Converting audio signals captured in different formats into fewer formats to simplify encoding and decoding operations

Abstract

To provide a method, storage media, and a system for converting audio signals captured in various formats by various capture devices into a limited number of formats that can be processed by an audio codec, e.g., an immersive voice and audio service (IVAS) codec.SOLUTION: A system 200 includes: an acoustic preprocessing unit 220 that generates acoustic metadata that are transferred to a simplification unit 230 together with an audio signal; and a simplification unit that converts the audio signal into a spatial mezzanine format compatible with multiple audio formats.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62 / 742,729, filed October 8, 2018, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

[0002] technology TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to audio signal processing, and more particularly to distribution of captured audio signals. [Background technology]

[0003] Development of audio and video encoder / decoder ("codec") standards has recently focused on codecs for Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS). IVAS is expected to support a range of service capabilities, from mono to stereo operation, as well as fully immersive audio encoding, decoding, and rendering. A suitable IVAS codec will also provide high error robustness against packet loss and delay jitter under different transmission conditions. IVAS is intended to be supported by a wide range of devices, endpoints, and network nodes, including, but not limited to, mobile and smartphones, electronic tablets, personal computers, conference phones, conference rooms, virtual and augmented reality devices, home theater equipment, and other suitable devices. Because these devices, endpoints, and network nodes may have a variety of acoustic interfaces for sound capture and rendering, it may not be practical for an IVAS codec to accommodate all the different ways audio signals are captured and rendered. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The disclosed embodiments allow for the conversion of audio signals captured in various formats by various capture devices into a limited number of formats that can be processed by a codec, for example, an IVAS codec. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In some embodiments, a simplification unit incorporated in an audio device receives an audio signal. The audio signal may be a signal captured by one or more audio capturing devices coupled to the audio device. The audio signal may be, for example, audio from a video conference between people in different locations. The simplification unit determines whether the audio signal is in a format not supported by an encoding unit, commonly referred to as an "encoder," of the audio device. For example, the simplification unit may determine whether the audio signal is mono, stereo, or in a standard or proprietary spatial format. Based on determining that the audio signal is in a format not supported by the encoding unit, the simplification means converts the audio signal to a format supported by the encoding unit. For example, if the simplification unit determines that the audio signal is in a proprietary spatial format, the simplification unit may convert the audio signal to a spatial "mezzanine" format supported by the encoding unit. The simplification unit forwards the converted audio signal to the encoding unit.

[0006] An advantage of the disclosed embodiments is that the complexity of a codec, e.g., an IVAS codec, can be reduced by reducing a potentially large number of audio capture formats to a limited number of formats, e.g., mono, stereo, and spatial. As a result, the codec can be deployed in a variety of devices regardless of the device's audio capture capabilities.

[0007] These and other aspects, features, and embodiments may be expressed as methods, apparatus, systems, components, program products, means or steps for performing a function, and in other ways.

[0008] In some implementations, a simplification unit of an audio device receives an audio signal in a first format. The first format is one of a set of audio formats supported by the audio device. The simplification unit determines whether the first format is supported by an encoder of the audio device. Based on the first format not being supported by the encoder, the simplification unit converts the audio signal to a second format supported by the encoder. The second format is an alternative representation of the first format. The simplification unit forwards the audio signal in the second format to the encoder. The encoder encodes the audio signal. The audio device stores the encoded audio signal or transmits the encoded audio signal to one or more other devices.

[0009] Converting the audio signal to the second format can include generating metadata about the audio signal. The metadata can include a representation of a portion of the audio signal. Encoding the audio signal can include encoding the audio signal in the second format into a transport format supported by the second device. The audio device can transmit the encoded audio signal by transmitting the metadata including a representation of a portion of the audio signal not supported by the second format.

[0010] In some implementations, determining, by the simplification unit, whether the audio signal is in the first format can include determining a number of audio capturing devices and a corresponding location of each capturing device used to capture the audio signal. Each of the one or more other devices can be configured to play the audio signal from the second format. At least one of the one or more other devices may be incapable of playing the audio signal from the first format.

[0011] The second format can represent the audio signal as several audio objects within an audio scene, both of which rely on several audio channels to carry spatial information. The second format can include metadata to carry additional portions of the spatial information. Both the first and second formats can be spatial audio formats. The second format can be a spatial audio format, the first format can be a mono format associated with metadata, or a stereo format associated with metadata. The set of multiple audio formats supported by an audio device can include multiple spatial audio formats. The second format can be an alternative representation of the first format, further characterized by allowing a comparable degree of experience quality.

[0012] In some implementations, a rendering unit of an audio device receives an audio signal in a first format. The rendering unit determines whether the audio device can play the audio signal in the first format. In response to determining that the audio device cannot play the audio signal in the first format, the rendering unit adapts the audio signal to be available in a second format. The rendering unit forwards the audio signal in the second format for rendering.

[0013] In some implementations, converting the audio signal to a second format by a rendering unit may include using metadata including a representation of a portion of the audio signal not supported by a fourth format used for encoding, in combination with the audio signal in a third format. Here, the third format corresponds to the term "first format" in the context of the simplification unit, which is one of a set of audio formats supported by the encoder. The fourth format corresponds to the term "second format" in the context of the simplification unit, which is a format supported by the encoder and is an alternative representation of the third format. Here and elsewhere in this specification, the terms first, second, third, and fourth are used for identification purposes and do not necessarily indicate a particular order.

[0014] A decoding unit receives the audio signal in a transport format. The decoding unit decodes the audio signal in the transport format into a first format and forwards the audio signal in the first format to a rendering unit. In some implementations, adapting the audio signal to be available in a second format can include adapting decoding to produce the received audio in the second format. In some implementations, each of a plurality of devices is configured to play the audio signal in the second format. One or more of the plurality of devices is not capable of playing the audio signal in the first format.

[0015] In some implementations, the simplification unit receives audio signals in multiple formats from the acoustic preprocessing unit. The simplification unit receives device attributes from the device. The device attributes include an indication of one or more audio formats supported by the device. The one or more audio formats include at least one of a mono format, a stereo format, or a spatial format. The simplification unit converts the audio signals to an ingest format that is an alternative representation of the one or more audio formats. The simplification unit provides the converted audio signals to an encoding unit for downstream processing. Each of the acoustic preprocessing unit, the simplification unit, and the encoding unit may include one or more computer processors.

[0016] In some implementations, an encoding system includes a capture unit configured to capture an audio signal, an acoustic preprocessing unit configured to perform operations including preprocessing the audio signal, an encoder, and a simplification unit. The simplification unit is configured to perform the following operations: receive an audio signal in a first format from the acoustic preprocessing unit; the first format is one of a set of audio formats supported by the encoder; determine whether the first format is supported by the encoder; and, in response to determining that the first format is not supported by the encoder, convert the audio signal to a second format supported by the encoder. The simplification unit forwards the audio signal in the second format to the encoder. The encoder is configured to perform operations including encoding the audio signal and at least one of storing the encoded audio signal or transmitting the encoded audio signal to another device.

[0017] In some implementations, converting the audio signal to the second format includes generating metadata for the audio signal. The metadata can include a representation of a portion of the audio signal that is not supported by the second format. The operations of the encoder can further include transmitting the encoded audio signal by transmitting the metadata that includes a representation of the portion of the audio signal that is not supported by the second format.

[0018] In some implementations, the second format represents the audio signal as a number of channels for carrying a number of objects and spatial information in the audio scene. In some implementations, preprocessing the audio signal can include one or more of performing noise cancellation, performing echo cancellation, reducing the number of channels of the audio signal, increasing the number of audio channels of the audio signal, or generating acoustic metadata.

[0019] In some implementations, the decoding system includes a decoder, a rendering unit, and a playback unit. The decoder is configured to perform operations including, for example, decoding an audio signal from a transport format to a first format. The rendering unit is configured to perform the following operations: receive the audio signal in the first format; determine whether an audio device can play the audio signal in a second format; the second format allows for the use of more output devices than the first format; and in response to determining that the audio device can play the audio signal in the second format, convert the audio signal to the second format. The rendering unit renders the audio signal in the second format. The playback unit is configured to perform operations including initiating playback of the rendered audio signal on a speaker system.

[0020] In some implementations, converting the audio signal to the second format may include using metadata containing a representation of a portion of the audio signal not supported by the fourth format used for encoding in combination with the audio signal in a third format, where the third format corresponds to the term "first format" in the context of the simplification unit, which is one of a set of audio formats supported by the encoder, and the fourth format corresponds to the term "second format" in the context of the simplification unit, which is a format supported by the encoder and is an alternative representation of the third format.

[0021] In some implementations, the decoder operations may further include receiving the audio signal in a transport format and forwarding the audio signal in a first format to a rendering unit.

[0022] These and other aspects, features, and embodiments will become apparent from the following description, including the claims. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0023] The figures show a particular arrangement or order of schematic elements, such as those representing devices, units, instruction blocks, and data elements, for ease of description. However, those skilled in the art should understand that the particular ordering or arrangement of the schematic elements in the figures is not intended to imply that a particular order or sequence of processing, or separation of processes, is required. Furthermore, the inclusion of a schematic element in a drawing is not intended to imply that such element is required in all embodiments, or that features represented by such element may not be included in or combined with other elements in some embodiments.

[0024] Furthermore, when a connecting element, such as a solid or dashed line or arrow, is used in the drawings to illustrate a connection, relationship, or association between two or more other schematic elements, the absence of such a connecting element is not intended to imply that the connection, relationship, or association may not exist. In other words, some connections, relationships, or associations between elements may not be shown in the drawings so as not to obscure the disclosure. Furthermore, for simplicity of illustration, a single connecting element may be used to represent multiple connections, relationships, or associations between elements. For example, when a connecting element represents communication of signals, data, or instructions, those skilled in the art should understand that such element represents one or more signal paths as necessary to affect the communication. [Figure 1] 1 illustrates various devices that can be supported by an IVAS system, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 2]1A and 1B are block diagrams of a system for converting captured audio signals into a format ready for encoding and converting captured audio back into a suitable playback format, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] 10 is a flowchart of illustrative actions for converting an audio signal into a format supported by an encoding unit, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart of illustrative actions for determining whether an audio signal is in a format supported by an encoding unit, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] 1 is a flowchart of example actions for converting an audio signal into a usable playback format, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] 10 is another flow diagram of example actions for converting an audio signal into a usable playback format according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a hardware architecture for implementing features described with reference to FIGS. 1-6, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0025] In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present disclosure. However, it will be apparent that the present disclosure may be practiced without these specific details.

[0026] Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various described embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the various described embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail so as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the embodiments. Several features will be described below that can each be used independently of each other or in any combination with the other features.

[0027] As used herein, the term "comprises" and variations thereof should be read as open-ended terms meaning "including, but not limited to." The term "or" should be read as "and / or" unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term "based on" should be read as "based at least in part on."

[0028] FIG. 1 illustrates various devices that can be supported by an IVAS system. In some implementations, these devices communicate through a call server 102 that can receive audio signals from, for example, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or public land mobile network (PLMN) device, represented by PSTN / other PLMN device 104. The device can use the G.711 and / or G.722 standards for audio (speech) compression and decompression. Device 104 is generally capable of capturing and rendering only mono audio. The IVAS system can also support legacy user devices 106. These legacy devices can include enhanced voice services (EVS) devices, adaptive multi-rate wideband (AMR-WB) speech-to-audio coding standard supporting devices, adaptive multi-rate narrowband (AMR-NB) supporting devices, and other suitable devices. These devices typically render and capture audio in mono only.

[0029] The IVAS system may also be enabled to support user devices that capture and render audio signals in a variety of formats, including advanced audio formats. For example, the IVAS system may support stereo capture and rendering devices (e.g., user device 108, laptop 114, and conference room system 118), mono capture and binaural rendering devices (e.g., user device 110 and computer device 112), immersive capture and rendering devices (e.g., conference room device 116), stereo capture and immersive rendering devices (e.g., home theater 120), mono capture and immersive rendering (e.g., virtual reality (VR) gear 122), immersive content ingestion 124, and other suitable devices. To directly support all of these formats, the codec for the IVAS system would need to be very complex and expensive to implement. Therefore, a system for simplifying the codec prior to the encoding stage is desirable.

[0030] While the following description focuses on IVAS systems and codecs, the disclosed embodiments are applicable to any codec for any audio system where there is an advantage to reducing a large number of audio capture formats to a smaller number, to reduce the complexity of the audio codec, or for any other desired reason.

[0031] 2A is a block diagram of a system 200 for converting captured audio signals into a format ready for encoding, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. A capture unit 210 receives audio signals from one or more capture devices, such as microphones. For example, the capture unit 210 can receive audio signals from one microphone (e.g., a mono signal), two microphones (e.g., a stereo signal), three microphones, or another number and configuration of audio capture devices. The capture unit 210 can include one or more third-party customizations, which may be specific to the capture device used.

[0032] In some implementations, a mono audio signal is captured with one microphone. The mono signal can be captured, for example, by a PSTN / PLMN telephone 104, a legacy user device 106, a user device with a hands-free headset 110, a computing device with a connected headset 112, and a virtual reality gear 122, as shown in FIG.

[0033] In some implementations, the capture unit 210 receives stereo audio captured using various recording / microphone techniques. The stereo audio can be captured, for example, by the user device 108, laptop 114, conference room system 118, and home theater 120. In one example, the stereo audio is captured with two co-located directional microphones positioned with a spread angle of approximately 90 degrees or greater. The stereo effect is due to level differences between the channels. In another example, the stereo audio is captured with two spatially displaced microphones. In some implementations, the spatially displaced microphones are omnidirectional microphones. The stereo effect in this configuration is due to inter-channel level and inter-channel time differences. The distance between the microphones significantly affects the perceived stereo width. In yet another example, the audio is captured with two directional microphones with a 17 cm displacement and a 110 degree spread angle. This system is often referred to as the Office de Radiodiffusion Television Francaise ("ORTF") stereo microphone system. Yet another stereo acquisition system involves two microphones with different characteristics, arranged so that one microphone signal is the mid signal and the other is the side signal. This arrangement is often called mid-side (M / S) recording. The stereo effect of the signal from M / S is typically created based on the level difference between the channels.

[0034] In some implementations, the capture unit 210 receives audio captured using a multi-microphone technique. In these implementations, audio capture involves an arrangement of three or more microphones. This arrangement is generally required to capture spatial audio and can also be effective for suppressing ambient noise. As the number of microphones increases, the number of spatial scene details that can be captured by the microphones also increases. In some cases, increasing the number of microphones also improves the accuracy of the captured scene. For example, various user equipment (UE) devices in FIG. 1 operated in hands-free mode can utilize multiple microphones to generate mono, stereo, or spatial audio signals. Additionally, an open laptop computer 114 with multiple microphones can be used to generate stereo capture. Some manufacturers have released laptop computers equipped with two to four microelectromechanical system ("MEMS") microphones that allow stereo capture. Multi-microphone immersive audio capture can be implemented, for example, in conference room user equipment 216.

[0035] Captured audio typically undergoes a preprocessing stage before being ingested into a voice or audio codec. Thus, an audio preprocessing unit 220 receives the audio signal from the capture unit 210. In some implementations, the audio preprocessing unit 220 performs noise and echo cancellation, channel downmixing and upmixing (e.g., reducing or increasing the number of audio channels), and / or any type of spatial processing. The audio signal output of the audio preprocessing unit 220 is generally suitable for encoding and transmission to another device. In some implementations, the specific design of the audio preprocessing unit 220 depends on the details of audio capture using a specific device and is therefore performed by the device manufacturer. However, requirements set by the appropriate audio interface specification may set limits on these designs and ensure that certain quality requirements are met. Audio preprocessing is performed with the purpose of generating one or more different types of audio signals or audio input formats supported by the IVAS codec, enabling various IVAS target use cases or service levels. Depending on the specific IVAS service requirements associated with these use cases, IVAS codecs may be required to support mono, stereo, and spatial formats.

[0036] Typically, the mono format is used when it is the only format available, for example, based on the type of capture device, such as when the capturing capabilities of the transmitting device are limited. For stereo audio signals, the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 converts the captured signal into a normalized representation that meets certain conventions (e.g., channel ordering left-right conventions). For M / S stereo capture, this process may involve, for example, matrix operations so that the signal is represented using left-right conventions. After preprocessing, the stereo signal meets certain conventions (e.g., left-right conventions), except that information about the specific stereo capture device (e.g., microphone count and configuration) is removed.

[0037] Regarding spatial formats, the type of spatial input signal or the specific spatial audio format obtained after acoustic preprocessing may depend on the type of transmitting device and its capabilities for capturing audio. At the same time, spatial audio formats that may be required by IVAS service requirements include low-resolution spatial, high-resolution spatial, metadata-assisted spatial audio (MASA) format, and Higher Order Ambisonics ("HOA") Transport Format (HTF), or yet another spatial audio format. Thus, the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 of a transmitting device with spatial audio capabilities must be prepared to provide a spatial audio signal in the appropriate format that meets these requirements.

[0038] Low-resolution spatial formats include spatial WXY, first-order Ambisonics ("FOA"), and other formats. The spatial WXY format refers to a three-channel, first-order, planar B-format audio representation that omits the height component (Z). This format is useful for bitrate-efficient immersive telephony and immersive conferencing scenarios where spatial resolution requirements are not very high and the spatial height component is considered unimportant. This format is particularly useful for conference telephony, as it allows the receiving client to perform immersive rendering of a conference scene captured in a conference room with multiple participants. Similarly, this format is useful for conferencing servers that spatially position conference participants in virtual conference rooms. In contrast, FOA includes the height component (Z) as a fourth component signal. The FOA representation is meaningful for low-rate VR applications.

[0039] High-resolution spatial formats include channel-, object-, and scene-based spatial formats. Depending on the number of audio component signals involved, each of these formats allows spatial audio to be represented with virtually unlimited resolution. However, for various reasons (e.g., bitrate limitations and complexity limitations), practical limitations are often limited to a relatively small number of component signals (e.g., 12). Further spatial formats may include or rely on the MASA or HTF formats.

[0040] Requiring devices that support IVAS to support the large number of diverse audio input formats described above could result in substantial costs in terms of complexity, memory footprint, implementation testing, and maintenance. However, not all devices support all audio formats, nor do they benefit from supporting all audio formats. For example, there may be IVAS-enabled devices that support only stereo but no spatial capture. Other devices may support only low-resolution spatial input, and yet another class of devices may support only HOA capture. Thus, various devices may only utilize some subset of audio formats. Therefore, if an IVAS codec had to support direct encoding of all audio formats, the IVAS codec would be unnecessarily complex and expensive.

[0041] To solve this problem, the system 200 of FIG. 2A includes a simplification unit 230. The acoustic preprocessing unit 220 forwards the audio signal to the simplification unit 230. In some implementations, the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 generates acoustic metadata that is forwarded to the simplification unit 230 along with the audio signal. The acoustic metadata may include data related to the audio signal (e.g., format metadata, such as mono, stereo, spatial, etc.). The acoustic metadata may also include noise cancellation data and other suitable data, such as data related to physical or geometric characteristics of the capture unit 210.

[0042] The simplification unit 230 converts various input formats supported by the device into a reduced common set of codec ingest formats. For example, the IVAS codec can support three ingest formats: mono, stereo, and spatial. The mono and stereo formats are similar or identical to the respective formats generated by the acoustic preprocessing unit, while the spatial format may be a "mezzanine" format. The mezzanine format is a format that can accurately represent any of the spatial audio signals described above obtained from the acoustic preprocessing unit 220. This includes spatial audio represented in any channel-, object-, and scene-based format (or a combination thereof). In some implementations, the mezzanine format can represent an audio signal as several objects in an audio scene and several channels to carry spatial information about the audio scene. Furthermore, the mezzanine format can represent MASA, HTF, or other spatial audio formats. One suitable spatial mezzanine format can represent spatial audio as m objects and n-th order HOA ("mObj+HOAn"). where m and n are small integers including zero.

[0043] Process 300 of FIG. 3 illustrates example actions for converting audio data from a first format to a second format. At 302, the simplification unit 230 receives an audio signal, for example, from the acoustic preprocessing unit 220. As described above, the audio signal received from the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 may have undergone noise and echo cancellation processing and channel downmixing and upmixing processing, for example, to reduce or increase the number of audio channels. In some implementations, the simplification unit 230 receives acoustic metadata along with the audio signal. The acoustic metadata may include a format indication and other information, as described above.

[0044] At 304, the simplification unit 230 determines whether the audio signal is in a first format supported or unsupported by the encoding unit 240 of the audio device. For example, the audio format detection unit 232 may analyze the audio signal received from the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 and identify the format of the audio signal, as shown in FIG. 2A. If the audio format detection unit 232 determines that the audio signal is in mono format or stereo format, the simplification unit 230 passes the signal to the encoding unit 240. However, if the audio format detection unit 232 determines that the signal is in spatial format, the audio format detection unit 232 passes the audio signal to the conversion unit 234. In some implementations, the audio format detection unit 232 may use acoustic metadata to determine the format of the audio signal.

[0045] In some implementations, the simplification unit 230 determines whether the audio signal is in the first format by determining the number, configuration, or location of audio capture devices (e.g., microphones) used to capture the audio signal. For example, if the audio format detection unit 232 determines that the audio signal was captured by a single capture device (e.g., a single microphone), the audio format detection unit 232 may determine that it is a mono signal. If the audio format detection unit 232 determines that the audio signal was captured by two capture devices at a particular angle from each other, the audio format detection unit 232 may determine that the signal is a stereo signal.

[0046] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of example actions for determining whether an audio signal is in a format supported by an encoding unit, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. At 402, the simplification unit 230 accesses the audio signal. For example, the audio format detection unit 232 may receive the audio signal as input. At 404, the simplification unit 230 determines the sound capture configuration of the audio devices used to capture the audio signal, e.g., the number of microphones and their positional configuration. For example, the audio format detection unit 232 may analyze the audio signal and determine that three microphones were positioned at different locations in a space. In some implementations, the audio format detection unit 232 may determine the sound capture configuration using acoustic metadata. That is, the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 may generate acoustic metadata indicating the location of each capture device and the number of capture devices. The metadata may also include a description of detected audio characteristics, such as the direction and directionality of a sound source. At 406, the simplification unit 230 compares the sound capture configuration with one or more stored sound capture configurations. For example, the stored sound capture configurations may include the number and position of each microphone to identify a particular configuration (e.g., mono, stereo, or spatial). The simplification unit 230 compares each of those sound capture configurations with the sound capture configuration of the audio signal.

[0047] At 408, the simplification unit 230 determines whether the sound capture configuration matches a stored sound capture configuration associated with a spatial format. For example, the simplification unit 230 may determine the number of microphones used to capture the audio signal and their positions in space. The simplification unit 230 may compare that data with stored known configurations for spatial formats. If the simplification unit 230 determines that there is no match with the spatial format, which may be an indication that the audio format is mono or stereo, the process 400 proceeds to 412, where the simplification unit 230 forwards the audio signal to the encoding unit 240. However, if the simplification unit 230 identifies the audio format as belonging to the set of spatial formats, the process 400 proceeds to 410, where the simplification unit 230 converts the audio signal to a mezzanine format.

[0048] Referring back to FIG. 3 , at 306, the simplification unit 230, in accordance with determining that the audio signal is in a format not supported by the encoding unit, converts the audio signal to a second format supported by the encoding unit. For example, the conversion unit 234 can convert the audio signal to a mezzanine format. The mezzanine format accurately represents spatial audio signals originally represented in any channel-, object-, and scene-based format (or a combination thereof). Furthermore, the mezzanine format can represent MASA, HTF, or other suitable formats. For example, a format capable of serving as a spatial mezzanine format can represent audio as m objects and n-th order HOA ("mObj+HOAn"), where m and n are small integers, including zero. Thus, the mezzanine format may involve representing the audio with waveforms (signals) and metadata that can capture explicit characteristics of the audio signal.

[0049] In some implementations, the conversion unit 234 generates metadata about the audio signal when converting the audio signal to the second format. The metadata may be associated with portions of the audio signal in the second format, such as object metadata including the location of one or more objects. Another example is when the audio is captured using a unique set of capture devices, and the number and configuration of the devices is not supported or cannot be efficiently represented by the encoding unit and / or mezzanine format. In such cases, the conversion unit 234 may generate metadata. The metadata may include at least one of conversion metadata or acoustic metadata. The conversion metadata may include a metadata subset associated with portions of the format not supported by the encoding process and / or mezzanine format. For example, the conversion metadata may include device settings for a capture (e.g., microphone) configuration and / or device settings for an output device (e.g., speaker) configuration when the audio signal is played on a system configured specifically to output audio captured by the unique configuration. The metadata emanating from either the acoustic preprocessing unit 220 and / or the transformation unit 234 may also include acoustic metadata, which describes certain audio signal characteristics, such as the spatial direction from which the captured sound arrives, the directionality or diffuseness of the sound, etc. In this example, the audio is represented as a mono or stereo signal with additional metadata, but it may be determined to be spatial in a spatial format. In this case, the mono or stereo signal and the metadata are propagated to the encoder 240.

[0050] At 308, the simplification unit 230 forwards the audio signal in the second format to the encoding unit. As shown in FIG. 2A, if the audio format detection unit 232 determines that the audio is in mono or stereo format, the audio format detection unit 232 forwards the audio signal to the encoding unit. However, if the audio format detection unit 232 determines that the audio signal is in spatial format, the audio format detection unit 232 forwards the audio signal to the conversion unit 234. The conversion unit 234 converts the spatial audio to, for example, a mezzanine format, and then forwards the audio signal to the encoding unit 240. In some implementations, the conversion unit 234 forwards transformation metadata and acoustic metadata to the encoding unit 240 in addition to the audio signal.

[0051] The encoding unit 240 receives an audio signal in a second format (e.g., mezzanine format) and encodes the audio signal in the second format into a transport format. The encoding unit 240 propagates the encoded audio signal to some transmitting entity, which transmits it to a second device. In some implementations, the encoding unit 240 or a subsequent entity stores the encoded audio signal for later transmission. The encoding unit 240 can receive audio signals in mono, stereo, or mezzanine format and encode them for audio transport. If the audio signal is in mezzanine format and the encoding unit receives transformation metadata and / or acoustic metadata from the simplification unit 230, the encoding unit forwards the transformation metadata and / or acoustic metadata to the second device. In some implementations, the encoding unit 240 encodes the transformation metadata and / or acoustic metadata into a specific signal that the second device can receive and decode. The encoding unit then outputs the encoded audio signal to an audio transport that is carried to one or more other devices. In this manner, each device (e.g., among the devices of FIG. 1) can encode audio signals in a second format (e.g., mezzanine format), but the devices generally cannot encode audio signals in the first format.

[0052] In one embodiment, the encoding unit 240 (e.g., the IVAS codec described above) operates on the mono, stereo, or spatial audio signal provided by the simplification stage. The encoding is performed depending on the codec mode selection, which can be based on one or more of the negotiated IVAS service level, the sending and receiving device capabilities, and the available bitrate.

[0053] Service levels may include, for example, IVAS Stereo Telephony, IVAS Immersive Conferencing, IVAS User-Generated VR Streaming, or other suitable service levels. Certain audio formats (mono, stereo, spatial) can be assigned to a particular IVAS service level, with the preferred mode of IVAS codec operation being selected.

[0054] Furthermore, the operating mode of the IVAS codec can be selected in response to the device capabilities of the transmitting and receiving sides. For example, depending on the capabilities of the transmitting device, the encoding unit 240 may not be able to access the spatial ingest signal, for example, because the encoding unit 240 is only provided with mono or stereo signals. In addition, the end-to-end capability exchange or the corresponding codec mode request may indicate that the receiving end has certain rendering limitations and does not need to encode and transmit spatial audio signals, or vice versa. In another example, another device may request spatial audio.

[0055] In some implementations, end-to-end capability exchange cannot fully resolve remote device capabilities. For example, the encoding point may not have information about whether the decoding unit (sometimes called a decoder) is intended for a single mono speaker, stereo speakers, or whether it will render binaurally. The actual rendering scenario may change during a service session. For example, if the connected playback device changes, the rendering scenario may change. In one example, end-to-end capability exchange may not occur because the sink device is not connected during an IVAS encoding session. This may occur for voicemail services or in (user-generated) virtual reality content streaming services. Another example where the capabilities of the receiving device are unknown or cannot be resolved due to ambiguity is a single encoder that needs to support multiple endpoints. For example, in an IVAS conferencing or virtual reality content distribution, one endpoint may use a headset while another renders to stereo speakers.

[0056] One way to address this issue is to assume the lowest possible receiving device capabilities and select the corresponding IVAS codec operating mode, which may in some cases be mono. Another way to address this issue is to require that the IVAS decoder derive a decoded audio signal that can be rendered on a device with the respective lower audio capabilities, even if the encoder is operating in a mode that supports spatial or stereo audio. That is, a signal encoded as spatial audio should be decodable in both stereo and mono rendering. Similarly, a signal encoded as stereo should be decodable for mono rendering.

[0057] For example, in an IVAS conference, the call server should only need to perform a single encoding and send the same encoding to multiple endpoints, some of which may be binaural and some of which may be stereo. In this way, a single two-channel encoding can support both rendering on, for example, a laptop 114 and conference room system 118 with stereo speakers, and immersive rendering with binaural presentation on a user device 110 and virtual reality gear 122. Thus, a single encoding can support both outcomes simultaneously. As a result, one implication is that this two-channel encoding supports both stereo speaker playback and binaurally rendered playback with a single encoding.

[0058] Another example involves high-quality mono extraction. The system can support the extraction of a high-quality mono signal from an encoded spatial or stereo audio signal. In some implementations, it is possible to extract an Enhanced Voice Services ("EVS") codec bitstream for mono decoding, for example, using a standard EVS decoder.

[0059] Alternatively or additionally to service level and device capabilities, available bitrate is another parameter that can control codec mode selection. In some implementations, bitrate needs to increase with the quality of experience that can be provided at the receiving end and the number of associated components of the audio signal. At the lowest bitrate, only mono audio rendering is possible. The EVS codec offers mono operation down to 5.9 kbit / s. As bitrate increases, higher quality of service can be achieved. However, the encoding quality (Quality of Encoding, "QoE") remains limited due to mono-only operation and rendering. The next higher level of QoE is possible with (traditional) two-channel stereo. However, because this system has two audio signal components to be transmitted, it requires a bitrate higher than the lowest mono bitrate to provide useful quality. A spatial sound experience requires a higher QoE than stereo. At the lower end of the bitrate range, this experience can be enabled with a binaural representation of the spatial signal, which can be called "spatial stereo." Spatial stereo is likely the most compact spatial representation because it relies on encoder-side binaural pre-rendering (using appropriate head-related transfer functions (HRTFs)) of spatial audio signal ingestion into the encoder (e.g., encoding unit 240) and consists of only two audio component signals. Because spatial stereo carries more perceptual information, the bitrate required to achieve sufficient quality is likely to be higher than that required for conventional stereo signals. However, spatial stereo representations may have limitations with respect to customizing the rendering at the receiving end. These limitations may include constraints on headphone rendering, the use of a preselected set of HRTFs, or rendering without head tracking.Higher QoE at higher bitrates is made possible by a codec mode for encoding audio signals in a spatial format that does not rely on binaural pre-rendering in the encoder, but rather represents an ingested spatial mezzanine format. Depending on the bitrate, the number of represented audio component signals in the format can be adjusted. For example, this can result in more or less powerful spatial representations ranging from spatial WXY to high-resolution spatial audio formats, as described above. This allows for low to high spatial resolution depending on the available bitrate, providing the flexibility to address a wide range of rendering scenarios, including binaural with head tracking. This mode is referred to as "Versatile Spatial" mode.

[0060] In some implementations, the IVAS codec operates at bit rates in the range of the EVS codec, i.e., 5.9 to 128 kbit / s. For low-rate stereo operation in bandwidth-constrained environments, bit rates down to 13.2 kbit / s may be required. This requirement may depend on the technical feasibility of using a particular IVAS codec and may potentially enable attractive IVAS service operation. For low-rate spatial stereo operation in bandwidth-constrained environments, the lowest bit rate that allows spatial rendering and simultaneous stereo rendering may be down to 24.4 kbit / s. For operation in versatile spatial modes, low spatial resolution (spatial WXY, FOA) may be possible down to 24.4 kbit / s, but at this rate, audio quality similar to that achieved in spatial stereo operation modes is achieved.

[0061] Referring now to FIG. 2B, a receiving device receives an audio transport stream containing an encoded audio signal. A decode unit 250 of the receiving device receives the encoded audio signal (e.g., in the transport format encoded by the encoder) and decodes it. In some implementations, the decode unit 250 receives the audio signal encoded in one of four modes: mono, (traditional) stereo, spatialized stereo, or versatile spatial. The decode unit 250 forwards the audio signal to a rendering unit 260. The rendering unit 260 receives the audio signal from the decode unit 250 and renders the audio signal. Note that it is generally not necessary to restore the original first spatial audio format captured by the simplification unit 230. This allows for significant savings in decoder complexity and / or memory footprint of IVAS decoder implementations.

[0062] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of example actions for converting an audio signal into a usable playback format, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. At 502, the rendering unit 260 receives an audio signal in a first format. For example, the rendering unit 260 can receive the audio signal in mono, traditional stereo, spatial stereo, or versatile spatial format. In some implementations, the mode selection unit 262 receives the audio signal. The mode selection unit 262 identifies the format of the audio signal. If the mode selection unit 262 determines that the format of the audio signal is supported by the playback configuration, the mode selection unit 262 forwards the audio signal to the renderer 264. However, if the mode selection unit determines that the audio signal is not supported, the mode selection unit performs further processing. In some implementations, the mode selection unit 262 selects a different decoding unit.

[0063] At 504, rendering unit 260 determines whether the audio device is capable of playing the audio signal in a second format supported by a playback configuration. For example, rendering unit 260 may determine (e.g., based on the number and configuration of speakers and / or other output devices and / or metadata associated with the decoded audio) that the audio signal is in a spatial stereo format, but the audio device can only play the received audio in mono. In some implementations, not all devices in a system (e.g., as shown in FIG. 1) are capable of playing audio signals in the first format, but all devices are capable of playing the audio signal in the second format.

[0064] At 506, the rendering unit 260 adapts audio decoding to generate a signal in the second format based on determining that the output device can play the audio signal in the second format. Alternatively, the rendering unit 260 (e.g., the mode selection unit 262 or the renderer 264) can use metadata, such as acoustic metadata, transformation metadata, or a combination of acoustic metadata and transformation metadata, to adapt the audio signal to the second format. At 508, the rendering unit 260 forwards the audio signal in either the first supported format or the second supported format for audio output (e.g., to a driver that interfaces with a speaker system).

[0065] In some implementations, the rendering unit 260 converts the audio signal to the second format by using metadata that includes a representation of a portion of the audio signal that is not supported by the second format in combination with the audio signal in the first format. For example, if the audio signal is received in mono format and the metadata includes spatial format information, the rendering unit can use the metadata to convert the mono format audio signal to the spatial format.

[0066] 6 is another block diagram of example actions for converting an audio signal into a usable playback format, according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. At 602, the rendering unit 260 receives an audio signal in a first format. For example, the rendering unit 260 may receive the audio signal in mono, traditional stereo, spatial stereo, or versatile spatial format. In some implementations, the mode selection unit 262 receives the audio signal. At 604, the rendering unit 260 obtains the audio output capabilities (e.g., audio playback capabilities) of the audio device. For example, the rendering unit 260 may obtain the positions of speakers, their positional configuration, and / or the configuration of other playback devices available for playback. In some implementations, the mode selection unit 262 performs the obtaining operation.

[0067] At 606, the rendering unit 260 compares the audio characteristics of the first format with the output capabilities of the audio device. For example, the mode selection unit 262 may determine (e.g., based on the acoustic metadata, the transformation metadata, or a combination of the acoustic metadata and the transformation metadata) that the audio signal is in a spatial stereo format and that the audio device can only play the audio signal in a conventional stereo format on a stereo speaker system (e.g., based on the speaker and other output device configuration). The rendering unit 260 may compare the audio characteristics of the first format with the output capabilities of the audio device. At 608, the rendering unit 260 determines whether the output capabilities of the audio device match the audio output characteristics of the first format. If the output capabilities of the audio device do not match the audio characteristics of the first format, process 600 proceeds to 610, where the rendering unit 260 (e.g., the mode selection unit 262) performs an action to obtain the audio signal in a second format. For example, rendering unit 260 may adapt decoding unit 250 to decode the received audio in the second format, or the rendering unit may use the acoustic metadata, the transformation metadata, or a combination of the acoustic metadata and the transformation metadata to convert the audio from the spatial stereo format to a supported second format, which in the given example is conventional stereo. If the output capabilities of the audio device match the audio output characteristics of the first format, or after conversion operation 610, process 600 proceeds to 612, where rendering unit 260 (e.g., using renderer 264) forwards the now guaranteed-supported audio signal to the output device.

[0068] 7 shows a block diagram of an exemplary system 700 suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the system 700 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 701 that can execute various processes according to programs stored, for example, in a read-only memory (ROM) 702 or loaded, for example, from a storage unit 708 into a random access memory (RAM) 703. The RAM 703 also stores data needed by the CPU 701 to execute the various processes, as needed. The CPU 701, the ROM 702, and the RAM 703 are connected to one another via a bus 704. An input / output interface (I / O) 705 is also connected to the bus 704.

[0069] The following components are connected to the I / O interface 705: an input unit 706, which may include a keyboard, a mouse, etc.; an output unit 707, which may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) and one or more speakers; a storage unit 708, which may include a hard disk or another suitable storage device; and a communication unit 709, which may include a network interface card, such as a network card (e.g., wired or wireless).

[0070] In some implementations, the input unit 706 includes one or more microphones at different locations (depending on the host device) that enable capture of audio signals in various formats (e.g., mono, stereo, spatial, immersive, and other suitable formats).

[0071] In some implementations, the output unit 707 includes a system with a varying number of speakers. As shown in Figure 1, the output unit 707 (depending on the capabilities of the host device) can render audio signals in a variety of formats (e.g., mono, stereo, immersive, binaural, and other suitable formats).

[0072] The communication unit 709 is configured to communicate with other devices (e.g., via a network). Optionally, a drive 710 is also connected to the I / O interface 705. A removable medium 711, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, flash drive, or other suitable removable medium, is mounted on the drive 710, and, if necessary, a computer program read therefrom is installed in the storage unit 708. Those skilled in the art will understand that, although the system 700 has been described as including the above-described components, in actual applications, some of these components may be added, removed, and / or substituted, and all such modifications or variations are within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0073] According to exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the above-described processes may be implemented as a computer software program or on a computer-readable storage medium. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer program product including a computer program tangibly embodied on a machine-readable medium, the computer program including program code for performing the method. In such embodiments, the computer program may be downloaded from a network via the communication unit 709, mounted, and / or installed from a removable medium 711.

[0074] In general, various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special-purpose circuitry (e.g., control circuitry), software, logic, or any combination thereof. For example, simplification unit 230 and other units described above may be executed by control circuitry (e.g., a CPU in combination with other components of FIG. 7 ), which may then perform the actions described in this disclosure. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device (e.g., control circuitry). While various aspects of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure have been illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it will be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in, by way of non-limiting example, hardware, software, firmware, special-purpose circuitry or logic, general-purpose hardware, or controller, or other computing device, or some combination thereof.

[0075] Additionally, the various blocks illustrated in the flowcharts may be viewed as method steps and / or as operations resulting from the operations of computer program code and / or as multiple coupled logic circuit elements configured to perform the associated functions. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure include a computer program product including a computer program tangibly embodied on a machine-readable medium, the computer program including program code configured to perform the above-described method.

[0076] In the context of the present disclosure, a machine-readable medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. The machine-readable medium may be non-transitory and may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0077] Computer program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The computer program code may be provided to a processor in a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus having control circuitry, such that when executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, the program code implements the functions / acts specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams. The program code may be executed entirely on the computer, partially on the computer, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the computer and partially on a remote computer, entirely on a remote computer or server, or distributed across one or more remote computers and / or servers.

[0078] Several aspects will be described. [Aspect 1] receiving, by a simplification unit of an audio device, an audio signal in a first format, the first format being one of a set of audio formats supported by the audio device; determining, by the simplification unit, whether the first format is supported by an encoder of the audio device; converting, by the simplification unit, the audio signal to a second format supported by the encoder based on the first format not being supported by the encoder, the second format being an alternative representation of the first format; transferring, by the simplification unit, the audio signal in the second format to the encoder; encoding, by the encoder, the audio signal; storing the encoded audio signal or transmitting the encoded audio signal to one or more other devices; method. [Aspect 2] 2. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the audio signal to a second format includes generating metadata about the audio signal, the metadata including a representation of a portion of the audio signal. Aspect 3 2. The method of aspect 1, wherein encoding the audio signal includes encoding the audio signal in the second format into a transport format supported by a second device. Aspect 4 4. The method of claim 3, further comprising transmitting the encoded audio signal by transmitting the metadata including a representation of a portion of the audio signal that is not supported by the second format. Aspect 5 The method of aspect 1, wherein determining, by the simplification unit, whether the audio signal is in the first format includes determining a number of audio capturing devices and a corresponding position of each capturing device used to capture the audio signal. Aspect 6 The method of aspect 1, wherein each of the one or more other devices is configured to play the audio signal from the second format, and at least one of the one or more other devices is not capable of playing the audio signal from the first format. Aspect 7 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second format represents the audio signal as several audio objects within an audio scene, both of which rely on several audio channels to carry spatial information. Aspect 8 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the second format further includes metadata for carrying additional portions of spatial information. Aspect 9 2. The method of embodiment 1, wherein the first format and the second format are both spatial audio formats. Aspect 10 2. The method of aspect 1, wherein the second format is a spatial audio format, and the first format is a mono format associated with metadata, or a stereo format associated with metadata. Aspect 11 11. The method of any one of aspects 1 to 10, wherein the set of audio formats supported by the audio device includes a plurality of spatial audio formats. Aspect 12 12. The method of any one of aspects 1 to 11, further characterized in that the second format is an alternative representation of the first format, allowing for a comparable degree of experience quality. Aspect 13 receiving, by a rendering unit of an audio device, an audio signal in a first format; determining, by the rendering unit, whether the audio device can play the audio signal in the first format; adapting, by the rendering unit, the audio signal to be available in a second format in response to determining that the audio device is unable to play the audio signal in the first format; and transferring, by the rendering unit, the audio signal in the second format for rendering. method. Aspect 14 The method of claim 13, wherein converting the audio signal to the second format by the rendering unit includes using metadata in combination with the audio signal in a third format, the metadata including a representation of portions of the audio signal that are not supported by the fourth format used for encoding. Aspect 15 receiving, by a decoding unit, the audio signal in a transport format; decoding the audio signal in the transport format into the first format; and transferring the audio signal in the first format to the rendering unit. 14. The method of embodiment 13. Aspect 16 16. The method of claim 15, wherein adapting the audio signal to be available in the second format includes adapting decoding to produce the received audio in the second format. Aspect 17 The method of aspect 13, wherein each of a plurality of devices is configured to play the audio signal in the second format, and one or more of the plurality of devices is not capable of playing the audio signal in the first format. Aspect 18 receiving, by a simplification unit, audio signals in a plurality of formats from an audio pre-processing unit; receiving, by the simplification unit, attributes of a device from the device, the attributes including an indication of one or more audio formats supported by the device, the one or more audio formats including at least one of a mono format, a stereo format, or a spatial format; converting, by the simplification unit, the audio signals into an intake format that is an alternative representation of the one or more audio formats; and providing the converted audio signal by the simplification unit to an encoding unit for downstream processing, each of the acoustic pre-processing unit, the simplification unit, and the encoding unit having one or more computer processors; method. Aspect 19 one or more computer processors; one or more non-transitory storage media storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the one or more computer processors to perform the operations of any one of aspects 1 to 18. Device. Aspect 20 a capture unit configured to capture an audio signal; an acoustic pre-processing unit configured to perform operations including pre-processing the audio signal; Encoder and; a simplification unit; and an encoding system comprising: The simplified units are: receiving an audio signal in a first format from the audio preprocessing unit, the first format being one of a set of audio formats supported by the encoder; determining whether the first format is supported by the encoder; in response to determining that the first format is not supported by the encoder, converting the audio signal to a second format that is supported by the encoder; and transferring the audio signal in the second format to the encoder; The encoder: encoding the audio signal; configured to perform an operation including storing the encoded audio signal or transmitting the encoded audio signal to another device; Encoding system. Aspect 21 21. The encoding system of claim 20, wherein converting the audio signal to a second format includes generating metadata for the audio signal, the metadata including a representation of portions of the audio signal that are not supported by the second format. Aspect 22 21. The encoding system of claim 20, wherein the operation of the encoder further includes transmitting the encoded audio signal by transmitting the metadata including a representation of a portion of the audio signal that is not supported by the second format. Aspect 23 21. The encoding system of claim 20, wherein the second format represents the audio signal as several channels for carrying several objects and spatial information in an audio scene. Aspect 24 Preprocessing the audio signal comprises: Performing noise cancellation; Performing echo cancellation; reducing the number of channels of said audio signal; Increasing the number of audio channels in said audio signal; or generating acoustic metadata; 21. The encoding system according to embodiment 20. Aspect 25 Decoding system including: a decoder configured to perform operations including decoding the audio signal from a transport format to a first format; A rendering unit, receiving the audio signal in the first format; determining whether an audio device is capable of playing the audio signal in a second format, the second format allowing for the use of more output devices than the first format; converting the audio signal to the second format in response to determining that the audio device is capable of playing the audio signal in the second format; rendering the audio signal in the second format; a playback unit configured to perform operations including initiating playback of the rendered audio signal on a speaker system; Decoding system. Aspect 26 A decoding system as described in aspect 25, wherein converting the audio signal to a second format includes using metadata including a representation of portions of the audio signal that are not supported by the fourth format used for encoding in combination with the audio signal in a third format. Aspect 27 The decoder further operates as follows: receiving said audio signal in a transport format; transferring the audio signal in the first format to the rendering unit; 26. The decoding system according to claim 25.

Claims

1. receiving, by a simplification stage, audio signals in a plurality of formats and metadata for those audio signals from an acoustic pre-processing stage, the audio signals representing audio captured by at least one microphone; receiving, by the simplification stage, attributes of a device from the device, the attributes including one or more audio formats supported by the device, the one or more audio formats including a spatial format; converting, by the simplification stage, the audio signal into a spatial mezzanine format compatible with the one or more audio formats; and providing the audio signal converted by the simplification stage to an encoding stage, the output of which is for downstream processing in the device. method.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the simplification stage comprises a computer processor.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial mezzanine format includes a representation as m objects and an n-th order HOA ("mObj+HOAn"), where m and n are integers.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoding stage is an Immersive Voice and Audio Services (IVAS) compliant processing stage.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations including: receiving, by a simplification stage, audio signals in a plurality of formats and metadata for those audio signals from an acoustic pre-processing stage, the audio signals representing audio captured by at least one microphone; receiving, by the simplification stage, attributes of a device from the device, the attributes including one or more audio formats supported by the device, the one or more audio formats including a spatial format; converting, by the simplification stage, the audio signal into a spatial mezzanine format compatible with the one or more audio formats; and providing the converted audio signal by said simplification stage to an encoding stage, the output of said encoding stage being for downstream processing in said device. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium.

6. one or more processors; a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations; a system having: receiving, by a simplification stage, audio signals in a plurality of formats and metadata for those audio signals from an acoustic pre-processing stage, the audio signals representing audio captured by at least one microphone; receiving, by the simplification stage, attributes of a device from the device, the attributes including one or more audio formats supported by the device, the one or more audio formats including a spatial format; converting, by the simplification stage, the audio signal into a spatial mezzanine format compatible with the one or more audio formats; providing the audio signal converted by the simplification stage to an encoding stage for downstream processing, the output of the encoding stage being for downstream processing in the device. system.

7. when the one or more audio formats include a mono format or a stereo format, bypassing the conversion and providing the mono format or the stereo format to the encoding stage; The method of claim 1.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein converting the audio signal to a spatial mezzanine format comprises generating metadata about the audio signal, the metadata comprising a representation of a portion of the audio signal.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising transmitting the encoded audio signal by transmitting the metadata including the representation of the part of the audio signal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the spatial mid-layer format represents the audio signal as a number of audio objects within an audio scene and a number of channels for carrying spatial information about the audio scene.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the spatial mid-layer format further has metadata for carrying a further part of the spatial information.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the spatial mid-layer format includes a representation as m objects and n-th order HOA ("mObj+HOAn"), where m and n are integers.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the encoding stage is a processing stage compliant with immersive voice and audio service (IVAS).

14. The system of claim 6, wherein the spatial mid-layer format includes a representation as m objects and n-th order HOA ("mObj+HOAn"), where m and n are integers.

15. The system of claim 6, wherein the encoding stage is a processing stage compliant with immersive voice and audio service (IVAS).

16. When the one or more audio formats include a mono format or a stereo format, further comprising bypassing the conversion and providing the mono format or the stereo format to the encoding stage. The system of claim 6.

17. The system of claim 6, wherein converting the audio signal to a spatial mid-layer format includes generating metadata for the audio signal, the metadata including a representation of a part of the audio signal.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising transmitting the encoded audio signal by transmitting the metadata including the representation of the part of the audio signal.

19. 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the spatial mezzanine format represents the audio signal as a number of channels for carrying a number of audio objects within an audio scene and spatial information about the audio scene.

20. 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the spatial mezzanine format further comprises metadata for carrying additional portions of spatial information.

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