Spatially-bounded audio elements with interior and exterior representations

A method of audio rendering, the method comprising:

• receiving an audio element, wherein the audio element comprises:
• i) an interior representation that is valid within a spatial region, the interior representation of the audio element being in a listener-centric format and ii) information indicating the spatial region;
• determining that a listener is within the spatial region;
• and
• rendering the audio element using the interior representation of the audio element, wherein
• the audio element further comprises information indicating how an exterior representation of the audio element is to be derived such that the exterior representation of the audio element is valid outside the spatial region.

A node for audio rendering, the node comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium;
• and
• processing circuitry coupled to the computer readable storage medium, wherein the node is configured to:
• receive an audio element, wherein the audio element comprises:
• i) an interior representation that is valid within a spatial region, the interior representation of the audio element being in a listener-centric format and ii) information indicating the spatial region;
• determine that a listener is outside the spatial region;
• derive an exterior representation of the audio element;
• and
• render the audio element using the exterior representation of the audio element.

A node, the node comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium;
• and
• processing circuitry coupled to the computer readable storage medium, wherein the node is configured to:
• provide to a rendering node an audio element, wherein the audio element comprises:
• i) an interior representation that is valid within a spatial region, the interior representation of the audio element being in a listener-centric format and ii) information indicating the spatial region, wherein
• the audio element further comprises information indicating how an exterior representation of the audio element is to be derived such that the exterior representation of the audio element is valid outside the spatial region.

A node for audio rendering, the node comprising:

• a computer readable storage medium;
• and
• processing circuitry coupled to the computer readable storage medium, wherein the node is configured to:
• receive an audio element, wherein the audio element comprises:
• i) an interior representation that is valid within a spatial region, the interior representation of the audio element being in a listener-centric format and ii) information indicating the spatial region;
• determine that a listener is within the spatial region;
• and
• render the audio element using the interior representation of the audio element, wherein
• the audio element further comprises information indicating how an exterior representation of the audio element is to be derived such that the exterior representation of the audio element is valid outside the spatial region.