Panning of audio objects to arbitrary speaker layouts

1. A method, comprising:

receiving audio data comprising N audio objects, the audio objects including audio signals and associated metadata, the metadata including at least audio object position data; and

performing an audio object clustering process that produces M clusters from the N audio objects, M being a number less than N, wherein the clustering process comprises:

selecting M representative audio objects;

determining a cluster centroid position for each of the M clusters according to audio object position data of each of the M representative audio objects, each cluster centroid position being a single position that is representative of positions of all audio objects associated with a cluster; and

determining a gain contribution of the audio signal for each of the N audio objects to at least one of the M clusters, wherein determining the gain contribution involves:

determining a center of loudness position that is a function of cluster centroid positions and gains assigned to each cluster; and

determining a minimum value of a cost function, the cost function including three terms, a first term representing a difference between the center of loudness position and an audio object position, a second term representing a distance between the object position and a cluster centroid position and a third term setting a scale for determined gain contributions allowing the cost function to discriminate between determined gain contributions and select a single set of gain contributions from multiple sets of gain contributions, wherein the number of clusters is minimized for which the single set of gain contributions is selected, wherein determining the center of loudness position involves:

determining products of each cluster centroid position and a gain assigned to each cluster centroid position;

calculating a sum of the products;

determining a sum of the gains for all cluster centroid positions; and

dividing the sum of the products by the sum of the gains.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the center of loudness position involves combining cluster centroid positions via a weighting process in which a weight applied to a cluster centroid position corresponds to a gain assigned to the cluster centroid position.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second term of the cost function is proportional to a square of the distance between the object position and a cluster centroid position.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cost function is a quadratic function of the gains assigned to each cluster.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising modifying at least one cluster centroid position according to gain contributions of audio objects in the corresponding cluster.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one cluster centroid position is time-varying.

7. A non-transitory medium having software stored thereon, the software including instructions for controlling at least one apparatus to perform the method of claim 1 .

8. An apparatus, comprising:

an interface system; and

a logic system capable of:

receiving, via the interface system, audio data comprising N audio objects, the audio objects including audio signals and associated metadata, the metadata including at least audio object position data; and

performing an audio object clustering process that produces M clusters from the N audio objects, M being a number less than N, wherein the clustering process comprises:

selecting M representative audio objects;

determining a cluster centroid position for each of the M clusters according to audio object position data of each of the M representative audio objects, each cluster centroid position being a single position that is representative of positions of all audio objects associated with a cluster; and

determining a gain contribution of the audio object signal for each of the N audio objects to at least one of the M clusters, wherein determining the gain contribution involves:

determining a center of loudness position that is a function of cluster centroid positions and gains assigned to each cluster; and

determining a minimum value of a cost function, the cost function including three terms, a first term representing a difference between the center of loudness position and an audio object position, a second term representing a distance between the object position and a cluster centroid position and a third term setting a scale for determined gain contributions allowing the cost function to discriminate between determined gain contributions and select a single set of gain contributions from multiple sets of gain contributions, wherein the number of clusters is minimized for which the single set of gain contributions is selected,

wherein determining the center of loudness position involves:

determining products of each cluster centroid position and a gain assigned to each cluster centroid position;

calculating a sum of the products;

determining a sum of the gains for all cluster centroid positions; and

dividing the sum of the products by the sum of the gains.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein determining the center of loudness position involves combining cluster centroid positions via a weighting process in which a weight applied to a cluster centroid position corresponds to a gain assigned to the cluster centroid position.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the second term of the cost function is proportional to a square of the distance between the object position and a speaker position or a cluster centroid position.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein at least one cluster centroid position is time-varying.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the cost function is a quadratic function of the gains assigned to each speaker or cluster.

13. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a memory device, wherein the interface comprises an interface between the logic system and the memory device.

14. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the interface system comprises a network interface.

15. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the logic system includes at least one element selected from a group of elements consisting of a general purpose single- or multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic and discrete hardware components.