Wireless Surround Sound Common Bitstream for Synchronized Audio
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless surround sound systems face inefficiencies in transmitting audio to multiple speakers, particularly in terms of encoder complexity, bandwidth usage, and sound quality, as they often generate and transmit separate bitstreams to each speaker, which can lead to increased latency and reduced efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A wireless surround sound system that decodes multichannel audio bitstreams into a common bitstream, which is then sent as a unicast to multiple speakers, using optimized transmission coding schemes and error correction techniques, allowing for simultaneous transmission over multiple protocols and reducing the need for separate bitstreams, thereby simplifying encoder complexity and enhancing bandwidth efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate bitstreams are transmitted to each speaker, then each speaker receives dedicated audio data, but encoder complexity and bandwidth usage increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple separate audio bitstreams into a single common bitstream that is then transmitted to all speakers. This merging approach reduces encoder complexity by using a single encoder instead of multiple separate encoders, while still delivering dedicated audio channels to each speaker through the shared bitstream.
Solution Approach 2:
The common bitstream serves multiple functions simultaneously: it carries audio data for all speakers in the surround sound system, enables flexible speaker configuration changes, and supports both wireless and wired connections. This universal bitstream structure eliminates the need for separate encoding paths for different speaker configurations.
2Reliability
If separate bitstreams are transmitted to each speaker, then each speaker has dedicated audio data, but bandwidth usage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple audio channels into a single common bitstream that is transmitted once over the wireless network, rather than transmitting separate bitstreams to each speaker. This significantly reduces bandwidth consumption while maintaining reliable audio delivery to all speakers through the shared transmission.
3Reliability
If separate bitstreams are transmitted to each speaker, then each speaker receives audio data, but transmission latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary encoding of all audio channels into a common bitstream before transmission, so that the bitstream is ready for simultaneous distribution to all speakers. This preliminary preparation reduces transmission latency by eliminating the need for separate encoding and transmission processes for each speaker.
4Device complexity
If a common bitstream is transmitted to multiple speakers, then encoder complexity and bandwidth usage are reduced, but synchronization across speakers becomes more challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where speakers report their reception status and timing information back to the source device. This feedback enables the system to adjust transmission timing and compensate for variations in wireless reception, maintaining precise synchronization across all speakers despite using a shared bitstream.
Data Source
AI summary
A wireless surround sound system can include a plurality of speakers and a source device, such as a television. The source device can decode a multichannel audio bitstream to a plurality of audio channels. The source device can combine the plurality of audio channels into a common bitstream. The source device can wirelessly send the common bitstream as a unicast simultaneously to at least some of the speakers of the plurality of speakers. The plurality of speakers can decode the common bitstream. The plurality of speakers can render audio from the decoded common bitstream. The rendered audio can correspond to a speaker configuration of the wireless surround sound system.