LFE Renderer Spatial Heatmap Audio Processing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current audio rendering technologies fail to accurately spatialize low frequency effects (LFE) components within the soundfield, leading to degraded immersion and inaccurate reproduction, especially when dedicated LFE channels are corrupted or missing, as they equally process all audio data without considering spatial characteristics.

Innovation Solution

The proposed techniques analyze audio data to identify spatial characteristics of LFE components and process them accordingly to improve spatialization, using an LFE renderer unit that generates a spherical heatmap to determine the direction and shape of LFE components, allowing for more accurate rendering and reconstruction from mid or high frequency components.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If all audio data is processed equally to obtain LFE speaker feeds, then the processing is simple and fast, but the spatialization accuracy of LFE components is degraded

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvespatialization accuracyVSAvoidprocessing complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The audio data processing is segmented into different frequency components. The system separates LFE components from mid and high frequency components, allowing specialized processing for each. This segmentation enables the system to apply spatialization techniques specifically to LFE components without unnecessarily complicating the processing of all audio data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

Different processing qualities are applied to different frequency components. LFE components receive enhanced spatialization processing including spherical heatmap analysis and direction determination, while mid and high frequency components are processed differently. This local quality approach improves LFE spatialization accuracy without uniformly increasing processing complexity across all audio data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

2Reliability

If dedicated LFE channels are used, then LFE reproduction is straightforward, but the system fails when LFE channels are corrupted or missing

Engineering Contradiction:
Improverobustness to corruptionVSAvoidreconstruction complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary analysis of the audio data to identify spatial characteristics of LFE components before reconstruction is needed. By pre-processing the audio data to extract spatial information and generate spherical heatmaps, the system prepares reconstruction data in advance, enabling reliable LFE reproduction even when channels are corrupted or missing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system uses mid and high frequency components as intermediaries to reconstruct LFE components when dedicated LFE channels are unavailable or corrupted. By analyzing spatial characteristics in these frequency ranges and using them to infer LFE spatialization, the system maintains reliability without requiring direct LFE channel data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Measurement precision

If spatial characteristics analysis is applied to LFE components, then immersion and listening experience are improved, but processing time and computational resources increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvespatialization accuracyVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies spatial characteristics analysis selectively rather than to all audio data. By focusing computational resources on analyzing only LFE components and their spatial characteristics through spherical heatmap generation, the system achieves improved spatialization accuracy without the excessive processing time that would result from analyzing all audio frequency ranges with the same level of detail.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP3987824B1Audio rendering for low frequency effects
Publication Date: 2024.07.10 QUALCOMM INC
  • EP3987824B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3987824B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3987824B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

In general, various aspects of the techniques are directed to audio rendering for low frequency effects. A device comprising a memory and a processor may be configured to perform the techniques. The memory may store audio data representative of a soundfield. The processor may analyze the audio data to identify spatial characteristics of low frequency effects components of the soundfield, and process, based on the spatial characteristics, the audio data to render a low frequency effects speaker feed. The processor may also output the low frequency effects speaker feed to a low frequency effects capable speaker.