Apple patent is for sound panner superimposed on a timeline
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Jan 8, 2008 at 12:32pm
An Apple patent (number 20080002844) for a sound panner superimposed on a timeline has appeared at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. It offers a method for tweaking the Mac OS interface with audio.
According to Apple, techniques described in the patent allow a user to create and modify a sound design in a user interface. For example, a user imports a sound file into the user interface, where the sound file is displayed graphically along a timeline. The user can then insert multiple control points along the timeline. The control points display the sound properties of the sound file at the selected points in time along the timeline. Accordingly, the user uses controls provided in the user interface to adjust and modify the sound properties displayed on a control point. The modifications the user makes to the sound properties are saved to the sound file.
Here’s Apple’s background on the invention: “Good sound and audio can enhance the storytelling of a movie and/or song. For example, because movie theaters typically have higher quality audio systems, going to a movie theater to see a movie can enhance the overall entertainment experience. Lately, home audio system quality has improved. In some cases, home audio systems have improved to the point that they can provide an entertainment experience similar to that of commercial systems. To make use of the higher quality audio systems, the audio portion of entertainment media is often designed with current commercial and home audio systems in mind.
“For example, movies released on digital versatile disks (DVDs) typically include audio data that has been designed to take full advantage of modem digital surround sound systems. To take advantage of digital surround sound systems, the audio portion of a DVD movie is designed to send specific audio data to specific speakers during the movie. When done right, the sound design creates the impression that sounds are coming from specific location on- and off-screen. The sounds help the movie watcher feel like they are part of the movie.
“As an example, suppose a movie shows a bus driving across the screen. As the bus appears on the left-hand side of the screen, audio data is sent to a left-hand speaker, giving the impression that the bus is coming from the left. As the bus crosses the screen, further audio data is sent to the left-hand speaker, which reduces the volume of the bus sound output from that speaker. Simultaneously, other audio data is sent to a middle and right-hand speaker to output the sound of the bus moving. This additional audio data gives the audio impression that the bus is moving across the screen. The audio data acts as a cue for the movie watcher to pay attention to the bus as it enters on the left-hand side of the screen and crosses the screen. Moreover, the audio data provides the sensation that the user is observing an actual bus passing by in front of them. Details like these enhance the overall entertainment experience.
“The process of developing a good sound design typically involves ‘automating’ audio data. Sound automation generally refers to the process of editing and adjusting the audio properties of a sound at specific points in time, and then automatically generating the appropriate data values in between the specified points. Currently, much of sound automation is done using sound automation software.
“Sound automation software typically provides tools so a user can record (or import) sounds into a user interface and model the sound, adjusting audio properties of the sound at a various control points. For example, using sound automation software, a user can adjust the volume of the sound at a given point in time, how the sound pans, the cutoff frequencies for audio filters, tempo, pitch, the location of the sound, and a number of other sound properties.
“The problem with this and other sound automation software is that they only provide the ability to create and adjust one control point at a time. Basically, they do not provide the capability to create and adjust multiple control points in a single user interface. As a result, the process of connecting a control point to its predecessor and/or successor control point is time-consuming and subject to error because each control point is opened and modified independently of all other control points in the user interface. In addition, since each control point is independent of the other control points along a sound wave, the transition of sound between control points is often disjointed.
“The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.”
The inventor is Robert Chin. The graphic below is a picture of a sound automation user interface.
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Contributor
Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
