected audible items  300 ,  302  will be simultaneously presented to the user (in step  204 ). To avoid cacophony, in step  202  at least one of these audible items  300 ,  302  is first conditioned. This conditioning serves to distinguish the audible items  300 ,  302  when they are heard together. The Audible Conditioning and Mixing process  304  of  FIG. 3  presents several possibilities for audible conditioning. Well known LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) techniques can be used to analyze ( 306 ) the audible items  300 ,  302 . Well known Pitch Synchronous Overlap techniques can also be used in some embodiments. 
         [0022]    In some cases (especially when an audible item includes a human voice), it is useful to extract the pitch frequencies of the audible item ( 308 ) and then modify them ( 316 ). The resulting modified audible item can, for example, be moved up in register to sound as if it came from a female or from a child. 
         [0023]    The loudness of an audible item can be calculated ( 310 ) and altered ( 318 ) to move the audible item around in the hearer&#39;s perceptual space. That is, the audible item can be made to seem to come from a source closer or farther away than the source of other audible items, or from the hearer&#39;s right or left side. If the list of audible items is the result of a spoken search query, then when the spoken search terms are detected in an audible item, they can be made louder ( 318 ) to emphasize them to the hearer. 
         [0024]    The onset of voice in an audible item can be detected ( 312 ) and altered ( 320 ) by lengthening or shortening pauses. Thus two audible items are played simultaneously, but their voice components are offset making them more readily distinguishable by the hearer. Other known sound techniques can be applied in the Audible Conditioning and Mixing process  304 . 
         [0025]    After resynthesis ( 314 ), the conditioned (and possibly some unconditioned) audible items are mixed together ( 322 ), and the resultant audio output stream  324  is rendered on the speaker ( 114 ) of the personal communication device  100 . (Step  204  of  FIG. 2 .) 
         [0026]    In some embodiments, the Audible Conditioning and Mixing process  304  includes a special gender identification process  326 . This process  326  reviews the LPC ( 306 ) and F 0  ( 308 ) data in an attempt to identify a human voice (speaking or singing) in each audible item  300 ,  302 . If a human voice is identified, then the gender of that voice is determined. Specific knowledge of the gender of a voice is useful both while conditioning the audible items to be presented (step  202  of  FIG. 2 ) and while selecting audible items (step  208 , discussed below). 
         [0027]    In some embodiments, visual avatars are included along with the audio conditioning to help the user more readily distinguish among the audible items. Optional step  206  in  FIG. 2  can occur synchronously with steps  202  and  204 . In step  206 , a visible avatar is associated with each audible item selected to be presented to the user. 
         [0028]    In some embodiments, the avatars are still images that are easily associated by the user with a particular audible item. For example, one audible item can either be detected to include a female vocalization ( 326 ) or can be conditioned so that its vocalization sounds like it was produced by a female. The visible avatar can be a female face. The user easily associates the avatar with the audible item. 
         [0029]    In more sophisticated embodiments, the avatar moves in response to its associated audible item. This is indicated in  FIG. 3  by the Visible Avatar Processing process  326 . For example, the avatar can “lip synch” vocalizations in an audible item, can dance to a beat in the audible item, or can display emotions detected in the audible item. The avatar&#39;s response can be exaggerated to allow the user to more easily associate the avatar with its audible item. 
         [0030]    The size and position of the avatar can reflect the volume and spatial position of the audible item as conditioned in step  202  of  FIG. 2 . The visible output streams  328  and  330  ( FIG. 3 ) of the avatars are presented on the display screen  102  of the user&#39;s personal communication device  100  in synchrony with the audio rendering of the audible items. An example of the avatars is discussed below in reference to  FIG. 4 . 
         [0031]    With the audio conditioning and, optionally, the visible avatars, the user can now clearly distinguish among the simultaneously presented audible items. In step  208  of  FIG. 2 , the user provides some selection input to the personal communication device  100 . For example, the user may end the selection process by choosing one audible item to hear by itself. The user may instead eliminate some (or all) of the presented audible items, have them replaced in the interface with others, and continue the selection process. The user can also refine a search by asking for more audible items that resemble (or that do not resemble) the audible items selected. 
         [0032]    The user can choose among several techniques when selecting audible items. The user can speak a command such as “keep the woman, drop the others” or “switch the closeness of the near and far items.” When visible avatars are presented on the display screen  102 , the user can select an audible item by selecting its associated avatar. 
         [0033]    Regardless of how the user enters the selection input, that input is considered and the list of audible items is appropriately filtered in step  210 . 
         [0034]      FIG. 4  is an example visual interface supported by some embodiments of the present invention. The display screen  102  of the personal communication device  100  is shown displaying four avatars  400 ,  402 ,  404 , and  406 . Each avatar is associated with a, possibly conditioned, audible item. The four audible items are rendered simultaneously over the speaker  114  of the device  100 . The audible items have been conditioned so that the two audible items associated with the avatars  400  and  402  sound farther away than the two audible items associated with the avatars  404  and  406 , and this is reflected by the difference in size and position of these avatars. The audible item associated with avatar  402  is rendered in a man&#39;s vocal register (whether or not the original audible item was in that register), while the audible item associated with the avatar  404  is rendered in a woman&#39;s register. In some embodiments, audio spatial conditioning makes the audible items associated with avatars  400  and  404  sound like they are coming from the user&#39;s left, while the other two come from the user&#39;s right. In some embodiments, the avatars  400 ,  402 ,  404 , and  406  are moving in synchrony with their associated audible items. With the audio conditioning and the visible avatars, the user is easily able to distinguish among the four simultaneously rendered audible items. (Tests have shown that four simultaneous items is a good number for many users.) Either through speech commands, or by selecting a visible avatar  400 ,  402 ,  404 ,  406  on the display screen  102 , the user provides selection input to filter the list of audible items. 
         [0035]    In view of the many possible embodiments to which the principles of the present invention may be applied, it should be recognized that the embodiments described herein with respect to the drawing figures are meant to be illustrative only and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention. For example, other known techniques of audio conditioning are available for distinguishing the simultaneously rendered audible items. Other arrangements of the avatars shown in the figures and the addition of other known visual techniques are possible and may be called for in various environments. Therefore, the invention as described herein contemplates all such embodiments as may come within the scope of the following claims and equivalents thereof.