Systems and methods for improving audio conferencing services

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for improving audio conferencing services. One aspect relates to processing audio content of a conference. A first audio signal is received from a first conference participant, and a start and an end of a first utterance by the first conference participant are detected from the first audio signal. A second audio signal is received from a second conference participant, and a start and an end of a second utterance by the second conference participant is detected from the second audio signal. The second conference participant is provided with at least a portion of the first utterance, wherein at least one of start time, start point, and duration is determined based at least in part on the start, end, or both, of the second utterance.

1 . A method for processing audio content of a conference, the method comprising:
 receiving a first audio signal from a first conference participant;   detecting, from the first audio signal, a start and an end of a first utterance by the first conference participant;   receiving a second audio signal from a second conference participant;   detecting, from the second audio signal, a start and an end of a second utterance by the second conference participant; and   providing, to the second conference participant, at least a portion of the first utterance at a time that is determined based at least in part on the start, the end, or both the start and the end of the second utterance.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the time corresponds to at least one of a start time for providing the portion of the first utterance, a start point of the portion of the first utterance, and a duration of the first utterance, and wherein the portion of the first utterance is provided to the second conference participant before the start of the second utterance or after the end of the second utterance. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the start of the second utterance occurs after the start of the first utterance and before the end of the first utterance, and the portion of the first utterance is based on a previous portion of the first utterance that is provided to the second conference participant before the start of the second utterance. 
     
     
         4 . The method  claim 3 , further comprising, upon detection of the start of the second utterance, switching the first and second conference participants to a mode in which utterances are played sequentially to the first and second conference participants. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein in response to detecting the start of the second utterance, the method further comprises stopping the providing of the portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant, the method further comprising storing an indication of a point in the first utterance at which the providing to the second conference participant was stopped, wherein in response to detecting the end of the second utterance, the method further comprises resuming the providing of the portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant at the point referenced by the stored indication. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein resuming the providing of the portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant at the point referenced by the stored indication comprises:
 accessing a recorded version of the first audio signal at the point referenced by the stored indication;   playing the portion of the first utterance from the point referenced by the stored indication; and   providing conference audio to the second conference participant in real time when playback of the recorded version terminates.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the recorded version of the first audio signal is stored as a plurality of audio clips in a playlist, each audio clip including an utterance by one of the conference participants, and wherein playing the portion of the first utterance comprises:
 playing the plurality of audio clips sequentially from the point referenced by the stored indication.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the recorded version of the first audio signal is stored as at least some of a plurality of audio clips in a playlist, each audio clip including an utterance by one of a plurality of conference participants, and the method further comprising:
 playing the plurality of audio clips from the point referenced by the stored indication in the same manner in which they were recorded, wherein two or more of the plurality of audio clips are played in an overlapping manner when the corresponding conference audio included overlapping utterances from multiple conference participants.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein detecting the start of the first utterance comprises receiving a first selection from the first conference participant to unmute an audio input interface or to pause an audio output, and detecting the end of the first utterance comprises receiving a second selection from the first conference participant to mute the audio input interface or to play the audio output. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 storing the first utterance as an audio clip in a playlist, wherein the playlist includes a plurality of audio clips of utterances by other conference participants; 
 automatically categorizing the stored audio clip in the playlist under a section identifying the conference or a subject of the conference; and 
 automatically tagging the stored audio clip with information identifying the first conference participant. 
 
     
     
         11 . A system for processing audio content of a conference, the system comprising:
 an audio detector configured to:
 receive a first audio signal from a first conference participant; 
 detect, from the first audio signal, a start and an end of a first utterance by the first conference participant; 
 receive a second audio signal from a second conference participant; 
 detect, from the second audio signal, a start and an end of a second utterance by the second conference participant; and 
   a transmitter configured to provide, to the second conference participant, at least a portion of the first utterance at a time determined based at least in part on the start, the end, or both the start and the end of the second utterance.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the time corresponds to at least one of a start time for providing the portion of the first utterance, a start point of the portion of the first utterance, and a duration of the first utterance, and wherein the portion of the first utterance is provided to the second conference participant before the start of the second utterance or after the end of the second utterance. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the start of the second utterance occurs after the start of the first utterance and before the end of the first utterance, and the portion of the first utterance is based on a previous portion of the first utterance that is provided to the second conference participant before the start of the second utterance. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising a processor configured to, upon detection of the start of the second utterance, switch the first and second conference participants to a mode in which utterances are played sequentially to the first and second participants. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein:
 in response to detecting the start of the second utterance, the transmitter stops the providing of portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant;   the system further comprises memory configured to store an indication of a point in the first utterance at which the transmitter stops the providing of the portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant; and   in response to the audio detector detecting the end of the second utterance, the transmitter resumes the providing of the portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant at the point referenced by the stored indication.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15 , wherein the transmitter resumes the providing of the portion of the first utterance to the second conference participant at the point referenced by the stored indication by:
 accessing a recorded version of the first audio signal at the point referenced by the stored indication;   playing the portion of the first utterance from the point referenced by the stored indication; and   providing conference audio to the second conference participant in real time when playback of the recorded version terminates.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the recorded version of the first audio signal is stored as a plurality of audio clips in a playlist in memory, each audio clip includes an utterance by one of the conference participants, and wherein the transmitter plays the portion of the first utterance by playing the plurality of audio clips sequentially from the point referenced by the stored indication. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 16 , wherein the recorded version of the first audio signal is stored as at least some of a plurality of audio clips in a playlist in memory, each audio clip includes an utterance by one of a plurality of conference participants, and wherein the transmitter plays the plurality of audio clips from the point referenced by the stored indication in the same manner in which they were recorded, wherein two or more of the plurality of audio clips are played in an overlapping manner when the corresponding conference audio included overlapping utterances from multiple conference participants. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the audio detector detects the start of the first utterance by receiving a first selection from the first conference participant to unmute an audio input interface or to pause an audio output, and detecting the end of the first utterance comprises receiving a second selection from the first conference participant to mute the audio input interface or to play the audio output. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 11  further comprising:
 a memory configured to store the first utterance as an audio clip in a playlist, wherein the playlist includes a plurality of audio clips of utterances by other conference participants; and 
 a processor configured to:
 automatically categorize the stored audio clip in the playlist under a section identifying the conference or a subject of the conference; and 
 automatically tag the stored audio clip with information identifying the first conference participant. 
 
 
     
     
         21 . A method for processing audio content of a conference, the method comprising:
 providing audio from the conference to a first conference participant;   detecting a start of an utterance by the first conference participant;   in response to detecting the start of the utterance, stopping the provision of the audio from the conference to the first conference participant;   storing an indication of a point in the audio from the conference at which the provision of the audio from the conference to the first conference participant was stopped;   detecting an end of the utterance by the first conference participant; and   in response to detecting the end of the utterance, resuming the provision of the audio from the conference to the first conference participant at the point referenced by the stored indication.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein:
 detecting a start of an utterance by the first conference participant comprises:
 monitoring a volume level of an audio stream sourced from the first conference participant; 
 comparing the monitored volume level of the audio stream to a threshold value; and 
 determining the start of the utterance when the monitored volume level of the audio stream exceeds the threshold value; and 
   detecting an end of the utterance by the first conference participant comprises:
 monitoring the volume level of the audio stream sourced from the first conference participant; 
 comparing the monitored volume level of the audio stream to the threshold value; and 
 determining the end of the utterance when the monitored volume level of the audio stream falls below the threshold value for a predefined duration of time. 
   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein detecting a start of an utterance by the first conference participant comprises receiving a first selection from the first conference participant to unmute an audio input interface or to pause an audio output, and detecting an end of the utterance by the first conference participant comprises receiving a second selection from the first conference participant to mute the audio input interface or to play the audio output. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 in response to detecting the start of the utterance, initiating a recording of the utterance by the first conference participant; and 
 in response to detecting the end of the utterance, terminating the recording of the utterance by the first conference participant. 
 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  further comprising:
 storing a reference to the recorded utterance as an audio clip in a playlist, wherein the playlist includes a plurality of audio clips of utterances by other conference participants 
 automatically categorizing the stored audio clip in the playlist identifying the conference or a subject of the conference; and 
 automatically tagging the stored audio clip with information identifying the first conference participant. 
 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25  further comprising:
 receiving user input of data to associate with the stored audio clip in the playlist; and 
 storing the data with an association to the stored audio clip, wherein the stored data comprises at least one of a subject, description, transcription, keyword, flag, digital file, and uniform resource locator. 
 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 in response to detecting the start of the utterance, storing a first index point corresponding the start of the utterance; and   in response to detecting the end of the utterance, storing a second index point corresponding to the end of the utterance.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein resuming the provision of the audio from the conference to the first conference participant at the point referenced by the stored indication comprises:
 accessing a recorded version of the audio from the conference at the point referenced by the stored indication;   playing the recorded version of the audio from the conference from the point referenced by the stored indication at an accelerated rate; and   providing the audio from the conference to the first conference participant in real time when playback of the recorded version terminates.   
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the recorded version of the audio from the conference is stored as a plurality of audio clips in a playlist, each audio clip including an utterance by one of a plurality of conference participants, and wherein playing the recorded version of the audio from the conference comprises:
 playing the plurality of audio clips sequentially from the point referenced by the stored indication.   
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the recorded version of the audio from the conference is stored as a plurality of audio clips in a playlist, each audio clip including an utterance by one of a plurality of conference participants, and wherein playing the recorded version of the audio from the conference comprises:
 playing the plurality of audio clips from the point referenced by the stored indication in the same manner in which they were recorded, wherein two or more of the plurality of audio clips are played in an overlapping manner when the corresponding audio from the conference included overlapping utterances from multiple conference participants.