Method for providing visualization of progress during media search

1. A system comprising

a media match engine comprising a processor configured to perform a matching between an unknown first media and a plurality of known second media to identify the unknown first media if matched to one of the known second media; and

a widget configured to display a progress of the matching, wherein the widget further comprises

a first display area configured to display a first visual representation of the unknown first media; and

a second display area separate from the first display area configured to concurrently display a second visual representation of one of the plurality of known second media being compared to the unknown first media while the matching is being performed.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second visual representations each comprises a spring map representing a plurality of audio frequencies of the unknown first media and one of the known second media concurrently being matched to the unknown first media, respectively.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein each spring map comprises a first axis indicating a time, a second axis indicating a frequency, and a height of a corresponding point of the respective first and second visual representations at each coordinate defined by the first axis and the second axis.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein

the height at each coordinate in the first visual representation is based on a frequency output of an audio waveform associated with the unknown first media; and

the height at each coordinate in the second visual representation is based on a frequency output of an audio waveform associated with the known second media.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to update the height at each coordinate in the first visual representation and to adjust the height at each coordinate in the second visual representation by a smoothing operation.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the smoothing operation on the height at a given coordinate is based on a sum of differences of heights for one or more neighboring coordinates of the given coordinate.

7. The system of claim 4 , wherein the height at each coordinate in the first and second visual representations is defined by an application of Hooke's law.

8. The system of claim 4 , wherein

the height at each coordinate in the first visual representation corresponds to a discrete frequency range bin of the audio waveform associated with the unknown first media; and

the height at each coordinate in the second visual representation corresponds to a discrete frequency range bin of the audio waveform associated with the known second media.

9. A method comprising

determining a first audio representation of an unknown first media being matched in a media matching process to identify the unknown first media;

determining a second audio representation of a known second media selected from a plurality of known media being compared to the unknown first media to identify a match from among the plurality of known media in the media matching process;

constructing a first spring map of the unknown first media based on the first audio representation;

constructing a second spring map of the known second media based on the second audio representation; and

concurrently rendering the first spring map in a first display area and the second spring map in a second display area separate from the first display area during the media matching process.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein constructing the first spring map comprises

at an initial time, spawning one or more springs in the first spring map comprising a time axis and a frequency axis;

initializing a height for each of the one or more springs in the first spring map;

repeating for each time instance on the time axis, determining a frequency output from the unknown first audio representation;

repeating for one or more frequency bins on the frequency axis, updating a height for each of the springs in each frequency bin based on the frequency output; and

rendering the first spring map.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising smoothing the height for each of the springs in the frequency bin before rendering the first spring map for each time instance.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein smoothing the height for each of the springs in the frequency bin comprises updating the height based on a sum of differences of heights of springs for one or more neighboring frequency bins.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein constructing the second spring map comprises

at an initial time, spawning one or more springs in the second spring map comprising a time axis and a frequency axis;

initializing a height for each of the one or more springs in the second spring map;

repeating for each time instance on the time axis, determining a frequency output from the known second audio representation;

repeating for one or more frequency bins on the frequency axis, updating a height for each of the springs in each frequency bin based on the frequency output; and

rendering the second spring map.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising smoothing the height for each of the springs in the frequency bin before rendering the second spring map for each time instance.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein smoothing the height for each of the springs in the frequency bin comprises updating the height based on a sum of differences of heights of springs for one or more neighboring frequency bins.