Sound Boundaries for Virtual Collaboration Audio Privacy

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Solution Overview

Problem

Remote communication challenges, such as diminished impromptu interactions and reduced social capital, arise in virtual collaboration spaces due to lack of control over audio communication reach and privacy.

Innovation Solution

User-definable sound boundaries are implemented within virtual collaboration spaces to regulate audio communication, allowing users to define acoustically isolated areas for private conversations, with customizable properties like bidirectional or unidirectional sound blocking, visibility, and traversability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If audio communication is allowed to propagate freely in virtual collaboration space, then communication efficiency is improved, but privacy control deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvecommunication efficiencyVSAvoidprivacy loss

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The virtual collaboration space is segmented into multiple acoustic zones using sound boundaries that divide the space into regions with different audio propagation characteristics. Users can define these boundaries to create private conversation areas while maintaining open communication zones, thus achieving both privacy control and communication efficiency simultaneously.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Object-affected harmful factors

If sound boundaries are made more restrictive to enhance privacy, then privacy control is improved, but ease of operation deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveprivacy protectionVSAvoidboundary management complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Sound boundaries are implemented as dynamic rather than static structures. Users can easily adjust boundary positions, shapes, and acoustic properties in real-time based on their current needs. The boundaries can be temporarily created, modified, or removed without complex reconfiguration processes, making privacy control intuitive and adaptable to changing collaboration scenarios.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Object-affected harmful factors

If acoustic isolation is increased to improve privacy, then privacy control is improved, but communication quality deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveaudio privacyVSAvoidcommunication quality

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

Different regions of the virtual space are assigned different acoustic qualities through sound boundaries. Private zones implement stronger acoustic isolation to protect confidentiality, while public zones maintain open acoustic characteristics for efficient communication. The system selectively applies different levels of acoustic treatment to different spatial locations based on the collaboration needs, ensuring both privacy and communication quality are preserved in their respective contexts.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Data Source

PatentUS11736539B2Sound boundaries for a virtual collaboration space

Publication Date: 2023.08.22 VERIZON PATENT & LICENSING INC

AI summary

An illustrative collaboration space provider system defines, within a virtual collaboration space, a sound boundary associated with a particular avatar located within the virtual collaboration space. The collaboration space provider system then prevents, based on the sound boundary, at least one direction of audio communication for a user represented by the particular avatar. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.