Apple’s latest patent depicts a feature wherein the future Macs will be able to adjust the audio based on their position. This is among a slew of new patents that was recently published by US Patent & Trademark Office. The new patent is likely to come in handy for FaceTime audio system focusses on group conferences. That being said for the new feature to work Apple needs to integrate the hardware. With the new Audio System, everyone involved in a FaceTime chat will have their own audio spaces, and this is expected to enhance the overall experience during a group conference.
That’s not all the patent further reveals how the audio system can be configured in order to alter the direction of the audio based on the person location in video conferencing. Yet another possibility is that each of the chat windows may come with their own audio channel. The figure above shows an iMac running multiple instances of video chat program and every one of the audio channel has its own direction.
The Mac will employ a sensor to determine the location of the speaker along with other variables. It’s quite possible that the system may further rely on imaging technique to dynamically adjust the audio quality concerning the user’s parameters. All of this is done without requiring any input from the users themselves.
As per the patent, Apple might also make use of multiple mic setups and will control the mics based on the location of the users. The best part, however, is that the other microphones can be shut down thus helping minimise noise and increase the audio quality. Furthermore, speech recognition and face tracking may be used to determine a person position. The output of the user’s voice will also be adjusted dynamically, for instance, if a particular user is standing far away from the microphone, their voice will be amplified automatically.
As per the patent, the system will also adjust the audio based on the user especially since Men, Women, and Children have a different hearing spectrum. Apart from FaceTime, this technology will also make a lot of sense for the future HomePod setups.