1. An in-valve mountable mixing device, the device being configured to fit within an outlet port of a mixing valve and to positively engage with the mixing valve to prevent rotation of the mixing device within the valve when mounted, and having one or more vanes adapted to induce swirl into a fluid passing through the outlet port.
2. An in-valve mixing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mixing device includes at least one lug or recess that is adapted to engage with at least one corresponding recess or lug of the valve to prevent rotation of the mixing device when mounted.
3. An in-valve mixing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the mixing device includes one or more vanes configured to induce swirl in a fluid passing through the outlet valve.
4. A mixing valve having a valve body and a movable valve member, the valve body having three ports, two inlet ports and one outlet port, and the valve member can be selectively positioned to restrict the flow through either or both of the inlet ports, wherein the outlet port of the valve body is adapted and configured to receive at least one flow mixing device and to prevent rotation of the flow mixing device within the outlet port.
5. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein the valve further includes at least one flow mixing device as claimed herein.
6. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein the valve includes at least one lug or recess that is adapted to engage with a corresponding recess or lug of the mixing device to prevent rotation of the mixing device in use.
7. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mixing device includes one or more vanes configured to induce swirl in a fluid passing through the outlet valve.
8. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mixing device includes two or more vanes, and each vane is configured to induce swirl in the same swirl direction.
9. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein the valve body is adapted and configured to receive the mixing device into the free end of the outlet port.
10. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 5, wherein the mixing device includes a flange which is adapted to engage with, or be retained by, a flange, or outlet end, of the outlet port of the valve.
11. A mixing valve as claimed in claim 4, wherein the outlet end of the outlet port is adapted to receive the flange of the mixing device.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of time-compressing audio data, comprising:
receiving audio data and storing the audio data in a frame buffer of an audio-processing apparatus;
selecting a cut point in the audio data by the audio-processing apparatus, separating a first segment of the audio data and a second segment of the audio data,
wherein the cut point is selected to prevent audio data compressed in a first iteration of the method from being compressed in a second iteration of the method, and
wherein the cut point defines the second segment to have a length no greater a maximum overlap length value;
calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment, responsive to characteristics of the audio data; and
overlapping by a time compression logic of the audio-processing apparatus the overlap length of the second segment on the first segment, generating an output audio data,
wherein the overlap length is randomly reduced if the audio data comprises unvoiced speech or silence for more than a threshold number of audio frames.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining the maximum overlap length value responsive to a maximum pitch expected in the audio data.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the zero is a valid overlap length value.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment responsive to characteristics of the audio data comprises:
calculating a number of quiet samples in the audio data; and
calculating the overlap length responsive to the number of quiet samples.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the act of calculating the overlap length responsive to the number of quiet samples comprises:
calculating the overlap length by subtracting a random number from the number of quiet samples.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment responsive to characteristics of the audio data comprises:
distinguishing unvoiced speech from voiced speech in the audio data; and
calculating the overlap length based on the length of the second segment if the audio data contains unvoiced speech.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the act of calculating the overlap length based on the length of the second segment comprises:
calculating the overlap length by subtracting a random number from the length of the second segment.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment responsive to characteristics of the audio data comprises:
calculating a most correlated overlap length, wherein the most correlated overlap length is allowed to exceed the length of the first segment.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment responsive to characteristics of the audio data further comprises:
calculating the overlap length as 0 if the most correlated overlap length is greater than the length of the first segment.
10. The method of claim 8, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment responsive to characteristics of the audio data further comprises:
calculating the overlap length as 0 if the most correlated overlap length is less than a predetermined minimum most correlated overlap length.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment, responsive to characteristics of the audio data comprises:
calculating a whiteness value of the audio data.
12. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment, responsive to characteristics of the audio data comprises:
calculating a number of quiet samples in the audio data.
13. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of calculating an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment, responsive to characteristics of the audio data comprises:
calculating signal-to-noise ratio data for the audio data.
14. An apparatus, comprising:
a decoder logic configured to decode a received audio signal and to generate an audio data;
a hardware frame buffer for storing the audio data; and
a time-compression logic configured to time-compress audio data obtained from the frame buffer, comprising:
logic configured to select a cut point in the audio data separating a first segment of the audio data and a second segment of the audio data,
wherein the cut point is selected to prevent audio data compressed in a first compression iteration from being compressed in a second compression iteration, and
wherein the cut point defines the second segment to have a length no greater a maximum overlap length value;
logic configured to calculate an overlap length of the first segment and the second segment, responsive to characteristics of the audio data; and
logic configured to overlap and add the overlap length of the second segment on the first segment, generating an output audio data,
wherein the overlap length calculation logic randomly reduces the overlap length if the audio data comprises unvoiced speech or silence for more than a threshold number of audio frames.
15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is a videoconferencing endpoint.
16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is a multipoint control unit of a videoconferencing system.
17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is a telephone.
18. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the overlap length is allowed to be zero.
19. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the overlap length calculation logic calculates the overlap length differently responsive to whether the audio data comprises voiced speech, unvoiced speech, or silence.