LOUDNESS ENHANCEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A method for processing a portion of an audio signal to be played back by an audio device, comprising:
- determining an overload associated with the portion of the audio signal;
determining a compression limit associated with the portion of the audio signal based on the overload, wherein the compression limit is greater than or equal to a maximum desired output level; and
compressing the portion of the audio signal to generate a compressed portion of the audio signal having a level that does not exceed the compression limit.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A loudness enhancement system and method is described that increases the loudness of an audio signal being played back by an audio device that places limits on the dynamic range of the audio signal. In an embodiment, the loudness enhancement system and method compresses the audio signal to an adaptively-determined compression limit that is greater than or equal to a maximum desired output level and then applies an adaptively-determined degree of soft clipping to the compressed audio signal. The compression limit and degree of soft clipping may be determined based on an overload measure that is calculated for successive portions of the audio signal. The loudness enhancement system and method advantageously operates in a manner that generates less distortion than the method of simply over-driving the audio signal such that hard-clipping occurs.
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Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method for processing a portion of an audio signal to be played back by an audio device, comprising:
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determining an overload associated with the portion of the audio signal; determining a compression limit associated with the portion of the audio signal based on the overload, wherein the compression limit is greater than or equal to a maximum desired output level; and compressing the portion of the audio signal to generate a compressed portion of the audio signal having a level that does not exceed the compression limit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A system for processing a portion of an audio signal to be played back by an audio device, comprising:
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overload determination logic configured to determine an overload associated with the portion of the audio signal; and compression logic configured to determine a compression limit associated with the portion of the audio signal based on the overload, wherein the compression limit is greater than or equal to a maximum desired output level, and to compress the portion of the audio signal to generate a compressed portion of the audio signal having a level that does not exceed the compression limit. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A method for processing a portion of an audio signal to be played back by an audio device, comprising:
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determining a characteristic associated with the audio signal; and applying adaptive soft clipping to the portion of the audio signal to generate an adaptively-soft-clipped portion of the audio signal having a level that does not exceed a maximum desired output level, wherein the adaptive soft clipping is controlled based on at least the characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A system for processing a portion of an audio signal to be played back by an audio device, comprising:
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characteristic determination logic configured to determine a characteristic associated with the portion of the audio signal; adaptive soft clipping logic configured to apply adaptive soft clipping to the compressed portion of the audio signal to generate an adaptively-soft-clipped portion of the audio signal having a level that does not exceed a maximum desired output level, wherein the adaptive soft clipping is controlled based on at least the characteristic. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification