Patent ID: 8886528

Claim:
An audio signal processing device which extracts a highlight section including a scene with a specific feature from an input audio signal by dividing the input audio signal into frames each of which is a predetermined time length and by classifying characteristics of an audio signal for each divided frame, said audio signal processing device comprising: a parameter calculating unit configured to calculate, for each respective frame of the frames, a single parameter representing a slope of spectrum distribution of the input audio signal in the respective frame, such that a single value representing the slope is calculated for each respective frame; a comparison unit configured to calculate an amount of change between the parameters representing the slope of the spectrum distribution between adjacent frames, and to compare a result of the calculation performed by the comparison unit with a predetermined threshold; a classifying unit configured to classify the input audio signal into a background noise section and a speech section based on a result of the comparison performed by the comparison unit; a level calculating unit configured to calculate a level of a background noise in the background noise section based on signal energy in a section classified as the background noise section by said classifying unit; an event detecting unit configured to detect a sharp increase in the calculated background noise level and to detect an event occurring point; and a highlight section determining unit configured to determine a starting point and an end point of the highlight section, based on a relationship between a result of the classification of the background noise section and the speech section before and after the detected event occurring point.