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GoogleGranted patentAudio & voiceInterest 6/10

Google patents tool that labels background sounds on a timeline

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This patent describes a system that listens to audio using a device's microphones and identifies non-speech environmental sounds, such as a dog barking or a car passing. It creates a visual timeline that labels these specific sounds with descriptive tags and timestamps, rather than just transcribing spoken words.

Why it mattersThis could help users quickly find specific moments in recordings by looking for visual labels of background noises instead of listening to the entire audio file.

In the filing’s own words

An example method includes receiving, by one or more processors of a computing device, audio data recorded by one or more microphones of the computing device; and generating, based on the audio data and by the one or more processors, one or more structured sound records, a first structured sound record of the one or more structured sound records including: a description of a first sound, the description including a descriptive label of the first sound, the descriptive label different than a text transcription of the first sound, and a time stamp indicating a time at which the first sound occurred; and outputting a graphical user interface including a timeline representation of the one or more structured sound records.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: receiving, by one or more processors of a computing device, audio data recorded by one or more microphones of the computing device; and generating, based on the audio data and by the one or more processors, one or more structured sound records, a first structured sound record of the one or more structured sound records including: a description of a first sound, the description including a descriptive label of the first sound, the descriptive label representing a classification of a non-speech environmental sound and being different than a text transcription of the first sound, and a time stamp indicating a time at which the first sound occurred; and outputting a graphical user interface including a timeline representation of the one or more structured sound records, wherein the timeline representation visually indicates a sequence of a plurality of structured sound records corresponding to a plurality of different classified non-speech environmental sounds.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
Enhanced computing device representation of audio
Patent number
US12748567B2
Application number
18044831
Filed
Aug 31, 2021
Granted
Sep 29, 2026
Inventors
11
Claims
24

Classified under

G06F 3/167 Physics & computingG10L 25/51 Physics & computingG10L 25/72 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.