Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation

Audyssey Laboratories, Inc.

Dolby International Ab

Other

Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Harman International Industries, Inc.

University of Southern California

Sunil Bharitkar

Chris Kyriakakis

C Phillip Brown

Alan Jeffrey Seefeldt

Nicolas R Tsingos

Remi Samuel Audfray

Rhonda J Wilson

Louis Dunn Fielder

Jeffrey Charles Riedmiller

Brett Graham Crockett

Michael J Rockwell

Andrew Dow Turner

Nathan Dahlin

Philip Hilmes

Dimitar Petrov Filev

Mark Franklin Davis

Charles Quito Robinson

Antonio Mateos Sole

Christof Fersch

Giulio Cengarle

Timothy J Shuttleworth

Ismael Hamad Nawfal

Vivek Kumar

Frank Migda

Yun Zhang

Phillip C Brown

Embodiments are described for a method of rendering audio for playback through headphones comprising receiving digital audio content, receiving binaural rendering metadata generated by an authoring tool processing the received digital audio content, receiving playback metadata generated by a playback device, and combining the binaural rendering metadata and playback metadata to optimize playback of the digital audio content through the headphones.

Binaural rendering for headphones using metadata processing

Embodiments are described for designing a filter in a magnitude domain performing an impedance filtering function over a frequency domain to compensate for directional cues for the left and right ears of the listener as a function of virtual source angles during headphone virtual sound reproduction. The filter is derived by obtaining blocked ear canal and open ear canal transfer functions for loudspeakers placed in a room, obtaining an open ear canal transfer function for a headphone placed on a listening subject, and dividing the loudspeaker transfer functions by the headphone transfer function to invert a headphone response at the entrance of the ear canal and map the ear canal function from the headphone to free field.

Impedance matching filters and equalization for headphone surround rendering

Techniques for low bit rate parametric encoding of haptic-tactile signals. The techniques encompass a parametric encoding method. The parametric encoding method includes the steps of: for at least one frame of a plurality of frames of a source haptic-tactile signal, representing the source haptic-tactile signal in the frame as a set of parameters and according to a functional representation; and including the set of parameters in a bit stream that encodes the source haptic-tactile signal. The functional representation is based on one of a set of orthogonal functionals, or polynomial approximation. For example, the functional representation can be based on one of Chebyshev functionals of the first kind through order n, Chebyshev functionals of the second kind through order n, or k-th order polynomial approximation.

Low bit rate parametric encoding and transport of haptic-tactile signals

In some embodiments, a method for monitoring speakers within an audio playback system (e.g., movie theater) environment. In typical embodiments, the monitoring method assumes that initial characteristics of the speakers (e.g., a room response for each of the speakers) have been determined at an initial time, and relies on one or more microphones positioned in the environment to perform a status check on each of the speakers to identify whether a change to at least one characteristic of any of the speakers has occurred since the initial time. In other embodiments, the method processes data indicative of output of a microphone to monitor audience reaction to an audiovisual program. Other aspects include a system configured (e.g., programmed) to perform any embodiment of the inventive method, and a computer readable medium (e.g., a disc) which stores code for implementing any embodiment of the inventive method.

Audio playback system monitoring

In some embodiments, a method for automatic detection of polarity of speakers, e.g., speakers installed in cinema environments. In some embodiments, the method determines relative polarities of a set of speakers (e.g., loudspeakers and/or drivers of a multi-driver loudspeaker) using a set of microphones, including by measuring impulse responses, including an impulse response for each speaker-microphone pair; clustering the speakers into a set of groups, each group including at least two of the speakers which are similar to each other in at least one respect; and for each group, determining and analyzing cross-correlations of pairs of impulse responses (e.g., pairs of processed versions of impulse responses) of speakers in the group to determine relative polarities of the speakers. Other aspects include systems configured (e.g., programmed) to perform any embodiment of the inventive method, and computer readable media (e.g., discs) which store code for implementing any embodiment of the inventive method.

Automatic loudspeaker polarity detection

Techniques for synthesizing a parameterized haptic track from a multichannel audio signal and embedding the haptic track in a multichannel audio codec bit stream. The haptic track synthesis can occur while encoding the multichannel audio signal as the multichannel audio codec bit stream. The haptic track can be synthesized in a way that allows select parameters of the haptic track to be extracted from the audio signal. The parameters can be adjusted by a user during the encoding process. For example, the parameter adjustments can be made using a authoring/monitoring tool. The parameter adjustments can be recorded as metadata that, along with the haptic track, is included in the codec bit stream. In some aspects the present technology, the adjustable parameters include center frequency, gain, decay rate, and other parameters that allow for modulation of the haptic track during decoding of the codec bit stream. By synthesizing a parameterized haptic track, A/V content creators can be provided greater control in authoring haptic content to accompany the A/V content they create.

Haptic signal synthesis and transport in a bit stream

A Voice Activity Detection (VAD) algorithm provides a simple binary signal indicating the presence or absence of speech in a microphone signal. The VAD algorithm includes a first step of noise suppression which both estimates and removes (i.e., filters) ambient noise from the microphone signal to create a filtered signal. The magnitude of the filtered signal is then compared to a threshold in order to produce a VAD output signal. The threshold is dynamic and may be derived either from the filtered signal itself, or from a noise spectrum estimate calculated by the noise suppression step.

System and method for performing voice activity detection

A Dynamic Noise Compensation (DNC) telephone speech enhancement algorithm addresses the issue of environment noise on the listener end of a telephone call. A single microphone proximal to the listener provides a sample of near end ambient noise level and of near end speech. A Voice Activity Detector (VAD) detects the presence of near end (listener) speech. The DNC algorithm adjusts the far end incoming speech level based on the near end ambient noise and the VAD ensures that the near end listener speech does not effect the incoming speech level adjustment.

System and method for performing automatic gain control in mobile phone environments

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Sunil Bharitkar