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That swanky surround-sound system might have eight point one channels, but you’ve got to be sitting at their precise focal point to get the full effect. This newly-filed Microsoft patent application will track listeners throughout the room and provide 3D audio regardless of their position.
The 3D sound system relies on a “depth camera system” (read: a Kinect) to track the user’s position within the room and adjusts which speaker produces which sound. This means that the proverbial “sweet spot” of surround-sound systems—the focal point—will move with you as you fidget and shift while playing. Kinect games specifically will greatly benefit from this and should be able to provide a more immersive and accurate playing environment. [USPTO via Wired]
This is the first patent I have seen for a while that is actually innovative.
Genuinely cannot believe this, I just developed this exact same Patent as part of my Honours project! This is so frustrating as I probably can’t further my research
Honestly, been developing a game for a year that lets you walk around a room and changes the playback as if you were in that environment, and it was really successful!
Oh well, I guess I need to wait for my big hit
Actually I think you will be fine. The two patents are quite different in what they are trying to accomplish. I am not sure how useful yours is though unless if you live in a freaking castle with a massive floor space.
to be fair the game I made with this was in a 15ft by 15ft floor space, so no, not very useful, was kinda planning to use it for making 3D audio experiences for exhibitions and stuff, it works really well for kinda transporting you to a virtual soundscape. pretty cool to see the idea being of interest to big companies though
Installing something like this in a museum will be awesome. Set up a virtual palace with fake cardboard people from the medieval era. Walk close to the people to listen in to their conversations~ A taste of medieval culture.