Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Paul J Radek

Robert Norman Heitkamp

Philip Andrew Edry

Steven Wilssens

Ziyad Ibrahim

Ibrahim Ziyad

Brian C McDowell

Steven Marcel Elza Wilssens

The techniques disclosed herein provide application programming interfaces (APIs) for enabling a system to select a spatialization technology. The APIs also enable a system to balance resources by allocating audio objects to a number of applications executing on a computer system. The system coordinates the audio objects between applications and each application can control the number of objects they individually generate. In some configurations, the system can also fold audio objects across different applications. Different spatialization technologies can be selected based on an analysis of contextual data and policy data. For instance, when a new headphone system is plugged in, the system may switch from Dolby Atmos to the Microsoft HoloLens HRTF spatialization technology. The system can dynamically control a number of generated audio objects and dynamically change a utilized spatialization technology based on changes to a computing environment.

Enhanced adaptive audio rendering techniques

A system for enabling a shared three-dimensional ('3D') audio bed available to multiple software applications is provided. The system manages bed metadata defining a number of speaker objects of a 3D audio bed. The bed metadata also associates each speaker object with a location, which in some configurations, is defined by a three-dimensional coordinate system. The bed metadata is communicated to a plurality of applications. The applications can then generate custom 3D audio data that associates individual audio streams with individual speaker objects of the 3D audio bed. The applications can then communicate the custom 3D audio data to a 3D audio bed engine, which causes the processing and rendering of the custom 3D audio data to an output device utilizing a selected spatialization technology. Aspects of the 3D bed can be altered when the spatialization technology or the output device changes.

Shared three-dimensional audio bed

The techniques disclosed herein can enable a system to coordinate the processing of object-based audio and channel-based audio generated by multiple applications. The system determines a spatialization technology to utilize based on contextual data. In some configurations, the contextual data can indicate the capabilities of one or more computing resources. In some configurations, the contextual data can also indicate preferences. The preferences, for example, can indicate user preferences for a type of spatialization technology, e.g., Dolby Atmos, over another type of spatialization technology, e.g., DTSX. Based on the contextual data, the system can select a spatialization technology and a corresponding encoder to process the input signals to generate a spatially encoded stream that appropriately renders the audio of multiple applications to an available output device. The techniques disclosed herein also allow a system to dynamically change the spatialization technologies during use.

Adaptive audio rendering

Application programing interface for adaptive audio rendering

The techniques disclosed herein enable a system to coordinate audio objects that are generated by multiple applications. A system can receive contextual data from several applications and dynamically determine an allocation of a number of audio objects for each application based on the contextual data. The allocation can be based on a status of one or more applications, user interactions with one or more applications, and other factors. Policy data can also cause the system to allocate a number of audio objects to one or more applications based on an application type and other factors. For instance, a policy may cause a system to allocate more audio objects to a game application vs. a communications application. As a user interacts with an application, e.g., moves or resizes a user interface, closes an application, increases or decreases a level of interaction, the system can reallocate audio objects to individual applications.

Spatial audio resource management and mixing for applications

The present disclosure enables applications of a computing system to coordinate object-based audio resources by the use of a minimum resource working set. The minimum resource working set encourages an application to be fair in its requirements since specifying a large number will most likely result in the application receiving zero resources, or losing all of its resources to another application. A working set, which can include a minimum and a maximum working set, also provides a useful metric for the spatial audio resource manager to use when balancing demand. In addition, a minimum working set provides a performance metric for resource balancing since it exposes what the minimum functional requirement is from the maxim requested resource claim.

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Bellevue, WA, United States of America

Paul J Radek