Google files a patent application for its wind noise filtering technology

Google has filed a patent application for a technology that helps users overcome the wind noise from the recordings captured in gadgets, like smart phones. This is expected to help its users in various applications, including its own video streaming platform YouTube.

The application was filed by the internet major earlier with the Indian Patent Office, for its invention related to filtering wind noises in video content.

In the patent specification filed with the authorities, the company said that with many content sharing websites allowing users to post images and videos for public and private display — coupled with the technological advancements — users are increasingly capturing and sharing their own visual content using smartphones. However, videos recorded outdoors are susceptible to distortions created by the environment.

A common culprit is wind noise, which leads to an unpleasant clipping of the audio signal leading to a substantially degraded user experience, it said.
 

Existing solutions for reduction of wind noise do not provide for the use of varied approaches to replace wind noise based on is characteristics. Earlier, the solutions for reduction of wind noise relied on several microphones simultaneously recording the audio signal, and then used these multiple recordings to reduce unwarranted background noise. Another approach was to use a separation technique to filter out the wind noise.

Google, on the other hand, elaborates on a technology in which the wind noise in a voice recording is identified including its duration, selecting it, and either removing it or replacing it with silence/other noises. However, it says that the patent filing is neither intended to identify key elements of the invention nor delineate any scope of the particular implementations or claims.

It may be noted that the filing may have to undergo scrutiny before getting an approval, and the company has been filing patent applications in India for its various inventions.