Microphone Capture Simulation System for VR Immersive Audio
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current virtual reality systems fail to provide immersive audio experiences due to limitations in audio data, as it often lacks customization to specific locations within virtual reality spaces and does not accurately represent sound directionality, detracting from the overall immersiveness.
Innovation Solution
A microphone capture simulation system that accesses audio signals from directional microphones around a capture zone, processes them to simulate full-sphere sound, and updates in real-time as the user moves within the virtual reality space, generating renderable audio signals that provide accurate sound directionality and customization to the user's current location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If camera-captured video data and microphone-captured audio data are provided for every location within a virtual reality space, then the immersiveness of the virtual reality world is improved, but the device complexity and cost increase significantly because cameras and microphones cannot practically be placed at every location
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the acoustic environment by placing a virtual microphone at the user's location within the captured scene. This virtual microphone replicates the acoustic characteristics of the real-world location without requiring a physical microphone to be present, thereby maintaining immersiveness while avoiding the need for excessive hardware
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer that takes the captured audio from physical microphones and transforms it into location-specific audio for the user. This intermediary process includes determining acoustic characteristics of the capture zone, identifying the user's location, and generating location-specific audio signals, thereby decoupling the need for physical microphones from every location
2Measurement precision
If audio data is customized to specific locations within a virtual reality space, then the realism and directionality of sound is improved, but the processing complexity and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by determining specific acoustic characteristics for different locations within the capture zone. Each location is assigned unique acoustic properties based on its position relative to sound sources and the environment, enabling location-specific audio customization without requiring complete reprocessing of all audio data
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes acoustic parameters such as gain adjustments and spatial characteristics based on the user's location within the capture zone. By dynamically adjusting these parameters according to position, the system achieves accurate sound directionality and realism without requiring fundamentally different processing approaches for each location
Data Source
AI summary
An exemplary microphone capture simulation system accesses a captured set of audio signals captured by a plurality of directional microphones disposed at a plurality of locations on a perimeter of a capture zone of a real-world scene. The system identifies a location within the capture zone that corresponds to a virtual location at which a user is virtually located within a virtual reality space that is based on the capture zone. Based on the captured set of audio signals and the identified location, the system generates a simulated set of audio signals representative of a simulation of a full-sphere multi-capsule microphone capture at the identified location. The system processes the simulated set of audio signals to form a renderable set of audio signals configured to be rendered to simulate full-sphere sound for the virtual location while the user is virtually located at the virtual location.