Virtual Listening Position Audio Mapping for Hybrid Meetings
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Remote participants in hybrid meetings often experience limited immersion due to challenges in participating in side-chats or small group-discussions, as they cannot move around and interact with local participants as easily as in-person attendees.
Innovation Solution
A system that provides a selectable virtual listening position in a hybrid meeting, allowing remote participants to choose a position on an audio map of the local meeting location, correlating it to specific microphones, and prioritizing their audio output for enhanced clarity and volume, thereby enhancing the remote participant's engagement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If remote participants connect via virtual meeting platform, then meeting accessibility is improved, but immersion level deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the physical meeting space through an audio map that replicates spatial audio relationships. Remote participants can select virtual listening positions that correspond to physical locations in the meeting room, allowing them to virtually 'move around' and engage in side-chats without physically being present. This copying of the physical space experience resolves the contradiction by maintaining accessibility while restoring immersion.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent adds a virtual spatial dimension to the remote participation experience. By implementing audio maps with selectable listening positions and correlating microphones to specific locations, the system creates a third dimension of interaction beyond traditional audio-visual conferencing. This dimensional enhancement allows remote participants to navigate and engage with the meeting environment more naturally, improving immersion while maintaining virtual accessibility.
2Quantity of substance
If audio from all microphones is provided equally, then comprehensive coverage is improved, but conversation clarity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different priorities to different audio sources based on their relevance to the selected listening position. Instead of uniform audio distribution, the system correlates specific microphones to specific virtual positions and prioritizes audio from microphones nearest to the selected position. This creates localized audio quality enhancement where the most relevant conversations are heard most clearly, while maintaining overall coverage through the multi-microphone architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of audio priority weighting dynamically based on the selected virtual listening position. The system adjusts the relative importance (priority) of audio signals from different microphones according to their spatial relationship to the chosen listening position. This parameter change allows the same audio system to optimize clarity for different conversational contexts while maintaining comprehensive coverage through the underlying multi-microphone setup.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3A
AI summary
A method, system, and computer-readable medium for providing a selectable virtual listening position in a hybrid meeting (e.g., a meeting with both virtual and in-person participants). An audio map of a local meeting location is provided to connected devices. A remote participant selects a position on the audio map as a virtual listening position in the local meeting location, which is correlated to one or more microphones in the local meeting location. Audio captured by the one or more correlated microphones is prioritized for the remote participant, where prioritizing the audio causes the audio to be output by the remote participant's device at a higher level (e.g., volume) than audio captured by other microphones in the local meeting location. Thus, the remote participant is provided a user experience that enables the remote participant to engage in a conversation occurring amongst one or more in-person attendees/participants at the local meeting location.