Binaural Audio Rendering With Angle Interpolation for Wide Viewing Angles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing immersive media systems struggle to maintain audio quality when viewers are positioned at extreme angles relative to the display, as they lack the ability to accurately compute angle parameters for binaural rendering, leading to a lower quality user experience.
Innovation Solution
The system employs multiple capture arrays to record audio and video from various perspectives, using server circuitry to calculate angles of arrival and computer circuitry to interpolate between these angles, allowing for the calculation of new parameters that accurately represent extreme viewer orientations, thereby enhancing binaural audio rendering.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple capture arrays are used to record audio from various perspectives, then the acoustic rendering range is expanded, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the audio capture function into multiple independent capture arrays positioned at different locations. Each array captures audio from its specific perspective, and the system processes these segmented signals separately through angle calculation and interpolation before combining them for binaural rendering. This segmentation enables expanded acoustic rendering range while managing complexity through modular processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces intermediary computational elements (angle of arrival calculations, interpolation algorithms, and virtual microphone positioning) between the physical capture arrays and the final binaural output. These intermediaries transform the raw multi-array signals into accurate spatial representations, resolving the contradiction by adding computational complexity rather than physical complexity to achieve extended rendering capability.
2Measurement precision
If angle interpolation is performed to represent extreme viewer orientations, then the measurement precision of viewer position is improved, but the computational requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary calculations of angle of arrival for each capture array before the actual binaural rendering process. By pre-computing these angles and storing them, the system reduces the computational burden during real-time processing while maintaining high measurement precision for extreme viewer orientations. This preliminary action separates the computationally intensive angle calculations from the rendering pipeline.
Solution Approach 2:
The system applies angle interpolation selectively based on viewer position. For extreme orientations where standard capture arrays are insufficient, the system performs additional interpolation calculations to generate virtual microphone positions. This partial application of excessive computation only where needed maintains measurement precision for critical cases while avoiding unnecessary computational overhead in standard viewing scenarios.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed. An example apparatus includes instructions that, when executed, cause processor circuitry to at least: obtain audio data channels produced by physical capture devices; calculate: a first plurality of angles corresponding to ones of the physical capture devices, the first plurality of angles to describe how sound produced by an audio source arrives to the physical capture devices, a location of the audio source based on the first plurality of angles, a location of virtual capture arrays, and a second plurality of angles to describe how sound produced by the audio source would arrive to the virtual capture arrays; interpolate between two angles from either of the first plurality or the second plurality of angles; and render a binaural audio signal based on the audio data channels and the interpolated angle.