System and method for generating an identification signal for electronic devices

Abstract

A system and method for creating a ring tone for an electronic device takes as input a phrase sung in a human voice and transforms it into a control signal controlling, for example, a ringer on a cellular telephone. Time-varying features of the input signal are analyzed to segment the signal into a set of discrete notes and assigning to each note a chromatic pitch value. The set of note start and stop times and pitches are then translated into a format suitable for controlling the device.

1 . A method for providing a ring tone for a device comprising: 
 accepting a voice signal from the device;    computing time varying measures of the voice signal;    segmenting the voice signal into a series of segments using the time varying measures;    determining a note for each of at least some in the series of segments;    forming data representing a ring tone from the determined notes; and    transmitting the data representing the ring tone to the device.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the computed time varying measures of the voice signal include a time varying measure associated with each of energy, periodicity, and spectral composition of the voice signal.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2  wherein segmenting the voice signal includes using at least the measure of energy to identify regions of the voice signal.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein segmenting the voice signal further includes using the measure of periodicity to identify regions of the voice signal  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 3  wherein segmenting the voice signal further includes, for at least some of the identified regions, identifying a start and an end of a note in the region using at least the measure of periodicity of the voice signal.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 3  wherein segmenting the voice signal further includes determining which regions include notes.  
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein determining the notes includes using at least the measure of periodicity.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein determining the discrete tones includes determining the notes using note contextual information.  
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein determining the notes using contextual information includes determining a key of the notes.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein accepting a voice signal from the device further comprises receiving said voice signal over a telephone connection.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein said telephone connection is wireless.