Systems and methods for implementing cross-fading, interstitials and other effects downstream

摘要

Systems and methods are presented for cross-fading (or other multiple clip processing) of information streams on a user or client device, such as a telephone, tablet, computer or MP3 player, or any consumer device with audio playback. Multiple clip processing can be accomplished at a client end according to directions sent from a service provider that specify a combination of (i) the clips involved; (ii) the device on which the cross-fade or other processing is to occur and its parameters; and (iii) the service provider system. For example, a consumer device with only one decoder, can utilize that decoder (typically hardware) to decompress one or more elements that are involved in a cross-fade at faster than real time, thus pre-fetching the next element(s) to be played in the cross-fade at the end of the currently being played element. The next elements(s) can, for example, be stored in an input buffer, then decoded and stored in a decoded sample buffer, all prior to the required presentation time of the multiple element effect. At the requisite time, a client device component can access the respective samples of the decoded audio clips as it performs the cross-fade, mix or other effect. Such exemplary embodiments use a single decoder and thus do not require synchronized simultaneous decodes.

主权项

1. A method of directing inter-element effects on a client device, comprising:
receiving device data and user data from the device at a server; generating instructions on the server for an inter-element effect between at least two audio clips, said instructions being a function of the device data, user data, intro data and outro data for the at least two audio clips; and sending instructions to the device from the server detailing which clips to decode and when to decode them to perform the inter-element effects.