Spatial audio capture, transmission and reproduction

#This patent application is a U.S. National Stage application of International Patent Application Number PCT/FI2019/050525 filed Jul. 4, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, and claims priority to GB 1811531.1 filed Jul. 13, 2018.

#The present application relates to apparatus and methods for spatial sound capturing, transmission, and reproduction, but not exclusively for spatial sound capturing, transmission, and reproduction within an audio encoder and decoder.

#Immersive audio codecs are being implemented supporting a multitude of operating points ranging from a low bit rate operation to transparency. An example of such a codec is the immersive voice and audio services (IVAS) codec which is being designed to be suitable for use over a communications network such as a 3GPP 4G/5G network. Such immersive services include uses for example in immersive voice and audio for virtual reality (VR). This audio codec is expected to handle the encoding, decoding and rendering of speech, music and generic audio. It is furthermore expected to support channel-based audio and scene-based audio inputs including spatial information about the sound field and sound sources. The codec is also expected to operate with low latency to enable conversational services as well as support high error robustness under various transmission conditions.

#For a better understanding of the present application, reference will now be made by way of example to the accompanying drawings in which:

#FIG. 1 shows schematically a system of apparatus suitable for implementing some embodiments;

#FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of the operation of the system as shown in FIG. 1 according to some embodiments;

#The following describes in further detail suitable apparatus and possible mechanisms for the provision of effective control of spatial augmentation settings and signalling of immersive media content.

#Combining at least two immersive media streams, such as immersive MPEG-I 6DoF audio content and a 3GPP EVS audio with spatial location metadata or 3GPP IVAS spatial audio, in a spatially meaningful way is possible when a common interface is implemented for the renderer. Using a common interface may for example allow a 6DoF audio content be augmented by a further audio stream. The augmenting content may be rendered at a certain position or positions in the 6DoF scene/environment or made for example follow the user position as a non-diegetic or alternatively a 3DoF diegetic rendering.

#The embodiments as described herein attempt to reduce unwanted masking or other perceptual issues between the combinations of immersive media streams.