Patent ID: 8630848

Claim:
A method of detecting whether a transient exists within an audio signal, comprising: dividing a segment of a digital audio signal into blocks; calculating a norm value for each of a plurality of the blocks, resulting in a set of norm values for the plurality of blocks, each said norm value representing a measure of signal strength within a corresponding block; identifying a maximum norm value across said plurality of the blocks; identifying a different second maximum norm value, subject to a specified constraint, across said plurality of the blocks; identifying a minimum norm value across said plurality of the blocks; applying a preliminary criterion to the norm values; applying a test criterion to the norm values in response to a determination that the preliminary criterion has been satisfied; if the test criterion is not satisfied, outputting a first signal indicating that the segment does not include any transient; and if the test criterion is satisfied, outputting a second signal indicating that the segment includes a transient, wherein the preliminary criterion comprises a comparison of the maximum norm value to the minimum norm value, and wherein the test criterion includes whether the maximum norm value is at least a specified degree larger than the second maximum norm value.