Spatial Audio Rendering via User Position Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies face challenges in rendering spatial audio content without requiring a predetermined multiple loudspeaker arrangement, which can be inconvenient when the available loudspeaker setup cannot produce the encoded spatially varying sound field.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method that determine a user's variable position in real space and map it to a corresponding position in a sound space, controlling the output audio signal to highlight sound sources within a sub-volume of the sound space relative to a reference position, adjusting volume, orientation, and applying effects like gain increase or reverberation to create an immersive audio experience.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If spatial audio content is encoded using a specific multi-channel format (e.g., 5.1 surround sound), then the spatial audio can be rendered with accurate spatial characteristics, but a predetermined arrangement of multiple loudspeakers is required which reduces ease of operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual sound space that copies the spatial characteristics of the encoded audio content without requiring the physical loudspeaker arrangement. The system maps sound sources from the encoded spatial audio into a virtual sound space and renders them through a single loudspeaker or different loudspeaker configuration, effectively copying the spatial experience without the original hardware requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the rendering parameters by determining user position in real space, mapping it to sound space coordinates, and dynamically adjusting which sound sources are highlighted based on the user's location. This allows the same encoded spatial audio to be adaptively rendered for different user positions and loudspeaker configurations.
2Ease of operation
If the available loudspeaker arrangement does not match the encoded format, then ease of operation is improved as no specific arrangement is needed, but the spatial audio rendering accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the spatial audio rendering system universal by enabling it to work with any loudspeaker configuration or even a single loudspeaker. The virtual sound space technique allows the system to render spatially encoded audio content without being constrained to specific loudspeaker arrangements, making the system adaptable to various hardware scenarios while preserving spatial characteristics.
3Reliability
If multiple loudspeakers are used to create a spatially varying sound field, then spatial audio rendering accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the essential spatial characteristics from the encoded audio content and represents them in a virtual sound space, separating the spatial information from the requirement for multiple physical loudspeakers. This allows the spatial audio experience to be achieved through a simplified hardware configuration while maintaining the core spatial properties.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus comprising means for: obtaining an indication of a variable position of at least one user in real space; mapping the position of the user in real space to a position of the user in a sound space; controlling an output audio signal, for rendering a sound scene by a loudspeaker, the sound scene being defined by the one or more sound sources of the plurality of sound sources that are within a sub-volume of the sound space that excludes the position of the user in the sound space and that is sized in dependence upon the position of the user in the sound space.