US-12620401-B2 - Acoustic pattern determination

US12620401B2US 12620401 B2US12620401 B2US 12620401B2US-12620401-B2

Abstract

According to an example, a method comprises receiving a first audio stream from an input device, detecting presence within the first audio stream of at least an acoustic pattern, executing at least one corrective action over a portion of data of the first audio stream including the acoustic pattern such that a second audio stream is obtained, and transmitting the second audio stream to an output device.

Inventors

Christopher Steven
Robert Campbell

Assignees

HEWLETT-PACKARD DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, L.P.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210129

Claims (14)

1 . A method comprising: receiving, by an electronic device from an input device, an audio stream that includes a portion containing an incoming acoustic pattern; computing, by the electronic device, a pattern likelihood that quantifies a degree of similarity between the incoming acoustic pattern and a predefined behavioral pattern; executing, by the electronic device in response to the pattern likelihood exceeding a threshold value, a corrective action that replaces the incoming acoustic pattern with a modified acoustic pattern; and transmitting, by the electronic device to an output device, the audio stream that includes the modified acoustic pattern in place of the incoming acoustic pattern in the portion of the audio stream.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising: applying, by the electronic device while executing the corrective action, a filter over the audio stream, wherein the filter comprises: filtering frequencies that are outside a frequency range; and filtering energy levels that are outside an energy range.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the corrective action comprises at least one of: jamming the portion of data of the audio stream including the incoming acoustic pattern; omitting the portion of the data of the audio stream including the incoming acoustic pattern; and applying an audio scrambler over the portion of the audio stream including the incoming acoustic pattern.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the pattern likelihood further comprises: detecting, by the electronic device, presence within the audio stream the incoming acoustic pattern by: using a data-processing system to detect the portion of the audio stream and identifying the incoming acoustic pattern as the portion of the audio stream.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the incoming acoustic pattern comprises: a frequency pattern; and an amplitude pattern, wherein the portion of data of the audio stream is determined to contain an acoustic pattern if the portion of data comprises the frequency pattern and the amplitude pattern within a cadence time frame.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the electronic device selects the corrective action based on at least one of the frequency pattern, the amplitude pattern, and the cadence time frame.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the pattern likelihood comprises: comparing acoustic features of the portion of the incoming audio stream with corresponding features of the predefined behavioral pattern.
8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the acoustic features are from the group consisting of frequency, amplitude, and cadence time frame.
9 . An electronic system, comprising: an output device; a processor; a memory comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic system to: receive, from an input device, an audio stream that includes a portion containing an incoming acoustic pattern, compute a pattern likelihood that quantifies a degree of similarity between the incoming acoustic pattern and a predefined behavioral pattern, execute, in response to the pattern likelihood exceeding a threshold value, a corrective action that replaces the incoming acoustic pattern with a modified acoustic pattern, and transmit, to an output device, the audio stream that includes the modified acoustic pattern in place of the incoming acoustic pattern in the portion of the audio stream.
10 . The electronic system of claim 9 , wherein identify portions of sound data having behavior patterns comprises: comparing a first set of patterns of the portion of sound data with each reference set of patterns of each behavior pattern of the set of behavior patterns within a time frame to determine differences between patterns; and determine a behavior likelihood based on the differences, wherein, upon the pattern likelihood exceeds a threshold value, a portion of the sound data is considered to include a behavior pattern.
11 . The electronic system of claim 10 , wherein: the first set of patterns comprises a frequency pattern and an amplitude pattern; and each reference set of patterns comprises: a reference frequency pattern, a reference amplitude pattern, and a cadence time frame.
12 . The electronic system of claim 9 , wherein the set of instructions comprises further instructions to cause the system to apply a frequency filter and a sound energy level filter over the audio stream.
13 . The electronic system of claim 9 , wherein the threshold value is a predefined percentage indicating a minimum extent of pattern recognition required to trigger the corrective action.
14 . The electronic system of claim 9 , wherein the threshold value is a predefined percentage indicating a minimum extent of pattern recognition required to trigger the corrective action.

Description

BACKGROUND When using electronic devices, such as computing devices, users may play audio data through output devices such as speakers, earphones, or headphones. Such audio data may comprise different types of sound, for instance sounds within the hearing range of humans, inaudible sounds for the human ear, soft sounds, loud sounds, noise, and music, amongst others. The sources of the audio data may be, for instance, a readable-memory belonging to the electronic device, an external readable-memory connected to the electronic device, or a remote location accessible through the Internet. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS Features of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example and are not limited in the following figure(s), in which like numerals indicate like elements, in which: FIG. 1 shows a method to determine the presence of an acoustic pattern in an audio stream, according to an example of the present disclosure; FIG. 2 shows a flowchart representing the selection of a corrective action, according to an example of the present disclosure; FIG. 3 shows a set of characteristics of an acoustic pattern, according to an example of the present disclosure; FIG. 4 shows a series of charts representing pattern waves, according to an example of the present disclosure; FIG. 5 shows a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions, according to an example of the present disclosure; FIG. 6 shows an electronic system comprising an output device, a processor, and a memory, according to an example of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION For simplicity and illustrative purposes, the present disclosure is described by referring mainly to examples. In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. It will be readily apparent, however, that the present disclosure may be practiced without limitation to these specific details. In other instances, some methods and structures have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure the present disclosure. Throughout the present disclosure, the terms “a” and “an” are intended to denote at least one of a particular element. As used herein, the term “includes” means includes but not limited to, the term “including” means including but not limited to. The term “based on” means based at least in part on. Electronic devices may be used to reproduce audio data received from input devices. Such input devices may be within the electronic device, for instance a memory of the electronic device, or may be remote to the electronic device. Examples of remote input devices may be an external electronic device connected to the electronic device, a remote location accessible through a network such as the Internet, or microphones of an external electronic device locally connected to the electronic device and/or connected via a network. In order to play the sound associated with the audio data, the electronic devices comprise output devices. In the same way as the input devices, the output devices may belong to the electronic devices, for instance a speaker of the electronic device, or may be an external output device connected to the electronic device, for instance earphones, headphones, or external speakers. The selection of a specific type of output device may depend on the preferences of the user or other factors, such as the device(s) availability. Hence, when having multiple output devices available, the user may select one of them at their discretion. Throughout this description, the term “electronic device” refers generally to electronic devices that are to receive audio data and to transmit the audio data to an output device in order to reproduce it. Examples of electronic devices comprise displays, computer desktops, all-in-one computers, portable computers, printers, smartphones, tablets, and additive manufacturing machines (3D printers), amongst others. When selecting an output device, users may take into account aspects such as where they are using the electronic device, the presence of people or additional electronic devices nearby the electronic device, or the applications running in their own electronic device. In some cases, the electronic devices located nearby to the output device or the electronic device itself may comprise personal assistant application(s) that are invoked by the usage of a keyword. Therefore, if the audio data received by the input device and subsequently played through the output device contains that keyword, the keyword may activate or wake-up the personal assistant application of the own electronic device or electronic devices located nearby the output device. Since most electronic devices such as computers and smartphones have personal assistant applications invoked by a keyword, the usage of output devices that reproduce the audio data has implicit the risk of invocating third-party applications in the user's electroni