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ApplePatent applicationAudio & voiceInterest 6/10

Apple patents audio controls that let users adjust sound scenes

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

Apple describes a system that organizes digital audio into layers, or scene components, using a specific data structure. This setup allows users to change certain sound elements, like position or volume, through presets while keeping other parts fixed by the creator.

Why it mattersIt could give listeners more control over how spatial audio sounds on their devices, similar to adjusting settings in a video game.

In the filing’s own words

A data structure stored in memory includes a scene description that defines a hierarchy of scene components that are in digital audio content received from a producer. The hierarchy has several stages including a fourth stage in which a scene composition is defined that contains all scene components needed to render the digital audio content in a single presentation, for instance as intended by the producer, and for input to a spatial audio renderer, wherein the scene composition contains one or more composition selection groups. Other aspects are also described and claimed.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method for processing digital audio content for input to a spatial audio renderer, the method comprising: receiving digital audio content from a producer, wherein the digital audio content comprises a plurality of scene components and a scene description, wherein the scene description defines which of the scene components are modifiable by a user and which of the scene components cannot be modified, the scene description defines a plurality of presets, wherein each preset comprises: one or more parameters that determine a selection from amongst alternative versions of a scene component associated with an object in a scene, and one or more parameters that control attenuation or position of the object in the scene; and extracting one or more parts of the scene description and forwarding the extracted parts to a user interface, wherein the forwarded extracted parts include one or more of the plurality of presets that the user interface exposes to the user as a control; receiving user input from the user interface in response to one of the plurality of presets being selected by the user; and modifying at least some of the scene components in accordance with the scene description and in accordance with the user input to produce modified scene components for input to the spatial audio renderer.

Facts

Company
Apple (Apple Inc.)
Official title
Audio Scene Description and Control
Publication number
US20260313310A1
Application number
19715879
Filed
Jun 22, 2026
Published
Oct 8, 2026
Inventors
4
Claims
20

Classified under

H04S 7/302 Electricity & electronicsG06F 3/165 Physics & computingG10L 19/008 Physics & computingH04S 2400/01 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.