Granted Patent B2

US 9,344,052 · App. 14/078,640 · Granted May 17, 2016

Abstract

Claims (21)

1. A method for controlling loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, the method comprising the steps in an audio processor of:

obtaining at said audio processor a first representative loudness value P before the junction;

obtaining at said audio processor a second representative loudness value C after the junction in which the second representative loudness value is received from a playout automation system; and

applying a time-varying gain control to the content using said audio processor in order to smooth its loudness value across the junction, in which:

the audio gain applied to the content has an original gain value;

the first representative loudness measure P is compared with the second representative loudness measure C; and

when P<C the audio gain applied to the content is reduced shortly before the junction by the ratio P/C and is restored gradually to the original gain value after the junction.

2. A method according to claim 1 , in which the first representative loudness value P is measured over a predefined period before the junction.

3. A method according to claim 1 , in which the first representative loudness value P is measured continuously to provide a rolling loudness value.

4. A method according to claim 1 , in which the first representative loudness P value is received from a playout automation system.

5. A method for controlling loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, the method comprising the steps in an audio processor of:

receiving a first representative loudness value P for content before the junction from a playout automation system;

receiving a second representative loudness value C for content after the junction from the playout automation system; and

applying a time-varying gain control in order to bring the loudness smoothly from the first representative value P to the second representative loudness value C; in which:

the audio gain applied to the content has an original gain value; and

the audio gain applied to the content is smoothly increased prior to the junction to a gain (P+C)/2P times higher than the original gain value.

6. A method according to claim 5 in which the gain is reduced shortly before the junction to a value (P+C)/2C times lower than the original gain value and is after the junction returned smoothly to the original value.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing programming instructions for instruction for causing a programmable apparatus to implement a method for controlling loudness during a junction between different types of broadcast content, such as a junction between programme and commercial or promotional content, the method comprising the steps of: receiving from a playout automation system first P and second C representative loudness values for content respectively before and after the junction; and applying a time-varying gain control before and after the junction in order to smooth loudness around the junction in which:

the audio gain applied to the content has an original gain value; and

the audio gain applied to the content is smoothly increased prior to the junction to a gain (P+C)/2P times higher than the original gain value.

8. A method according to claim 7 in which the gain is reduced shortly before the junction to a value (P+C)/2C times lower than the original gain value and is after the junction returned smoothly to the original value.

Assignments (7)