Voice-to-remaining audio (VRA) interactive center channel downmix

• US 20040096065A1
• Filed: 11/17/2003
• Published: 05/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 05/26/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Michael A. Vaudrey, William R. Saunders
• Original Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Assets 191 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Saunders, William R., Vaudrey, Michael A.
• Application Number:
  US10/713,262
• Publication Number:
  US 20040096065A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 25/407 Circuits for combining signals of a plurality of transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/005 for combining the signals of two or more microphones specially adapted for hearing aids H04R25/407

Abstract

A method for decoding an audio signal includes receiving a digital audio signal having a plurality of channels defined thereon, wherein one of the plurality of channels is a center channel and at least one of the other of said plurality of channels is a remaining audio channel; comparing the center channel with the at least one of the other of the plurality of channels to determine a ratio of the center channel to the other of the plurality of channels; and automatically adjusting the center channel and the at least one of the plurality of other channels when a predetermined value for the ratio is not met.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least N parallel gain stages, each gain stage having an input and an output, wherein each gain stage is individually driven at its input by only one of X related spatial channels, and produces at its output an amplitude adjusted version of the only one of X related spatial channels, wherein N and X are integers, N is greater than 4, and X is one of equal to and not equal to N; and

a circuit that downmixes the outputs of the N parallel gain stages to M channels, wherein M is an integer greater than 0 and less than N.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the N parallel gain stages are user-adjusted.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the gain of one of the N parallel gain stages is adjusted independently of the gain of the remaining N-1 parallel gain stages.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the X related spatial channels are a left, right, center, right surround, and left surround channels of an audio program.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the X related spatial channels further include a low frequency effects channel of the audio program.

6. A method comprising:

adjusting an amplitude of at least one of X related spatial channels to create X adjusted spatial channels; and

downmixing the X adjusted spatial channels to M channels, wherein X is an integer greater than 4 and M is an integer greater than 0 and less than X, and wherein adjusting precedes downmixing.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein adjusting is controlled by an end-user.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein one of the X related spatial channels is a primary audio channel and at least one of the other of the X related spatial channels is a remaining audio channel.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

comparing the primary audio channel with at least the remaining audio channel to determine a ratio of the primary audio channel to at least the remaining audio channel; and

automatically adjusting one of the primary audio channel and the remaining audio channel when a predetermined value for the ratio is not met.