METHOD AND APPARATUS TO REPRODUCE STEREO SOUND OF TWO CHANNELS BASED ON INDIVIDUAL AUDITORY PROPERTIES

• US 20080159544A1
• Filed: 06/05/2007
• Published: 07/03/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: KIM, Sun-min
• Granted Patent: US 8,254,583 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2400/01 Multi-channel, i.e. more than two input channels, sound reproduction with two speakers wherein the multi-channel information is substantially preserved
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/01 Enhancing the perception of the sound image or of the spatial distribution using head related transfer functions [HRTF's] or equivalents thereof, e.g. interaural time difference [ITD] or interaural level difference [ILD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/00 Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence

Abstract

A method and apparatus to reproduce stereo sound, which generates optimal stereo sound designed for individual auditory properties. The method includes generating a one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of a plurality of head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) classified according to one or more individual auditory properties, generating stereo sound for the one or more virtual surround filters, and selecting at least one from the one or more virtual surround filters, and reproducing the stereo sound based on a filter value of the selected at least one virtual surround filter.

Claims

1. A stereo sound reproducing method, comprising:

generating one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to one or more HRTFs (head-related transfer functions) classified according to one or more individual auditory properties, generating stereo sound for the one or more virtual surround filters, and selecting at least one from among the one or more virtual surround filters; and

reproducing the stereo sound based on a filter value of the selected at least one virtual surround filter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the at least one from the one or more virtual surround filters comprises:

classifying the HRTFs into a plurality of groups according to the one or more individual auditory properties;

generating the one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of the classified HRTF groups;

storing the generated one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of the classified HRTF groups;

sequentially transferring the stored one or more virtual surround filters to a stereo sound processor; and

reproducing the stereo sound using the one or more virtual surround filters to select at least one from the one or more virtual surround filters.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the at least one from the one or more virtual surround filters comprises:

generating the one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to a plurality of speaker positions; and

selecting at least one from the virtual surround filters.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein a user selects one from the one or more virtual surround filters.

5. A stereo sound reproducing apparatus comprising:

an auditory properties correction unit to generate stereo sound for one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of a plurality of HRTFs classified according to individual auditory properties and to select at least one from the one or more virtual surround filters; and

a stereo sound generator to generate a multi-channel signal as a 2-channel stereo sound based on a filter value of the at least one virtual surround filter selected by the auditory properties correction unit.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the auditory properties correction unit comprises:

a test signal generator to generate a test signal;

a test stereo sound generator to generate the one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of the HRTFs classified according to the one or more individual auditory properties, and to convert the test signal into a virtual stereo sound based on the one or more virtual surround filters generated by the test stereo sound generator; and

a filter selector to select at least one from among the one or more virtual surround filters based on the virtual stereo sound generated by the test stereo sound generator and to establish at least one of the selected virtual surround filter as a user filter.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising:

a user filter value storage unit to store a filter value of the at least one virtual surround filter selected by the filter selector.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, further comprising:

a filter table storage unit to store filter coefficients of the one or more virtual surround filters generated by the test stereo sound generator.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the filter selector is used by a user to select the at least one virtual surround filter.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the stereo sound generator comprises:

a virtual surround filter unit to convert audio signals input according to the filter coefficients reflecting the HRTFs into 2-channel virtual surround audio signals;

a signal correction filter unit correcting one or more signal characteristics between the 2-channel virtual surround audio signals output by the virtual surround filter unit and other channel audio signals than the 2-channel virtual surround audio signals; and

an addition unit to add the channel signals output by the virtual surround filter unit and the signal correction filter unit.

11. An apparatus to reproduce stereo sound by which a multi-channel audio signal is reproduced as a 2-channel output, the apparatus comprising:

an auditory properties correction unit to generate one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of a plurality of HRTFs classified according to one or more individual auditory properties, generating stereo sound for each of the one or more virtual surround filters, and selecting at least one from the one or more virtual surround filters;

a virtual surround filter unit to convert a 2-channel audio signal into a 2-channel virtual surround audio signal according to the at least one virtual surround filter selected by the auditory properties correction unit;

a signal correction filter unit to correct one or more signal characteristics between the 2-channel virtual surround audio signals output by the virtual surround filter unit and other channel audio signals than the 2-channel virtual surround audio signals; and

an addition unit to add the channel signals output by the virtual surround filter unit and the signal correction filter unit.

12. A computer-readable recording medium having embodied thereon a computer program to execute a method, wherein the method comprises:

generating one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to each of a plurality of HRTFs classified according to one or more individual auditory properties, generating stereo sound for each of the one or more virtual surround filters, and selecting at least one from among the one or more virtual surround filters; and

reproducing the stereo sound based on a filter value of the selected at least one virtual surround filter.

13. An apparatus to produce stereo sound, the apparatus comprising:

a virtual surround filter unit to receive a first multi-channel audio signal, and to generate plurality of surround signals;

wherein the plurality of surround signals corresponds with one or more individual auditory properties.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

a signal correction filter to receive a second multi-channel audio signal and generate a plurality of corrected signals;

a first adder to add one of the plurality of generated corrected signals and one of the plurality of generated surround signals to form a left channel signal; and

a second adder to add an other of the plurality of generated corrected signals and an other of the plurality of generated surround signals to form a right channel signal

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the virtual surround filter unit comprises:

one or more binaural synthesis filter units;

one or more cross-talk canceling filter units; and

one or more addition units.

16. A method of reproducing stereo sound, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of surround signals from a first multi-channel audio signal corresponding to one or more individual auditory properties;

generating a plurality of corrected signals from a second multi-channel audio signal;

adding one of the plurality of surround signals and one of the plurality of corrected signals to form a left channel signal; and

adding an other of the plurality of surround signals and an other of the plurality of corrected signals to form a right channel signal.

17. A stereo sound reproducing apparatus, comprising:

an auditory properties correction unit to select at least one virtual surround filter corresponding to one or more individual auditory characteristics; and

a stereo sound generator to generate a two-channel stereo sound based on a filter value of the at least one virtual surround filter selected by the auditory properties correction unit.

18. A stereo sound reproducing system, comprising:

an auditory properties correction unit to localize a virtual signal source in an elevated direction based on one or more individual auditory properties; and

a stereo sound generator to generate a multi-channel stereo sound in response to the auditory properties correction unit.

19. A stereo sound reproducing apparatus to process a multi-channel audio signal, the apparatus comprising:

a signal correction filter unit to process a first group of channels of the multi-channel audio signal to generate a first signal and a second signal;

a virtual surround filter unit to process a second group of channels of the multi-channel audio signal according to one or more virtual surround filters corresponding to one or more HRTFs and one or more individual auditory properties, to generate a first surround signal and a second surround signal; and

an addition unit to add the first signal and the first surround signal to generate a first speaker signal, and to add the second signal and the second surround signal to generate a second speaker signal.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, further comprising:

an auditory properties correction unit to change the one or more virtual surround filters.

21. A stereo sound reproducing apparatus to process a multi-channel audio signal, the apparatus comprising:

a stereo sound generator having one or more filter units to process surround channels according to one or more filter coefficients corresponding to at least one of individual auditory properties to generate first and second surround signals.

22. The apparatus of claims 21, further comprising:

an auditory properties correction unit to change the one or more filter coefficients of the one or more filter units according to a selection of the individual auditory properties.