Methods and apparatus to extract a pitch-independent timbre attribute from a media signal

1. An apparatus to extract a timbre-independent pitch attribute from a media signal, the apparatus comprising:

means for accessing a media signal; and

means for:

determining a spectrum of audio corresponding to the media signal; and

determining a timbre-independent pitch attribute of audio of the media signal based on an inverse transform of a complex argument of a transform of the spectrum.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media signal is the audio.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the media signal is a video signal having an associated audio component, further including means for extracting the audio from the video signal.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the determining means is to determine the spectrum of the audio using a constant Q transform.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the determining means is to determine the transform of the spectrum using a Fourier transform and determine the inverse transform using an inverse Fourier transform.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the determining means is to determine a pitch-independent timbre attribute of the audio based on an inverse transform of a magnitude of the transform of the spectrum.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including means for:

transmitting the timbre-independent pitch attribute to a processing device; and

in response to transmitting timbre-independent pitch attribute to the processing device, receiving at least one of a classification of the audio or an identifier corresponding to the media signal from the processing device; and

transmitting the at least one of the classification of the audio or the identifier corresponding to the media signal to a user interface.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the accessing means is the transmitting means.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the accessing means is to receive the media signal via ambient audio.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the accessing means is to receive the media signal from a microphone.

11. An apparatus to extract a pitch-independent timbre attribute from a media signal, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a media signal; and

means for:

determining a spectrum of audio corresponding to the media signal; and

determining a pitch-independent timbre attribute of audio of the media signal based on an inverse transform of a magnitude of a transform of the spectrum.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the media signal is the audio.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the media signal is a video signal with an audio component, further including means for extracting the audio from the video signal.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the determining means is to determine the spectrum of the audio using a constant Q transform.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the determining means is to determine the transform of the spectrum using a Fourier transform and determine the inverse transform using an inverse Fourier transform.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the determining means is to determine a timbre-independent pitch attribute of the audio based on an inverse transform of a complex argument of the transform of the spectrum.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , further including means for:

transmitting the pitch-independent timbre attribute to a processing device; and

in response to transmitting the pitch-independent timbre attribute to the processing device, receiving at least one of a classification of the audio or a first identifier corresponding to the media signal from the processing device; and

transmitting the at least one of the classification of the audio or a second identifier corresponding to the media signal to a user interface.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the receiving means is the transmitting means.

19. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the receiving means is to receive the media signal via ambient audio.

20. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the receiving means is to receive the media signal from a microphone.

21. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a media signal;

means for storing reference pitch-less timbre spectrums; and

means for:

comparing a pitch-less timbre spectrum of the media signal to the reference pitch-less timbre spectrums; and

classifying the media signal based on data corresponding to a reference pitch-less timbre spectrum of the reference pitch-less timbre spectrums that matches the pitch-less timbre spectrum, the classification corresponding to at least one of an instrument or a genre.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the comparing means is to:

identify a media source of the media signal based on at least one of the pitch-less timbre spectrum or the classification; and

generate report based on at least one of the classification or the identification.

23. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the comparing means is to, when the pitch-less timbre spectrum of the media signal does not match a reference pitch-less timbre spectrum of the reference pitch-less timbre spectrums, prompt for additional information corresponding to the media signal.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the storing means is to store the pitch-less timbre spectrum of the media signal as a reference pitch-less timbre spectrum in conjunction with the additional information.

25. The apparatus of claim 21 , further including means for determining a device setting adjustment based on the classification, wherein:

the comparing means is to generate a report including the device setting adjustment; and

the receiving means is to transmit the report to a device that output the media signal.