Distributed Audio-Mixer for Virtual Environment Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing virtual environments are limited by processing resources and latency, resulting in less realistic visual and audio experiences.
Innovation Solution
A system that leverages user-contributed computing devices to distribute computational tasks, such as voxel-server, avatar-mixer, and audio-mixer tasks, across a network, using a credit-based economy to incentivize participation and enhance the immersive audio experience by placing audio-mixers strategically within virtual environments to simulate realistic sound propagation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If computational tasks are centralized on fixed servers, then system control and management are simplified, but processing capacity and scalability are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized server functionality into distributed computational tasks that can be executed on user-contributed devices. Audio mixing, voxel processing, and avatar management are divided into discrete tasks that can be independently assigned and executed across multiple devices, thereby increasing overall processing capacity while maintaining manageable complexity through task modularization.
Solution Approach 2:
User-contributed devices are assigned multiple types of computational tasks including audio-mixer, voxel-server, and avatar-mixer functions. This multi-functionality allows the same pool of devices to handle diverse computational requirements, increasing system productivity without requiring specialized hardware for each function.
2Manufacturing precision
If more computational resources are allocated to enhance audio realism, then audio quality improves, but latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adjusts audio processing parameters and task allocation based on real-time conditions. Audio-mixer tasks are assigned and executed with dynamic parameter adjustments that optimize both audio quality and latency performance, allowing the system to adapt processing intensity to current operational requirements rather than using fixed resource allocation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses spatialized audio feeds that are copied and distributed to multiple listener nodes with minimal processing. Instead of performing complex real-time audio synthesis for each listener, the system creates spatialized audio copies based on listener position and environment, maintaining high audio quality while reducing computational latency.
3Adaptability or versatility
If user-contributed devices are utilized to distribute computational tasks, then scalability and audience size increase, but system coordination and task management become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The assignment server implements feedback mechanisms to monitor device availability, task completion status, and performance metrics. This feedback loop enables dynamic task reassignment and load balancing across user-contributed devices, managing coordination complexity through continuous system state awareness and adaptive resource allocation.
Solution Approach 2:
User-contributed devices self-register their availability and capabilities with the assignment server, which automatically assigns appropriate tasks based on device capacity and current system needs. This self-service approach reduces the coordination overhead by allowing devices to autonomously participate in the distributed computational network without requiring complex manual provisioning or management.
Data Source
AI summary
Described herein are systems and method for providing an immersive audio experience in a computer-generated virtual environment. An audio-mixer is placed at a location in a domain of the virtual environment and receives a separate audio feed from each of the audio source nodes directly connected to the audio-mixer. The audio-mixer mixes the received audio feeds in dependence on corresponding location, position and intrinsic loudness information to generate a separate spatialized mixed audio feed for each of the directly connected audio listener nodes. The audio-mixer sends, to each of the audio listener nodes directly connected to the audio-mixer, the separate spatialized mixed audio feed generated for the audio listener. An audio-mixer also receives and sends non-spatialized mixed audio feeds to/from other audio-mixers. The location of the audio-mixer is preferably moved to account for audio source nodes moving and/or changes to which audio source nodes are directly connected to the audio-mixer.