Backward-Compatible Audio Transport Synchronization for Enhanced Soundfields
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy audio playback systems are limited by their inability to seamlessly integrate with enhanced audio formats, leading to a gap between legacy and enhanced soundfield reproduction capabilities, which hinders the adoption of more immersive audio experiences.
Innovation Solution
A backward compatible bitstream is generated that includes enhanced audio transports, allowing legacy systems to process and reproduce soundfields using both legacy and enhanced audio formats without introducing audio artifacts, ensuring synchronization and maintaining compatibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If legacy audio playback systems use legacy audio formats, then backwards compatibility is maintained, but soundfield reproduction resolution is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The legacy audio transport is designed to serve multiple functions: it carries both legacy audio data compatible with traditional systems and extended audio data that enables enhanced reproduction. The transport structure universally supports both legacy and enhanced audio formats within a single stream, allowing the same infrastructure to deliver differentiated quality levels.
Solution Approach 2:
Extended audio data is embedded within the legacy audio transport structure. The enhanced audio information is nested inside the existing transport framework, allowing legacy systems to ignore the extended portions while enhanced systems can extract and utilize them for higher resolution soundfield reproduction.
2Measurement precision
If enhanced audio transports are integrated into legacy bitstreams, then soundfield reproduction resolution is improved, but synchronization between legacy and enhanced audio data may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
Synchronization markers are embedded within the extended audio data to provide feedback mechanisms. These markers enable enhanced audio playback systems to detect and correct timing drift between legacy and extended audio transports, ensuring that the combined output remains synchronized and free from audio artifacts.
Solution Approach 2:
Synchronization information is pre-encoded into the extended audio transport stream during the bitstream generation process. This preliminary embedding of timing and synchronization data allows playback systems to maintain proper alignment without requiring complex real-time adjustment mechanisms.
3Adaptability or versatility
If a unified bitstream carries both legacy and extended audio data, then backward compatibility is maintained and enhanced reproduction is enabled, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The audio processing architecture allows different parts of the system to operate at different quality levels. Legacy audio data follows traditional processing paths with simpler requirements, while extended audio data follows enhanced processing paths only when supported by the playback system. This local differentiation reduces overall complexity by avoiding universal complexity throughout the entire signal chain.
Data Source
AI summary
In general, techniques are described by which to synchronize enhanced audio transports with backward compatible audio transports. A device comprising a memory and one or more processors may be configured to perform the techniques. The memory may store a backward compatible bitstream conforming to a legacy transport format. The processor may obtain, from the backward compatible bitstream, a first audio transport stream, and obtain, from the backward compatible bitstream, a second audio transport stream. The processor(s) may also obtain, from the backward compatible bitstream, indications representative of synchronization information for the first audio transport stream and the second audio transport stream. The processor(s) may synchronize, based on the indications, the first audio transport stream and the second audio transport to obtain synchronized audio data stream. The processor(s) may obtain, based the synchronized audio data, enhanced audio data, and output the enhanced audio data to one or more speakers.