Method and system for triggering events

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method of triggering an event. The method includes receiving a signal stream, detecting a trigger point within the signal stream using a fingerprint associated with the trigger point and triggering an event associated with the detected trigger point.

1 . A system comprising:
 memory; and   a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to:
 define one or more trigger points at one or more time locations within an audio signal; 
 generate, based on the audio signal, a fingerprint for each trigger point; and 
 associate an event with each trigger point. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each trigger point is associated with a timing offset from a start of the audio signal. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the fingerprint is generated from a plurality of peaks identified within a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the audio signal at the time location of the fingerprint. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of peaks is a local magnitude maxima of a 2D coordinate space created by each FFT block. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 3 , wherein each of the plurality of peaks in the fingerprint is separated from other peaks in the fingerprint by a minimum spacing. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the minimum spacing includes a minimum width and a minimum height. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a plurality of trigger points are defined, a plurality of fingerprints corresponding to the plurality of trigger points are generated, and each of the fingerprints characterizes a different frame of the audio signal, each frame having a fixed duration of a same width. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the audio signal comprises a mono uncompressed audio. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each fingerprint comprises a plurality of peaks, and generating the fingerprint comprises:
 reading the audio signal in Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) sized buffers for performing FFT on the audio signal;   deriving a magnitude spectrum from the FFT of the audio signal;   adding the magnitude spectrum to a rolling buffer;   identifying peak-candidates for each frame of the rolling buffer;   based on identifying a local maxima of the peak-candidate in a one-dimensional slice of the rolling buffer, applying an elevation function to determine the peak-candidate's elevation versus elevations of nearby cells; and   based on the elevation of the peak-candidate's elevation exceeding a threshold, classifying the peak-candidate as a peak of the fingerprint.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each fingerprint comprises a fingerprint width, fingerprint identification number, a number of peaks in the fingerprint, and coordinates of each peak in the fingerprint. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each fingerprint comprises a number of peaks in the fingerprint and coordinates of each peak in the fingerprint. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 1 , further comparing:
 a first device comprising the memory and the processor; and   a second device,   wherein the processor of the first device is further configured to transmit, to the second device, fingerprint information corresponding to the generated fingerprint,   wherein the second device is configured to:
 identify a trigger point within an audio signal corresponding a fingerprint detected in the audio signal based on the fingerprint information; and 
 trigger an event associated with the fingerprint, a timing of the event synchronized to the identified trigger point within the audio signal. 
   
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1 , further comparing:
 a first device comprising the memory and the processor; and   a second device,   wherein the processor of the first device is further configured to transmit, to the second device, fingerprint information corresponding to the generated fingerprint and audio signal,   wherein the second device is configured to:
 receive the audio signal from the first device; 
 detect a trigger point within the audio signal, wherein detecting the trigger point within the audio signal includes:
 processing the audio signal to provide a plurality of frames, and 
 identifying, in the plurality of frames, a frame including a fingerprint associated with the trigger point based on the fingerprint information; and 
 
 trigger an event associated with the fingerprint in the first frame, a timing of the event synchronized to the detected trigger point within the audio signal. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the second device comprises a microphone and the second device receives the audio signal via the microphone. 
     
     
         15 . A method performed by a device comprising a processor and memory, the method comprising:
 defining one or more trigger points at one or more time locations within an audio signal;   generating, based on the audio signal, a fingerprint for each trigger point; and   associating an event with each trigger point.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the fingerprint is generated from a plurality of peaks identified within a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the audio track at the time location of the fingerprint. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein each of the plurality of peaks is a local magnitude maxima of a 2D coordinate space created by each FFT block. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein each of the plurality of peaks in the fingerprint is separated from other peaks in the fingerprint by a minimum spacing. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein each fingerprint comprises a plurality of peaks and generating the fingerprint comprises:
 reading the audio signal in Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) sized buffers for performing FFT on the audio signal;   deriving a magnitude spectrum from the FFT of the audio signal;   adding the magnitude spectrum to a rolling buffer;   identifying peak-candidates for each frame of the rolling buffer;   based on identifying a local maxima of the identified peak-candidate in a one-dimensional slice of the rolling buffer, applying an elevation function to determine the peak-candidate's elevation versus elevations of nearby cells; and   based on the elevation of the peak-candidate's elevation exceeding a threshold, classifying the peak-candidate as a peak of the fingerprint.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein each fingerprint comprises a fingerprint width, fingerprint identification number, a number of peaks in the fingerprint, and coordinates of each peak in the fingerprint. 
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein computer-readable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus connected to the one or more processors to:
 define one or more trigger points at one or more time locations within an audio signal;   generate, based on the audio signal, a fingerprint for each trigger point; and   associate an event with each trigger point.   
     
     
         22 . An apparatus comprising:
 memory; and   a processor operatively coupled to the memory and configured to control the apparatus to:
 define a plurality of trigger points within an audio signal, each of the trigger points corresponding to a different time location within the audio signal; 
 generate, based on peaks identified within a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) of the audio signal, a fingerprint for each trigger point, wherein each fingerprint comprises a plurality of peaks identified within the FFT of the audio signal at the time location corresponding to the trigger point; and 
 associate an event with each trigger point. 
   
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 22 , wherein each fingerprint comprises a fingerprint width, fingerprint identification number, a number of peaks in the fingerprint, and coordinates of each peak in the fingerprint.