Patent ID: 8705778

Claim:
An audio signal encoding method for a first site of a multi-media conference to generate audio signals for audio playback at a second site of the multi-media conference, comprising: receiving an auxiliary video by a camera set at the first site and an audio signal by a microphone array at the first site, wherein the received auxiliary video includes a disparity map or a depth map; deriving, from the received audio signal, direction information about a signal sound source point at the first site; converting the received auxiliary video and the derived direction information about the signal sound source point at the first site into a common coordinate system in the received auxiliary video, according to position information of the microphone array and the camera set; calculating, according to the received auxiliary video and the derived direction information, coordinates of a video point corresponding to the signal sound source point in said common coordinate system at the first site; generating, from the depth map or the disparity map included in the received auxiliary video at the first site, a depth information of a playback sound source point at the second site corresponding to the signal sound source point at the first site according to the calculated coordinates of the video point; calculating a horizontal coordinate and a vertical coordinate of the playback sound source point in a coordinate system at the second site having a display screen for the audio playback according to the generated depth information and wherein one of said horizontal coordinate and said vertical coordinate of the playback sound source point in said coordinate system is derived from the generated depth information; generating a distance information between the playback sound source point and a video view point having a position in said coordinate system at the second site for the audio playback, according to the horizontal coordinate, the vertical coordinate, the depth information and the position of the video view point, wherein the distance information between the playback sound source point and the video view point is to be used for the audio playback at the second site; encoding the received audio signal, the derived direction information about the signal sound source point at the first site, and the generated distance information between the playback sound source point and the video view point at the second site into an encoded information; and sending the encoded information to the second site for the audio playback.