Patents Examined by Andrew C Flanders
  • Patent number: 10545720
    Abstract: Systems, devices, apparatuses, components, methods, and techniques for automatically generating media previews are provided. An example media system for automatically generating media previews for a particular artist include a trailer generation application configured to receive input specifying an artist and duration of a trailer, automatically select clips from two or more media items by the artist, and automatically arrange and combine the clips into a media trailer for later playback.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: Spotify AB
    Inventors: Rachel Bittner, Tristan Jehan
  • Patent number: 10545721
    Abstract: Embodiments described herein involve providing media item preferences according to a user account of a user providing the preference, rather than a user account providing the media item. When a user indicates a preference for a media item, the preference are associated with that particular user, rather than with another user whose account the media item may have been accessed and played through when the particular user indicated the preference. As a result, a media preference history associated with the account providing the media item will not be disrupted by other users indicating preferences for the media item. Further, users may build on their respective media preference histories even when listening to music provided by someone else.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2020
    Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventors: Abhishek Kumar, Ron Kuper
  • Patent number: 10540057
    Abstract: A method and apparatus are provided for generating a personalized radio channel playlist by simultaneously buffering multiple received channels from one or more source streams, and then selecting songs or tracks to playback from the buffered channels. Users can specify favorite channels for building their personal playlists, or multiple default playlist channels can be provided by genre or channels related in some other way. Navigation tools permit users to skip ahead and backward in the playback stream. A personalized radio channel playlist can be implemented as (1) content selected from buffered channels based on user preferences for artists, songs and the like, or (2) as a Mix Channel in which content from selected buffered channels is automatically mixed for playback in response to selection of a preset button assigned to the Mix Channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 21, 2020
    Assignee: Sirius XM Radio Inc.
    Inventors: Richard A. Michalski, Stuart A. Cox, Paul D. Marko, Mark Rindsberg, Greg Nease, Glenn Peffers
  • Patent number: 10509529
    Abstract: A method of operating a UI for controlling a virtual musical instrument implemented on a display can include receiving an input corresponding to a selection of one of a plurality of dynamic navigation objects configured on the display, the display including a cell matrix including one or more arrays of cells configured as a step-sequencer. The method can further include displaying a first portion of the cell matrix in response to a first dynamic object being selected, such that the first portion of the cell matrix is visible and the second portion of the cell matrix is not visible in the predefined area, and displaying a second portion of the cell matrix in response to a second dynamic object being selected, such that the second portion of the cell matrix is visible and the first portion of the cell matrix is not visible in the predefined area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Apple Inc.
    Inventors: Joshua W. Decker, Robert W. Baker
  • Patent number: 10509621
    Abstract: The present invention relates generally to the field of telecommunications systems and methods. More specifically, the present invention is directed to systems and methods for identifying and/or distributing music and other types of useful information for users in a very simple and convenient manner. A variety of systems and methods are disclosed which provide users with quick and convenient access to various forms of information, such as, for example, audio information including music and news items as well as coupons and other information. The systems and methods allow users to store data representative of a time of transmission and preferably a source of transmission so that data of interest may be identified for ordering an/or downloading.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Inventors: Bernadette Depke, Robert J Depke, Brian Houlihan
  • Patent number: 10509863
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes receiving a request to generate a two-dimensional visualization of public sentiments regarding a particular subject, where the request includes an input n-gram representing the particular subject, constructing a first corpus of text by collecting text containing the input n-gram from a plurality of user-created content objects in the online social network, identifying a list of unique n-grams appearing in the first corpus of text, generating a table comprising unique n-grams in the list and their corresponding word vectors using a word embedding model, condensing the d-dimensional word vectors in the table into a two-dimensional word vectors; and sending, as a response to the request, instructions to display n-grams in the table on a two-dimensional display space, where each n-gram is placed at a location of the corresponding condensed word vector.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 17, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Jonathan Michael Arfa, Nikhil Girish Nawathe, Bryan Kauder, Shriram Subramanian
  • Patent number: 10503460
    Abstract: A method for synchronising a first audio stream, reproduced in the form of a sound signal by a reproduction device near a terminal, with an alternative audio stream received by the terminal. The terminal also receives a control stream representing the first audio stream reproduced on the reproduction device, the control stream and the alternative audio stream being synchronised according to a single time reference. the method includes: capturing a portion of the sound signal; transmitting to the reproduction device a command to suspend the reading of the first stream; obtaining a first data item representing at least one portion of the captured sound signal; detecting the first data item in the control stream and, when the first data item is detected in the control stream, transmitting to the reproduction device a command to resume reading the first stream; and reproducing the alternative audio stream received by the terminal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2019
    Assignee: ORANGE
    Inventors: Claudia Becker, Benoit Besset, Michel Veillard
  • Patent number: 10489507
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method includes identifying a plurality of dyslexic users on an online social network. The plurality of dyslexic users may be identified based on content objects posted by these users over a particular time period, where the content objects may include one or more of word-level errors or sentence-level errors. A machine-learning model may be trained for text correction using a corpus of social network data, which may include at least the content objects with one or more of word-level errors or sentence-level errors, and a corresponding set of corrected content objects. A text string including one or more errors may be received from a client system associated with a first user. The text string may be transformed into a vector representation using an encoder of the machine-learning model. A corrected text string may be generated from the vector representation using a decoder of the machine-learning model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: Facebook, Inc.
    Inventors: Xian Li, Irina-Elena Veliche, Debnil Sur, Shaomei Wu, Amit Bahl, Juan Miguel Pino
  • Patent number: 10490207
    Abstract: A system and method of automated speech recognition using a dynamically-adjustable listening timeout. The method includes: receiving speech signals representing a first speech segment during a first speech listening period; during the first speech listening period, processing the received speech signals representing the first speech segment to determine whether the first speech segment includes one or more insignificant utterances; adjusting a listening timeout in response to the determination of whether the first speech segment includes one or more insignificant utterances; listening for subsequent received speech using the adjusted listening timeout; and performing automatic speech recognition on the received speech signals and/or the subsequently received speech signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2019
    Assignee: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC
    Inventors: Gaurav Talwar, Kenneth R. Booker
  • Patent number: 10482125
    Abstract: Technology is described for generating music playlists tailored to a geographical region. Collective music listening habits may be identified for a geographical region. The collective music listening habits for the geographical region may be categorized into one or more categories of music. Geographical station programming may be generated according to at least one of the categories of music. The geographical station programming may include a music playlist that corresponds to the collective music listening habits for the geographical region.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 14, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 19, 2019
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Woolf Phillips, Eric Scott Eisher
  • Patent number: 10474424
    Abstract: In a case where a sound of one channel of an audio signal which is reproduced and emitted by a second audio device is emitted from a first audio device, an audio device receives a signal of other channel of the audio signal from the second audio device and causes a sound emission unit to emit a sound of the other channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: YAMAHA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Katsuaki Tanaka, Tomoyoshi Akutagawa, Hiroyuki Ichi, Yuki Suemitsu, Akihiko Suyama, Kazuya Mushikabe, Keisuke Tsukada
  • Patent number: 10474419
    Abstract: A system and method executed by audio processing software on one or more electronic devices in a computer system to process digital audio signals.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 12, 2019
    Assignee: Crestron Electronics, Inc.
    Inventor: Dennis Fink
  • Patent number: 10469968
    Abstract: In general, techniques are described for adapting higher order ambisonic audio data to include three degrees of freedom plus effects. An example device configured to perform the techniques includes a memory, and a processor coupled to the memory. The memory may be configured to store higher order ambisonic audio data representative of a soundfield. The processor may be configured to obtain a translational distance representative of a translational head movement of a user interfacing with the device. The processor may further be configured to adapt, based on the translational distance, higher order ambisonic audio data to provide three degrees of freedom plus effects that adapt the soundfield to account for the translational head movement, and generate speaker feeds based on the adapted higher order ambient audio data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
    Inventors: Nils Günther Peters, S M Akramus Salehin, Shankar Thagadur Shivappa, Moo Young Kim, Dipanjan Sen
  • Patent number: 10468047
    Abstract: A wireless digital audio system includes a portable audio source with a digital audio transmitter operatively coupled thereto and an audio receiver operatively coupled to a headphone set. The audio receiver is configured for digital wireless communication with the audio transmitter. The digital audio receiver utilizes fuzzy logic to optimize digital signal processing. Each of the digital audio transmitter and receiver is configured for code division multiple access (CDMA) communication. The wireless digital audio system allows private audio enjoyment without interference from other users of independent wireless digital transmitters and receivers sharing the same space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: ONE-E-WAY, INC.
    Inventor: C. Earl Woolfork
  • Patent number: 10462119
    Abstract: Example implementations involve cloud queue synchronization. An example implementation may involve a playback device sending a request for a window of media items from a cloud queue of media items that is accessible to the playback device via a wide area network, the request including (i) an indication of a reference media item, (ii) a first parameter indicating a number of media items preceding the reference media item to include in the window and (iii) a second parameter indicating a number of media items subsequent to the reference media item to include in the window. The playback device receives, in response to the request for the window of media items, an indication of a particular window of media items from the cloud queue of media items and incorporates the media items of the particular window into a local queue of media items.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventors: Arthur L. Coburn, IV, Steven Beckhardt, Andrew J. Schulert
  • Patent number: 10460745
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention provide an audio content segmentation method and an apparatus. The method includes: obtaining at least one piece of first segmentation location information of audio content; sending a segmentation location message to a server, wherein the segmentation location message carries the at least one piece of first segmentation location information of the audio content and an audio identifier of the audio content; receiving a segmentation location recommendation message sent by the server, wherein the segmentation location recommendation message carries the audio identifier of the audio content and the at least one piece of third segmentation location information; and segmenting the audio content according to the at least one piece of third segmentation location information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Wenyu Zhou, Zijun Li, Fen Yang
  • Patent number: 10459683
    Abstract: A player includes a playing section configured to play contents data based on a list selected from multiple lists each having multiple pieces of contents data, and a play control section configured to: cause the playing section to play contents data based on a first list selected from the multiple lists, determine whether all of contents data on the first list have been played by the playing section or not, extract attribute information of contents data, which satisfies a predetermined condition, from the first list based on the determination result, select a second list, which is not the first list, including contents data corresponding to the extracted attribute information from the multiple lists, and control the playing section to automatically start playing the contents data on the selected second list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 14, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 29, 2019
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventor: Susumu Takatsuka
  • Patent number: 10453434
    Abstract: A system is presented for generation of output sounds having psychoacoustic qualities comparable to input sound or sounds. Short term and intermediate term features are computed for each input sound, sound components are clustered, filtered, and scored; and a prediction learning system is trained on the probabilities of classes of regions over time. A decoder can make use of this information to generate outputs that sound similar to, but not the same as, the input sound or sounds. The method and apparatus can be operated with no special training.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Inventor: John William Byrd
  • Patent number: 10453459
    Abstract: An interpreting assistant system which provides to a user captions of auditory communications in the user's vicinity. The interpreting assistant system includes a smart microphone transmitter that defines an input device which converts auditory communications into audio signals and transmit the signals a translation device, with a smart phone defining the translation device which generates a text transcript from the audio signals and send the transcript file to a display device, with the display device being defined by a wearable display interface which displays the transcript for a user to see. When in use, the interpreting assistant system provides for the display of a real time transcription and display of auditory communications such as spoken words for a user that may have hearing difficulties.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Inventor: Saida Ashley Florexil
  • Patent number: 10452708
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for generating location-based playlists. The disclosed method includes providing a music service for generating playlists for a location, identifying users having respective user devices within the defined boundaries of the location, and aggregating music preferences of the identified users. Each of the user devices have access to the music service and the aggregated music preferences of the identified users identify a plurality of music tracks. The disclosed method further includes generating a playlist having the plurality of music tracks based on the aggregated music preferences and providing an access to the generated playlist to the identified users at the location. The plurality of music tracks of the playlist is provided for listening by the music service to one or more of the user devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Andrew Theodore Wansley, Sean Liu, Rita Chen