Configuring Playback of Audio Via a Home Audio Playback System

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017195819-A1
Application number	US-201515313095-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 20, 2015
Priority date	May 21, 2014
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Method and apparatus is described relating to configuring playback of audio via a home audio playback system. The method relates to a graphical user interface, where the graphical user interface comprises a positioning area. Control objects representing audio objects are movable by the user to different locations in the position area, where the current location of the control object represents a user-desired playback position in a listening environment. A method also relates to configuring playback of audio with a graphical user interface comprising a balance adjustment area. In the balance adjustment area of the user interface the user can select a volume level for foreground and background objects.

First claim

1 . A method of configuring playback of audio via a home audio playback system, the audio comprising one or more audio objects, the method comprising:
generating an output signal for a display, the output signal comprising data representing a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface comprising a positioning area, wherein the positioning area comprises a visual representation of a listening environment associated with the home audio playback system, and
wherein the positioning area comprises a movable control object which represents at least one of said one or more audio objects, the movable control object being movable with respect to the visual representation of the listening environment, whereby a current location of the movable control object can be selected by a user, the current location of the movable control object being representative of a user-desired playback position within the listening environment for the at least one of the one or more audio objects,
receiving an input signal from the user via an input device, the input signal comprising data representative of the user-desired playback position for the at least one of the one or more audio objects; and generating a configuration signal for configuring the home audio playback system, the configuration signal comprising data suitable for causing the home audio playback system to playback the at least one of the audio objects according to the user-desired playback position for the at least one of the one or more audio objects.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the positioning area comprises a first visual element with a visual indication that the at least one of the one or more control objects has been selected by the user.

3 . The method of claim 1 or claim 2 , wherein the positioning area comprises a second visual element with a visual indication that the movable control object is movable, or wherein the first visual element comprises the visual indication that the movable control object is movable.

4 . The method of any one of claims 2 to 3 , wherein the first visual element comprises a visual indication when the control object is active.

5 . The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the positioning area further comprises:
a further visual element arranged to indicate at least one valid location with respect to the visual representation of where the one or more speakers are located, the valid location being a location which the movable control object can occupy.

6 . The method of any preceding claim, comprising determining a respective content of the, or each of the, audio objects.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the respective content is any one of:
representative of commentary; representative of crowd noise; representative of team radio; or representative of social media chat.

8 . The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the graphical user interface further comprises an object selection list area wherein the object selection list area comprises:
at least one selectable control object, the at least one selectable control object being configured to allow the user to enable playback of one or more of the control objects.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the object selection list area comprises at least one further selectable control object, the at least one further selectable control object being configured to allow the user to select a playback volume of the one or more enabled control objects.

10 . The method of claim 8 or claim 9 , wherein the object selection list area comprise plural control objects, and the control objects are arranged into plural groups in the object selection list area.

11 . The method of claim 10 , when dependent on claim 6 or claim 7 , wherein the number of control objects in the groups is based on the respective content of the control objects.

12 . The method of claim 10 , or 11 when dependent on claim 6 or claim 7 , wherein the allocation of the control objects to the groups is based on the respective content of the control objects.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the home audio playback system receives information related to the audio, the audio-related information comprising resources specific for a current program of the audio, wherein the resources comprise images for icons to be displayed in association with the control object(s) in the object selection list area and/or in the positioning area.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the resources are downloaded through a file transfer protocol (FTP) link.

15 . The method of any preceding claim, wherein the home audio playback system comprises two or more speakers which are arranged according to one of:
a 2.0 speaker configuration, a 5.1 speaker configuration, a 7.1 speaker configuration, a 3D speaker configuration or a sound bar speaker configuration.

16 . The method of claim 3 or any preceding claim that depends on claim 3 , comprising determining, from the input signal, a user command to store:
the selection of the one of the control objects as a preset.

17 . The method of any one of the preceding claims, comprising determining, from the input signal, a user command to store:
the user-desired playback position as a preset.

18 . The method of claim 1 , comprising communicating the configuration signal to the home audio playback system.

19 . The method of claim 18 , comprising communicating the configuration signal to the home audio playback system using an Internet-based protocol.

20 . A method of configuring playback of audio via a home audio playback system, the audio comprising two or more audio objects, the method comprising:
generating an output signal for a display, the output signal comprising data representing a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface comprising a balance adjustment area, wherein the balance adjustment area comprises:
a first icon at a first position, the first icon representing one or more of the audio objects which are foreground objects,
a second icon at a second position, the second icon representing one or more of the audio objects which are background objects,
a movable control object which is movable between the first position and the second position whereby a current position of the movable control object can be selected by the user, the current position of the movable control object relative to the first position being representative of a user-selected volume level for the one or more foreground objects, the current position of the movable control object relative to the second position being representative of a user-selected volume level for the one or more background objects;
receiving an input signal from the user via an input device, the input signal comprising data representative of the user-selected volume level for the one or more foreground objects and data representative of the user-selected volume level for the one or more background objects; and generating a configuration signal for configuring the home audio playback system, the configuration signal comprising data suitable for causing the home audio playback system to playback the two or more audio objects according to the respective user-selected volume levels for the one or more foreground objects and the one or more background objects.

21 . The method of claim 20 , comprising determining from the input signal, a user command to store:
the one or more background objects and the one or more foreground objects as presets;

Assignees

• Dolby Int Ab

Inventors

• Harder Sigrid
• France Robert Andrew
• Ziegler Thomas
• Musial Radoslaw
• Oates Christopher

Classifications

• H04S7/40 Primary

  Visual indication of stereophonic sound image · CPC title

• H04S3/008

  in which the audio signals are in digital form, i.e. employing more than two discrete digital channels (data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02) · CPC title

• H04S7/30 Primary

  Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field · CPC title

• H04S2400/11

  Positioning of individual sound objects, e.g. moving airplane, within a sound field (H04S2420/13 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04S2400/01

  Multi-channel, i.e. more than two input channels, sound reproduction with two speakers wherein the multi-channel information is substantially preserved · CPC title