# US 10,503,461 B2 · Binaural rendering for headphones using metadata processing

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- Number: US 10,503,461 B2
- Document ID: US10503461B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/352,607
- Filed: 2019-03-13
- Published: 2019-07-04
- Granted: 2019-12-10
- Earliest claimed: 2013-10-31
- Assignees: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
- Applicants: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
- Inventors: Nicolas R. Tsingos; Rhonda Wilson; Sunil Bharitkar; C. Phillip Brown; Alan J. Seefeldt; Remi Audfray
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10503461B2

## CPC

- G06F 3/162: {Interface to dedicated audio devices, e.g. audio drivers, interface to CODECs}
- G06F 3/165: {Management of the audio stream, e.g. setting of volume, audio stream path}
- H04R 5/04: Circuit arrangements, {e.g. for selective connection of amplifier inputs/outputs to loudspeakers, for loudspeaker detection, or for adaptation of settings to personal preferences or hearing impairments (combinations of amplifiers H03F3/68; stereophonic systems H04S)}
- H04S 1/007: {in which the audio signals are in digital form (data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02)}
- H04S 7/304: {For headphones}
- H04S 7/306: {For headphones}
- G06F 3/04842: Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence)
- H04S 2400/03: Aspects of down-mixing multi-channel audio to configurations with lower numbers of playback channels, e.g. 7.1 -> 5.1 (H04S2400/01 takes precedence)
- H04S 2400/13: Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in stereophonic sound systems
- H04S 2420/01: Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K)
- H04S: STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS

## Abstract

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.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method, performed by an audio signal processing device, for generating a binaural rendering of digital audio content for playback through headphones, the method comprising:
receiving an encoded signal comprising the digital audio content and rendering metadata, wherein the digital audio content comprises a plurality of audio object signals;
receiving playback control metadata comprising local setup information;
decoding the encoded signal to obtain the plurality of audio object signals; and
generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content in response to the plurality of audio object signals, the rendering metadata, and the playback control metadata;
wherein the rendering metadata indicates, for each audio object signal, position, gain, and whether to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information;
wherein the local setup information comprises local screen size information;
wherein, when the rendering metadata indicates, for an audio object signal, not to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information, generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content comprises, for the audio object signal, ignoring the local screen size information; and
wherein, when the rendering metadata indicates, for an audio object signal, to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information, generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content comprises, for the audio object signal, remapping the audio object signal in response to the local screen size information.

### Claim 2

An audio signal processing device for generating a binaural rendering of digital audio content for playback through headphones, the audio signal processing device comprising one or more processors to:
receive an encoded signal comprising the digital audio content and rendering metadata, wherein the digital audio content comprises a plurality of audio object signals;
receive playback control metadata comprising local setup information;
decode the encoded signal to obtain the plurality of audio object signals; and
generate the binaural rendering of the digital audio content in response to the plurality of audio object signals, the rendering metadata, and the playback control metadata;
wherein the rendering metadata indicates, for each audio object signal, position, gain, and whether to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information;
wherein the local setup information comprises local screen size information;
wherein, when the rendering metadata indicates, for an audio object signal, not to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information, generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content comprises, for the audio object signal, ignoring the local screen size information; and
wherein, when the rendering metadata indicates, for an audio object signal, to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information, generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content comprises, for the audio object signal, remapping the audio object signal in response to the local screen size information.

### Claim 3

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a sequence of instructions, which, when executed by an audio signal processing device, cause the audio signal processing device to perform a method for generating a binaural rendering of digital audio content for playback through headphones, the method comprising:
receiving an encoded signal comprising the digital audio content and rendering metadata, wherein the digital audio content comprises a plurality of audio object signals;
receiving playback control metadata comprising local setup information;
decoding the encoded signal to obtain the plurality of audio object signals; and
generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content in response to the plurality of audio object signals, the rendering metadata, and the playback control metadata;
wherein the rendering metadata indicates, for each audio object signal, position, gain, and whether to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information;
wherein the local setup information comprises local screen size information;
wherein, when the rendering metadata indicates, for an audio object signal, not to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information, generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content comprises, for the audio object signal, ignoring the local screen size information; and
wherein, when the rendering metadata indicates, for an audio object signal, to remap the audio object signal in response to screen size information, generating the binaural rendering of the digital audio content comprises, for the audio object signal, remapping the audio object signal in response to the local screen size information.