Audio control HAL

 Audio control HAL supports:

• Fade and balance
• HAL audio focus request
• Device muting and ducking
• Audio device gain changes
• Audio port configuration changes

Audio fade and balance

class CarAudioManager {
       /**
       *   Adjust the relative volume in the front vs back of the vehicle cabin.
       *
       *   @param value in the range -1.0 to 1.0 for fully toward the back through
       *   fully toward the front. 0.0 means evenly balanced.
       */
       @SystemApi
       @RequiresPermission(Car.PERMISSION_CAR_CONTROL_AUDIO_VOLUME)
       public void setFadeTowardFront(float value);

       /**
       *   Adjust the relative volume on the left vs right side of the vehicle cabin.
       *
       *   @param value in the range -1.0 to 1.0 for fully toward the left through
       *   fully toward the right. 0.0 means evenly balanced.
       */
       @SystemApi
       @RequiresPermission(Car.PERMISSION_CAR_CONTROL_AUDIO_VOLUME)
       public void setBalanceTowardRight(float value);
}

 

Audio focus request from HAL

To further expand on the audio focus and to provide a better integration of car specific sounds into the Android experience, the following audio attributes were introduced：

• EMERGENCY
• SAFETY
• VEHICLE_STATUS
• ANNOUNCEMENT

interface IAudioControl {
       /**
       *   Notifies HAL of changes in audio focus status for focuses requested
       *   or abandoned by the HAL.
       *
       *   @param usage The audio usage associated with the focus change
       *        {@code AttributeUsage}. See {@code audioUsage} in
       *        audio_policy_configuration.xsd for the list of allowed values.
       *   @param zoneId The identifier for the audio zone that the HAL is
       *        playing the stream in
       *   @param focusChange the AudioFocusChange that has occurred.
       */
       oneway void onAudioFocusChange(in String usage, in int zoneId,
              in AudioFocusChange focusChange);
       /**
       *   Registers focus listener to be used by HAL for requesting and
       *   abandoning audio focus.
       *   @param listener the listener interface.
       */
       oneway void registerFocusListener(in IFocusListener listener);
       /**
       *   Control the right/left balance setting of the car speakers.
       */
       oneway void setBalanceTowardRight(in float value);
       /**
       *   Control the fore/aft fade setting of the car speakers.
       */
       oneway void setFadeTowardFront(in float value);

30        /**
       *   Notifies HAL of changes in output devices that the HAL should apply
       *   muting to.
       *
       *   This will be called in response to changes in audio mute state for each
       *   volume group and will include a {@link MutingInfo} object per audio
       *   zone that experienced a mute state event.
       *
       *   @param mutingInfos an array of {@link MutingInfo} objects for the audio
       *   zones where audio mute state has changed.
       */
       oneway void onDevicesToMuteChange(in MutingInfo[] mutingInfos);
}

 

Volume group muting

AAOS has two different mechanisms for muting, based on:

• Key events using the audio KEYCODE_VOLUME_MUTE

• Direct calls to the car audio service using the car audio manager mute API, CarAudioManager#setVolumeGroupMute.

When enabled, both mechanisms trigger a call mute to the audio control HAL.

 

Car audio ducking

<!-- Configuration to enable IAudioControl#onDevicesToDuckChange API to
inform HAL when to duck. If this is set to true, the API will receive signals
indicating which output devices to duck as well as what usages are currently
holding focus. If set to false, the API will not be called. -->
<bool name="audioUseHalDuckingSignals">true</bool>

interface IAudioControl {
       /**
       *   Notifies HAL of changes in output devices that the HAL should apply
       *   ducking to.
       *
       *   This will be called in response to changes in audio focus, and will
       *   include a {@link DuckingInfo} object per audio zone that experienced
       *   a change in audo focus.
       *
       *   @param duckingInfos an array of {@link DuckingInfo} objects for the
       *   audio zones where audio focus has changed.
       */
       oneway void onDevicesToDuckChange(in DuckingInfo[] duckingInfos);
}

 

 FocusChange with playback track metadata

interface IAudioControl {
       /**
       *   Notifies HAL of changes in audio focus status for focuses requested
       *   or abandoned by the HAL.
       *
       *   The HAL is not required to wait for a callback of AUDIOFOCUS_GAIN
       *   before playing audio, nor is it required to stop playing audio in the
       *   event of a AUDIOFOCUS_LOSS callback is received.
       *
       *   @param playbackMetaData The output stream metadata associated with
       *    the focus request
       *   @param zoneId The identifier for the audio zone that the HAL is
       *    playing the stream in
       *   @param focusChange the AudioFocusChange that has occurred.
       */
       oneway void onAudioFocusChangeWithMetaData( in PlaybackTrackMetadata playbackMetaData, in int zoneId, in AudioFocusChange focusChange);
}

If HAL developers decide not to support IAudioControl#onAudioFocusChangeWithMetaData, the method should return results with the UNKNOWN_TRANSACTION error

The audio service first calls onAudioFocusChangeWithMetaData and then retries with the onAudioFocusChange method if a UNKNOWN_TRANSACTION failure results.

 

Audio gain callback

To make audio changes below the HAL more visible to the AAOS , we added a mechanism you can use to communicate audio gains changes from the car’s audio system to the car audio service. The mechanism exposes audio gain volume index changes with a respective reason why the gain was changed:

• Blocked or muted restrictions
• Limitations restrictions
• Attenuation restrictions

These changes expose these restrictions from below the HAL to the car audio service and, finally, to a system UI app to inform the user. 

This allow for system UI apps to more readily get this information through a volume group information callback mechanism.

interface IAudioGainCallback {
       /**
       *   Used to indicate that one or more audio device port gains have changed,
       *   i.e. initiated by HAL, not by CarAudioService.
       *   This is the counter part of the
       *   {@link onDevicesToDuckChange}, {@link onDevicesToMuteChange} and,
       *   {@link setAudioDeviceGainsChanged} APIs.
       *
       *   @param reasons List of reasons that triggered the given gains changed.
       *   @param gains List of gains affected by the change.
       */
       void onAudioDeviceGainsChanged(in Reasons[] reasons,
       in AudioGainConfigInfo[] gains);
}

When the API is called from the audio control HAL, the car audio service responds with a corresponding action (such as block, limit, or attenuate gain index) .