Directional Audio Processing for Immersive Scene Stabilization

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing audio codecs lack the ability to efficiently handle spatial rotations and translations of captured audio scenes due to device movements, leading to potential motion sickness and instability in immersive audio experiences.

Innovation Solution

A device at the capturing end processes directional audio by modifying it based on spatial metadata, encoding this modified audio, and optionally including partial spatial data in the bitstream, allowing for compensation of device movements without requiring full metadata transmission.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Stability of the object's composition

If full spatial metadata is transmitted to compensate for device movements, then audio scene stability is improved, but data transmission bitrate increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveaudio scene stabilityVSAvoiddata transmission bitrate
Core Design Contradiction:
Stability of the object's compositionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and transmits only the essential spatial transformation parameters (rotation and translation data) from the complete spatial metadata, rather than transmitting all spatial information. This selective extraction maintains audio scene stability while reducing the bitrate requirement.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies partial action by transmitting only the necessary portion of spatial data required for motion compensation. The system determines the minimal set of spatial parameters needed to stabilize the audio scene during device movement, avoiding transmission of redundant information.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

2Object-affected harmful factors

If spatial rotation compensation is applied during audio capture, then motion sickness is reduced, but processing complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvemotion sicknessVSAvoidprocessing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by performing spatial rotation compensation during the audio capture phase rather than during rendering. The capturing device pre-processes the directional audio data to compensate for its own movements, eliminating motion sickness causes before the audio is transmitted or rendered.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The capturing device performs self-service by using its own spatial sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes) to detect its movement and automatically compensating for these movements in the captured audio data. The device serves its own motion compensation needs without requiring external processing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

3Adaptability or versatility

If directional audio processing is performed at the capturing device, then rendering flexibility is improved, but capturing device computational load increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverendering flexibilityVSAvoidcapturing device computational load
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the audio processing tasks between the capturing device and rendering devices. The capturing device performs only the essential directional audio encoding and spatial parameter extraction, while the rendering flexibility is achieved at the receiving end where multiple rendering configurations can be applied to the encoded data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Data Source

PatentEP4344194B1Audio processing in immersive audio services
Publication Date: 2026.03.11 DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORP
  • EP4344194B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP4344194B1 patent drawingFigure 3~5
  • EP4344194B1 patent drawingFigure 6~7

AI summary

The disclosure herein generally relates to capturing, acoustic preprocessing, encoding, decoding, and rendering of directional audio of an audio scene. In particular, it relates to a device adapted to modify a directional property of a captured directional audio in response to spatial data of a microphone system capturing the directional audio. The disclosure further relates to a rendering device configured to modify a directional property of a received directional audio in response to received spatial data.