Patent ID: 7283954

Claim:
A method for determining if one audio signal is derived from another audio signal or if two audio signals are derived from the same audio signal, comprising comparing reduced-information characterizations of said audio signals, wherein said reduced-information characterizations represent at least the boundaries of auditory events resulting from the division of each of said audio signals into auditory events, each of which auditory events tends to be perceived as separate and distinct, wherein each audio signal is divided into auditory events by detecting changes in signal characteristics with respect to time in the audio signal, and identifying a continuous succession of auditory event boundaries in the audio signal, in which every change in signal characteristics with respect to time exceeding a threshold defines a boundary, wherein each auditory event is an audio segment between adjacent boundaries and there is only one auditory event between such adjacent boundaries, each boundary representing the end of the preceding event and the beginning of the next event such that a continuous succession of auditory events is obtained, wherein neither auditory event boundaries, auditory events, nor any characteristics of an auditory event are known in advance of identifying the continuous succession of auditory event boundaries and obtaining the continuous succession of auditory events.