AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) AUDIO WITH POSITION AND ACTION TRIGGERED VIRTUAL SOUND EFFECTS
First Claim
1. A method for providing augmented audio to a listener wearing a headset including right and left ear speakers, comprising:
- with binaural microphones on the headset, capturing ambient sound in an environment about the headset;
from a sensor array worn or carried by the listener, receiving a trigger signal;
with a track selection module, selecting an augmentation audio track in response to the trigger signal;
with a processor running an augmented reality (AR) audio mixer, combining the captured ambient sound with the selected augmentation audio track to generate an AR audio output track; and
playing the AR audio output track with the right and left ear speakers of the headset, wherein the selected augmentation audio track has binaural characteristics associated with a virtual speaker located relative to the listener'"'"'s headset in the environment.
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Abstract
An augmented reality (AR) audio system for augmenting environment or ambient sound with sounds from a virtual speaker or sound source positioned at a location in the space surrounding an AR participant. The sound from the virtual speaker may be triggered by an action of the listener and/or by the location or relative orientation of the listener. The AR audio system includes stereo earphones receiving an augmented audio track from a control unit, and binaural microphones are provided to capture ambient sounds. The control unit operates to process trigger signals and retrieve one or more augmentation sounds. The control unit uses an AR audio mixer to combine the ambient sound from the microphones with the augmentation sounds to generate left and right ear augmented audio or binaural audio, which may be modified for acoustic effects of the environment including virtual objects in the environment or virtual characteristics of real objects.
166 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for providing augmented audio to a listener wearing a headset including right and left ear speakers, comprising:
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with binaural microphones on the headset, capturing ambient sound in an environment about the headset; from a sensor array worn or carried by the listener, receiving a trigger signal; with a track selection module, selecting an augmentation audio track in response to the trigger signal; with a processor running an augmented reality (AR) audio mixer, combining the captured ambient sound with the selected augmentation audio track to generate an AR audio output track; and playing the AR audio output track with the right and left ear speakers of the headset, wherein the selected augmentation audio track has binaural characteristics associated with a virtual speaker located relative to the listener'"'"'s headset in the environment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An augmented audio apparatus, comprising:
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a binaural audio headphone assembly including right and left earphones providing right and left speakers, respectively, wherein the headphone assembly further includes a left microphone on the left earphone and a right microphone on the right earphone; and a control pack communicatively linked with the headphone assembly, the control pack including media storage storing a plurality of augmentation audio tracks and further including a binaural transfer function module generating an augmented audio output track for playing on the right and left speakers, the augmented audio output track combining ambient sound captured by the left and right microphones with at least one of the augmentation audio tracks output from a virtual sound source positioned at a physical location relative to the headphone assembly. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An augmented reality audio system, comprising:
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a headset with a left speaker and a right speaker and with a left microphone mounted proximate to the left speaker and a right microphone mounted proximate to the right speaker; and a control unit communicatively linked with the headset, the control unit including an AR audio mixer and media storage storing augmentation audio tracks, wherein the AR audio mixer selectively combines one of the augmentation audio tracks with environmental sound captured by the left and right speakers to generate an augmented audio output played on the left and right speakers and wherein the AR audio mixer modifies the one of the augmentation audio tracks based on an acoustic signature of an AR environment. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification