Sparse Audio Stream Packaging for Active-Channel Bandwidth Use
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional audio data transmission in networks requires fixed packet sizes and bandwidth renegotiation, leading to inefficient bandwidth usage, as all audio channels are transmitted regardless of active sound, resulting in unused bandwidth and unnecessary bandwidth reservations.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves dynamically sizing packets based on active audio channels, transmitting only packets with active sound, and using a sparse stream format where each channel is packaged into separate packets, allowing unused bandwidth to be utilized by other data traffic without renegotiating bandwidth.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all audio channels are transmitted regardless of active sound, then complete audio coverage is ensured, but bandwidth efficiency deteriorates due to unused bandwidth
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and transmits only the necessary audio data packets containing active sound channels, removing silent or inactive channels from transmission. This selective extraction maintains audio completeness for active channels while eliminating wasted bandwidth on inactive channels, directly resolving the contradiction between reliability and bandwidth efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the audio stream by identifying and transmitting only packets containing active sound channels. The transmission behavior changes based on real-time audio activity detection, allowing the system to adapt between transmitting all channels (when all are active) and selective transmission (when some are inactive), thus resolving the static contradiction.
2Ease of operation
If fixed packet sizes are used for audio transmission, then transmission simplicity is maintained, but bandwidth utilization deteriorates due to inability to adapt to varying audio content
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic packet sizing where the packet size adapts based on the actual audio content being transmitted. When audio activity is detected, packets include that channel's data; when silent, packets are reduced or eliminated. This dynamic adjustment maintains operational simplicity through automated detection while significantly improving bandwidth utilization by matching packet size to actual content needs.
3Reliability
If bandwidth is reserved for all audio channels, then guaranteed bandwidth availability is ensured, but network resource efficiency deteriorates due to unused reserved bandwidth
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts and transmits only the subset of audio channels that are currently active, rather than transmitting all reserved channels. This allows the network to maintain bandwidth guarantees for the full channel set while actually utilizing only the necessary portion, freeing up reserved bandwidth for other network traffic and improving overall network resource efficiency without compromising audio quality for active channels.
Data Source
AI summary
Transportation of audio data is provided between a first network element and a second network element. The first network element divides multichannel audio data by channel into a plurality of individual channels. The first network element packages each of the plurality of individual channels together with a corresponding sampling set of audio data into a single packet. The first network element transmits to the second network element each packet that includes a channel having an active sampling set of audio data.