Unrecoverable Audio Block Concealment for Low-Latency Playback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless audio transmission systems face challenges in maintaining low latency and synchronizing audio with video, leading to audio discontinuities and dropped blocks due to medium busy periods exceeding latency requirements.
Innovation Solution
A system and method for concealing un-recoverable audio blocks by receiving audio data, buffering in a repeat buffer, horizontally and vertically flipping previous audio data blocks, filtering with a glitch filter, and crossfading to produce output audio that masks discontinuities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the wireless link maintains low latency to synchronize audio with video, then audio-video synchronization is improved, but audio blocks may be dropped when the medium is busy for extended periods
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a buffer that stores previous audio data blocks before transmission. When audio blocks are lost due to medium busy periods, the buffer provides pre-stored audio data to maintain continuous playback without gaps, thus cushioning against the reliability issue while preserving low latency requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary buffer between the wireless transmission and audio playback. This buffer acts as a mediator that decouples the transmission timing from the playback timing, allowing the system to maintain low latency for synchronization while providing a safety net against packet loss through stored audio blocks.
2Manufacturing precision
If audio blocks are concealed using complex processing operations, then audio quality and continuity are improved, but computational complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a simple copying approach by retrieving and repeating previous audio blocks from the buffer when discontinuities are detected. This copying mechanism maintains audio quality and continuity without requiring complex processing operations, thus achieving high audio quality with minimal processing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the temporal parameter of audio blocks by repeating previous blocks instead of using complex signal processing. This parameter-based solution (repetition in time domain) achieves audio continuity with simpler operations compared to frequency-domain processing or other complex concealment methods.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides for systems and methods for resolving discontinuities in audio data. The systems and methods include receiving, by a receiving device, a sequence of audio data blocks that has at least one missing. A repeat buffer of the receiving device buffers each audio data block in order according to the sequence. The receiving device resolves the discontinuity by accessing in the repeat buffer a previous audio data block preceding the at least one discontinuity, flipping the time indices of the previous audio data block, determining a slope of the audio data and flipping the slope to generate a vertically and horizontally flipped audio data block. The vertically and horizontally flipped audio data block is filtered using a glitch filter and crossfaded into the previous audio data block to produce output audio data that conceals the at least one missing block.