Shared Point-of-View Audio Rendering for Spatial Integrity

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing audio processing systems struggle to maintain spatial integrity of sound scenes during playback, particularly when users move relative to virtual sound sources in extended reality environments, leading to misperception of sound directions due to trace amounts of one sound source being heard before another.

Innovation Solution

Implementing spatial filters and remedial operations such as adjusting sound source positions, applying delays, or restricting listener movement to ensure that primary sound sources are perceived before secondary sources, thereby preserving the spatial integrity of the audio scene.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Adaptability or versatility

If spatial rendering is used to create immersive 3D audio experience, then listener immersion is improved, but spatial integrity deteriorates when listener moves relative to virtual sound sources

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvelistener immersionVSAvoidspatial integrity

Core Design Contradiction:

Adaptability or versatilityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary identification of sound sources and their positions before the listener moves. By pre-processing audio signals to identify primary and secondary sound sources and establish their spatial relationships in advance, the system can maintain spatial integrity even as the listener moves through the virtual environment.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system continuously monitors the listener's position relative to virtual sound sources and dynamically adjusts the audio rendering in real-time. This feedback mechanism ensures that as the listener moves, the spatial relationships between sound sources are preserved, maintaining both immersion and spatial integrity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Measurement precision

If trace amounts of one sound source are heard before another, then spatial perception accuracy deteriorates, but system complexity increases if remedial operations are implemented

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvespatial perception accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts and separates primary sound sources from secondary sound sources in the audio mixture. By isolating the dominant sound source and treating it differently from background or trace sound sources, the system can apply specific spatial rendering techniques to maintain perception accuracy without overly complicating the entire audio processing pipeline.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

Different spatial rendering techniques are applied to different sound sources based on their characteristics. Primary sound sources receive full spatial processing while trace sound sources receive simplified handling. This local differentiation maintains spatial perception accuracy for important sounds while reducing overall system complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS12556879B2Shared point of view

Publication Date: 2026.02.17 APPLE INC

AI summary

Sound sources can be spatially rendered in a setting and shown through a display. In response to satisfaction of a threshold criterion that is satisfied based on relative distance between the sound sources and a position of a listener, the rendering of the sound sources can be adjusted to maintain spatial integrity of the sound sources. The adjustment can be performed to prevent one of the sound sources from arriving at the listener earlier than another of the sound sources.