US 12,294,848 B2
Spatial audio for device assistants
Matthew Sharifi, Kilchberg (CH); and Victor Carbune, Zürich (CH)
Assigned to Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed by Google LLC, Mountain View, CA (US)
Filed on Dec. 14, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/065,717.
Prior Publication US 2024/0205628 A1, Jun. 20, 2024
Int. Cl. H04S 7/00 (2006.01); G06F 3/16 (2006.01); G10L 15/22 (2006.01)
CPC H04S 7/302 (2013.01) [G06F 3/165 (2013.01); G10L 15/22 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method executing on data processing hardware that causes the data processing hardware to perform operations comprising:
while a user is wearing stereo headphones in an environment, the stereo headphones comprising a pair of integrated loudspeakers each disposed proximate to a respective ear of the user:
receiving audio data characterizing a query spoken by the user and captured by a microphone of the stereo headphones, the query requesting a digital assistant to perform an operation;
obtaining, from the digital assistant, a response to the query, the response conveying response information related to performance of the operation;
determining a particular direction for a user-perceived source of the response information relative to the stereo headphones, the user-perceived source located within the environment; and
rendering output audio signals characterizing the response to the query through the stereo headphones to produce a spatial playback sound-field that maps the particular direction for the user-perceived source to a spatially disposed location within the spatial playback sound-field, wherein the user perceives the response to the query as emanating from the spatially disposed location within the spatial playback sound-field.