RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims priority to PCT Application No. PCT/EP2019/065856, filed on Jun. 17, 2019, which claims priority to European Application No. 18179707.7, filed on Jun. 26, 2018, Each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of presentation of audio and, in particular, to the presentation of audio content, such as telecommunication audio content or immersive telecommunication audio content. The present disclosure also relates to associated apparatus, methods and computer programs.

BACKGROUND

Telecommunication or telephony systems are being developed that provide for more than monophonic capture and presentation of audio. The audio of such telephony may comprise spatial audio. The presentation of such audio may require careful consideration to ensure the telecommunication is clear and effective.

The listing or discussion of a prior-published document or any background in this specification should not necessarily be taken as an acknowledgement that the document or background is part of the state of the art or is common general knowledge. One or more aspects/examples of the present disclosure may or may not address one or more of the background issues.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the disclosure there is provided an apparatus comprising means configured to:receive audio content from a remote user device, the audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio;receive secondary audio importance information associated with said audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio;receive current audio presentation information indicative of at least whether audio from one or more audio sources is currently being presented as spatial audio such that respective audio of the one or more audio sources is to be perceived as originating from one or more respective directions or ranges of directions around a reference point;provide for presentation of the primary audio; andprovide for presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information and the current audio presentation information.

In one or more examples, the reference point is indicative of the location of a user to whom the audio content is presented. In one or more examples, the primary audio comprises voice audio comprising audio determined to be generated by a voice of one or more remote users, such as for telecommunication with the user, and the secondary audio comprises ambient audio comprising audio other than that determined to be generated by the voice of the one or more remote users. In one or more examples, the primary audio comprises spatial audio that includes directional information such that, when presented, it is to be perceived as originating from a direction or range of directions in accordance with the directional information and the secondary audio comprises at least one of audio without said directional information and spatial audio with said directional information that defines a range of directions from which the audio should be perceived greater than a threshold range of directions. In one or more examples, the audio content comprises telecommunication audio content comprising audio content provided for the purpose of telecommunication, which may be via a traditional telecommunication network or provided by a voice over IP or any other packet-based or circuit switched telephony service. In one or more examples in which the primary audio and/or the secondary audio comprises spatial audio, the primary audio may comprise one or more audio channels each associated with respective one or more audio objects, the audio objects each having a defined location from which the associated audio channel, when presented, is to be perceived. In one or more examples, the locations associated with the primary audio are located such and/or have a width that is less than the threshold range of directions. In one or more examples, the locations associated with the secondary audio are located such and/or have a width that is greater than a threshold range of directions.

In one or more examples, said secondary audio importance information is received from the remote user device with said audio content. In one or more examples, said audio content is provided as part of a call between the remote user and a user of the apparatus, and wherein the secondary audio importance information is set by the remote user or automatically determined at least for each call. In one or more examples, said secondary audio importance information is set by the remote user via the remote user device and is based on said audio content. In one or more examples, said secondary audio importance information is determined by and received from a server that receives said audio content from the remote user device.

In one or more examples, the secondary audio importance information defines at least two levels of importance comprising important and unimportant and wherein the apparatus includes means configured to:provide for presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information being indicative of the secondary audio being important, said presentation based on the current audio presentation information; and at least one of:provide for presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information being indicative of the secondary audio being unimportant and the current audio presentation information being indicative that none of the one or more audio sources are currently presenting audio; andprovide for non-presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information being indicative of the secondary audio being unimportant and the current audio presentation information being indicative that at least one of the one or more audio sources are currently presenting audio.

In one or more examples, said means are configured to:provide for presentation of the secondary audio, based on the secondary audio importance information being indicative of the secondary audio being important and the current audio presentation information being indicative of at least one of the one or more audio sources currently presenting audio, and provide for modification of one or both of a volume or the range of directions with which the audio of at least one of the one or more audio sources is presented to accommodate presentation of the secondary audio.

In one or more examples, said means are configured to:provide for presentation of the secondary audio such that it is perceived as originating from all directions around the user, based on the secondary audio importance information being indicative of the secondary audio being important and the current audio presentation information being indicative that none of the one or more audio sources are currently presenting audio.

In one or more examples, the means configured to provide for presentation of the primary audio as spatial audio such that it is to be perceived as originating from a direction or range of directions that is non-overlapping with a direction or range of directions associated with the audio of the one or more audio sources based on the current audio presentation information.

In one or more examples, the means are configured to:receive default perceived location information which defines a default perceived location for the audio content;provide for presentation of at least said primary audio of said audio content as spatial audio to be perceived as originating from said default perceived location.

In one or more examples, the means may be configured, to provide for presentation, if said default perceived location information is not received, of said primary audio of said audio content as spatial audio to be perceived from a direction or range of directions that is non-overlapping with any audio that is presented by the one or more audio sources.

In one or more examples, said means are configured to:capture user audio content of a user;send said captured user audio content to the remote user device to provide for telecommunication between the user and the remote user of the remote user device, wherein said user audio content comprises primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio; andsend secondary audio importance information associated with said user audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio of the user audio content for use by the remote user device, the secondary audio importance information based on user input received from the user.

In one or more examples, the primary audio comprises voice audio comprising audio determined to be generated by a voice of at least the user, such as for telecommunication with the remote user, and the secondary audio comprises ambient audio comprising audio other than that determined to be generated by the voice of the user. In one or more examples, the primary audio comprises spatial audio that includes directional information such that, when presented, it is to be perceived as originating from a direction or range of directions in accordance with the directional information and the secondary audio comprises at least one of audio without said directional information and spatial audio with said directional information that defines a range of directions from which the audio should be perceived greater than a threshold range of directions.

In one or more examples, the secondary audio importance information is based on one or more of:audio analysis of the user audio content; anda determined current location of the user.

In one or more examples, the means are configured to, on determination that the secondary audio importance information associated with said captured user audio content is indicative of the user audio content being unimportant, modify the captured user audio content from being categorised as primary audio and secondary audio to one of monophonic and stereophonic audio prior to said sending of the captured user audio content or capture the user audio content as one of monophonic and stereophonic.

In one or more examples, said means are configured to send user-monitoring information to the remote user device, the user-monitoring information indicative of whether or not the secondary audio is being presented for at least notifying said remote user.

In one or more examples, said means are configured to send user-monitoring information to the remote user device, the user-monitoring information indicative of one or more of:a presentation direction comprising a direction defined relative to a reference direction comprising from where the audio content is to be perceived when the apparatus is in use, the presentation position for use in presenting the audio content to the remote user by the remote user device;audio of at least one of the one or more audio sources presented to the user as defined in the current audio presentation information for presenting to the remote user by the remote user device; anda reference to at least one of the one or more audio sources presented to the user as defined in the current audio presentation information from which the audio can be retrieved for presenting said audio of the at least one of the one or more audio sources to the remote user by the remote user device.

In one or more examples, said means are configured to:receive remote-user-monitoring information from the remote user device, and one or more of:provide for presentation of the user audio content to be perceived as originating from a position corresponding to a presentation position, wherein the remote-user-monitoring information from the remote user device comprises the presentation position which is indicative of a position relative to the remote user from where the user audio content is to be perceived when presented by the remote user device; andprovide for presentation of the audio of at least one of one or more audio sources currently being presented to the remote user, wherein said remote-user-monitoring information received from the remote user device comprises said audio or a reference to the at least one of the one or more audio sources presented to the remote user.

In a further aspect there is provided a method, the method comprising:receiving audio content from a remote user device, the audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio;receiving secondary audio importance information associated with said audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio;receiving current audio presentation information indicative of at least whether audio from one or more audio sources is currently being presented as spatial audio such that respective audio of the one or more audio sources is to be perceived as originating from one or more respective directions or ranges of directions around a reference point;providing for presentation of the primary audio; andproviding for presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information and the current audio presentation information.

In a further aspect there is provided a computer readable medium comprising computer program code stored thereon, the computer readable medium and computer program code being configured to, when run on at least one processor, perform the method of:receiving audio content from a remote user device, the audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio;receiving secondary audio importance information associated with said audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio;receiving current audio presentation information indicative of at least whether audio from one or more audio sources is currently being presented as spatial audio such that respective audio of the one or more audio sources is to be perceived as originating from one or more respective directions or ranges of directions around a reference point;providing for presentation of the primary audio; andproviding for presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information and the current audio presentation information.

In a further aspect there is provided an apparatus, the apparatus comprising means configured to:send user audio content, captured by a local user device, to a remote user device for presentation to a remote user, said user audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio; andsend secondary audio importance information associated with said user audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio.

In one or more examples, said user audio content comprising audio of at least a user of the local user device.

In a further aspect there is provided a method, the method comprising:sending user audio content, captured by a local user device, to a remote user device for presentation to a remote user, said user audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio; andsending secondary audio importance information associated with said user audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio.

In a further aspect there is provided a computer readable medium comprising computer program code stored thereon, the computer readable medium and computer program code being configured to, when run on at least one processor, perform the method of:sending user audio content, captured by a local user device, to a remote user device for presentation to a remote user, said user audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio; andsending secondary audio importance information associated with said user audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio.

In a further example aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory including computer program code,the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:receive audio content from a remote user device, the audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio;receive secondary audio importance information associated with said audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio;receive current audio presentation information indicative of at least whether audio from one or more audio sources is currently being presented as spatial audio such that respective audio of the one or more audio sources is to be perceived as originating from one or more respective directions or ranges of directions around a reference point;provide for presentation of the primary audio; andprovide for presentation of the secondary audio based on the secondary audio importance information and the current audio presentation information.

In a further example aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising:at least one processor; andat least one memory including computer program code,the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:send user audio content, captured by a local user device, to a remote user device for presentation to a remote user, said user audio content comprising primary audio and secondary audio, the secondary audio being different to the primary audio and comprising ambient audio; andsend secondary audio importance information associated with said user audio content and indicative of an importance of the secondary audio.

The present disclosure includes one or more corresponding aspects, examples or features in isolation or in various combinations whether or not specifically stated (including claimed) in that combination or in isolation. Corresponding means and corresponding functional units (e.g., function enabler, speaker selector, amplifier, display device) for performing one or more of the discussed functions are also within the present disclosure.

Corresponding computer programs for implementing one or more of the methods disclosed are also within the present disclosure and encompassed by one or more of the described examples.

The above summary is intended to be merely exemplary and non-limiting.

