Spatial Audio Reuse for Portable Virtual Environments
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current immersive audio communication technologies are inefficient for portable wireless computing devices with limited processing power, as they require significant processing resources and bandwidth, making it difficult to support immersive audio experiences on these devices.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that reuse spatial audio information for avatars in a virtual environment by determining if the audio reuse criterion is satisfied, reducing the need for intensive audio scene processing, and processing audio based on distance to maintain spatial characteristics, thereby reducing the load on central servers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If distributed audio scene computations are performed across central servers and users' computing devices, then immersive audio communication quality is improved, but the processing power requirement and bandwidth consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges audio scene computations for multiple avatars located in the same predefined area into a single rendered audio information set. Instead of computing separate audio scenes for each avatar, the system determines whether avatars are in the same predefined area and reuses the rendered audio information from one avatar for other avatars in that area, thereby reducing processing power requirements while maintaining spatial audio accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal rendered audio information set that serves multiple avatars simultaneously. The determined rendered audio information for one avatar becomes a reusable resource for other avatars in the same predefined area, allowing a single computation to fulfill multiple audio scene requirements and reducing overall processing demands.
2Reliability
If more powerful servers are employed to handle immersive audio processing for portable devices, then audio communication quality is maintained, but system cost and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates copies of rendered audio information and distributes them to multiple avatars in the same predefined area. Instead of each avatar receiving individually computed audio scenes requiring powerful servers, the system generates one rendered audio information set and distributes copies to all avatars in that area, reducing server processing requirements while maintaining audio quality.
3Measurement precision
If individual audio scene processing is performed for each avatar, then spatial audio accuracy is maximized, but processing time and computational load increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the audio scene processing for multiple avatars into a single operation when they are located in the same predefined area. By determining that avatars share the same spatial region and reusing the rendered audio information from one avatar for others, the system processes audio scenes more efficiently while preserving spatial audio perception accuracy for all users.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and system for using spatial audio in a virtual environment, which is capable of running on portable devices with limited processing power, and utilising low bandwidth communication connections. The system identifies a first avatar in the virtual environment; and determines if the avatar satisfies a reuse criterion, which will enable the system to reuse the audio information which has been generated for a second avatar in the virtual environment for the first avatar.