Replay Buffer Audio Block Concealment for Wireless Playback Gaps
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wireless audio transmission experiences discontinuities due to busy wireless mediums exceeding latency requirements, leading to delayed or dropped audio blocks that disrupt synchronized audio-visual playback.
Innovation Solution
An audio device with a replay buffer detects discontinuities and generates replacement audio blocks by flipping time indices and applying adaptive filtering, crossfading to conceal these disruptions, ensuring synchronized and uninterrupted playback across multiple devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the wireless link operates with low latency to enable audio-video synchronization, then audio playback timing is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to discontinuities when the wireless medium is busy
Solution Approach 1:
The system pre-processes audio blocks by creating replacement blocks with flipped time indices before transmission. When discontinuities occur due to wireless medium busy conditions, these pre-prepared replacement blocks can be immediately inserted to conceal the disruption, maintaining playback continuity without requiring complex real-time processing during the discontinuity event.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transforms the audio block parameters by flipping the time indices of the audio samples. This parameter transformation creates a reversed audio block that can be used as a replacement during discontinuities. The flipping operation changes the temporal arrangement of audio samples while maintaining the underlying audio content, allowing seamless concealment of dropped blocks.
2Speed
If audio blocks are transmitted with high priority to maintain synchronization, then audio timing is improved, but discontinuities occur when the wireless medium is occupied
Solution Approach 1:
The system converts the potentially harmful effect of wireless medium occupancy (causing audio block loss) into a beneficial outcome by using the same medium conditions to trigger replacement block insertion. When the medium is busy and causes discontinuities, the pre-prepared replacement blocks with flipped time indices are inserted, transforming the disruption into an imperceptible transition that maintains audio continuity.
Solution Approach 2:
The replacement audio block acts as an intermediary element between the transmitted audio blocks. When discontinuities occur, this intermediate block with flipped time indices bridges the gap caused by dropped audio blocks, providing a smooth transition that conceals the underlying transmission issues from the audio playback stream.
3Device complexity
If the system uses simple audio block transmission to reduce complexity, then device complexity is reduced, but discontinuities are not concealed effectively
Solution Approach 1:
The audio stream is segmented into discrete blocks, each of which can be independently processed and replaced. By dividing the audio into block units with identifiable time indices, the system can apply flipping operations to individual blocks and insert them as replacements during discontinuities without affecting the entire audio stream, maintaining simplicity while improving reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and audio devices for concealing discontinuities in wireless audio playback. In one embodiment, an audio device includes a wireless receiver and a replay buffer. The replay buffer stores audio blocks and detects a discontinuity in the sequence. A replacement audio block is generated by flipping time indices of a stored audio block and conditionally applying a vertical flip based on slope continuity. The replacement block is filtered using a glitch filter with coefficients selected according to frequency content of the stored block, and crossfaded with the stored block to produce output audio that conceals the discontinuity.