Audio Bitstreams with Supplementary Data and Encoding and Decoding of Such Bitstreams
First Claim
1. A method for generating an encoded audio bitstream, said method including steps of:
- (a) providing primary audio data and supplementary data, wherein the primary audio data include audio data of at least one audio channel and the supplementary data include synchronization words and additional synchronization words; and
(b) combining the primary audio data with at least some of the supplementary data to generate the encoded audio bitstream, such that said encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames, the frames are organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, wherein step (b) includes a step of including at least the synchronization words as the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments or a step of including at least the synchronization words in at least one said guard band segment, and some of the primary audio data is included as the M-P most significant bits of said each of at least some of the audio segments, where each of N, M, and P is a positive integer, and P is less than M, andincludes a step of generating at least one additional encoded audio bitstream, including by;
(c) providing additional primary audio data, wherein the additional primary audio data include audio data of at least one additional audio channel; and
(d) combining the additional primary audio data with at least some of the supplementary data to generate the additional encoded audio bitstream, such that said additional encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames, the frames are organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, wherein step (d) includes a step of including at least the additional synchronization words in at least one said guard band segment of the additional encoded audio bitstream or a step of including at least the additional synchronization words as the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments of the additional encoded audio bitstream, andwherein the synchronization words and the additional synchronization words are suitable for time aligning the primary audio data and the additional primary audio data, or the primary audio data, the additional primary audio data, and the supplementary data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Methods for generating or decoding an encoded audio bitstream including audio data and supplementary data (e.g., metadata and/or unrelated audio data), where at least some of the supplementary data is included as LSBs of audio segments, and/or at least some of the supplementary data is included in guard bands. Typical embodiments provide a scalable and video synchronous format compatible with real-time and file-based infrastructure components that support the SMPTE 337 format for carrying data in AES3 serial bitstreams, and/or provide a framework for extending distribution codecs to scale beyond an 8-channel limit to support multiples of 8 channels synchronously across multiple AES3 interfaces. Another aspect is an audio processing unit configured to perform any embodiment of the method or including a buffer memory storing at least one segment of an audio bitstream generated in accordance with any embodiment of the method.
26 Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for generating an encoded audio bitstream, said method including steps of:
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(a) providing primary audio data and supplementary data, wherein the primary audio data include audio data of at least one audio channel and the supplementary data include synchronization words and additional synchronization words; and (b) combining the primary audio data with at least some of the supplementary data to generate the encoded audio bitstream, such that said encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames, the frames are organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, wherein step (b) includes a step of including at least the synchronization words as the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments or a step of including at least the synchronization words in at least one said guard band segment, and some of the primary audio data is included as the M-P most significant bits of said each of at least some of the audio segments, where each of N, M, and P is a positive integer, and P is less than M, and includes a step of generating at least one additional encoded audio bitstream, including by; (c) providing additional primary audio data, wherein the additional primary audio data include audio data of at least one additional audio channel; and (d) combining the additional primary audio data with at least some of the supplementary data to generate the additional encoded audio bitstream, such that said additional encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames, the frames are organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, wherein step (d) includes a step of including at least the additional synchronization words in at least one said guard band segment of the additional encoded audio bitstream or a step of including at least the additional synchronization words as the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments of the additional encoded audio bitstream, and wherein the synchronization words and the additional synchronization words are suitable for time aligning the primary audio data and the additional primary audio data, or the primary audio data, the additional primary audio data, and the supplementary data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for decoding encoded audio bitstreams, said method including steps of:
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(a) receiving an encoded audio bitstream and at least one additional encoded audio bitstream, wherein the encoded audio bitstream is indicative of primary audio data and supplementary data, the additional encoded audio bitstream is indicative of additional primary audio data and supplementary data, the primary audio data include audio data of at least one audio channel, and the additional primary audio data include audio data of at least one additional audio channel; (b) extracting the supplementary data, the primary audio data, and the additional primary audio data from the encoded audio bitstream and the additional encoded audio bitstream, wherein the supplementary data extracted from the encoded audio bitstream includes synchronization words, and wherein the supplementary data extracted from the additional encoded audio bitstream includes additional synchronization words; (c) decoding the primary audio data, thereby generating decoded audio data of the at least one audio channel, and decoding the additional primary audio data, thereby generating additional decoded audio data of the at least one additional audio channel; and (d) using the synchronization words and the additional synchronization words to time align the primary audio data and the additional primary audio data, or the primary audio data, the additional primary audio data, and the supplementary data, wherein each of the encoded audio bitstream and the additional encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, and wherein step (b) includes a step of extracting the synchronization words from at least one said guard band segment of the encoded audio bitstream or of extracting the synchronization words from the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments, extracting the additional synchronization words from at least one said guard band segment of the additional encoded audio bitstream or of extracting the additional synchronization words from the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments, extracting some of the primary audio data from each of at least a subset of the frames of each of the bursts of the encoded audio bitstream, and extracting some of the additional primary audio data from each of at least a subset of the frames of each of the bursts of the additional encoded audio bitstream, where each of N, M, and P is a positive integer, and P is less than M. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An audio processing unit for generating an encoded audio bitstream and at least one additional encoded audio bitstream, the audio processing unit comprising one or more processors configured to:
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(a) provide primary audio data and supplementary data, wherein the primary audio data include audio data of at least one audio channel and the supplementary data include synchronization words and additional synchronization words; (b) combine the primary audio data with at least some of the supplementary data to generate the encoded audio bitstream, such that said encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames, the frames are organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, wherein step (b) includes a step of including at least the synchronization words as the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments or a step of including at least the synchronization words in at least one said guard band segment, and some of the primary audio data is included as the M-P most significant bits of said each of at least some of the audio segments, where each of N, M, and P is a positive integer, and P is less than M; (c) provide additional primary audio data, wherein the additional primary audio data include audio data of at least one additional audio channel; and (d) combine the additional primary audio data with at least some of the supplementary data to generate the additional encoded audio bitstream, such that said additional encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames, the frames are organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, wherein step (d) includes a step of including at least the additional synchronization words in at least one said guard band segment of the additional encoded audio bitstream or a step of including at least the additional synchronization words as the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments of the additional encoded audio bitstream, and wherein the synchronization words and the additional synchronization words are suitable for time aligning the primary audio data and the additional primary audio data, or the primary audio data, the additional primary audio data, and the supplementary data.
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22. An audio processing unit for decoding encoded audio bitstreams, the audio processing unit comprising one or more processors configured to:
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(a) receive an encoded audio bitstream and at least one additional encoded audio bitstream, wherein the encoded audio bitstream is indicative of primary audio data and supplementary data, the additional encoded audio bitstream is indicative of additional primary audio data and supplementary data, the primary audio data include audio data of at least one audio channel, and the additional primary audio data include audio data of at least one additional audio channel; (b) extract the supplementary data, the primary audio data, and the additional primary audio data from the encoded audio bitstream and the additional encoded audio bitstream, wherein the supplementary data extracted from the encoded audio bitstream includes synchronization words, and wherein the supplementary data extracted from the additional encoded audio bitstream includes additional synchronization words; (c) decode the primary audio data, thereby generating decoded audio data of the at least one audio channel, and decoding the additional primary audio data, thereby generating additional decoded audio data of the at least one additional audio channel; and (d) use the synchronization words and the additional synchronization words to time align the primary audio data and the additional primary audio data, or the primary audio data, the additional primary audio data, and the supplementary data, wherein each of the encoded audio bitstream and the additional encoded audio bitstream comprises a sequence of frames organized in a sequence of bursts, each of the bursts has a guard band segment and includes some of the frames, each of the frames has N audio segments, each of the audio segments comprises M bits, and wherein step (b) includes a step of extracting the synchronization words from at least one said guard band segment of the encoded audio bitstream or of extracting the synchronization words from the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments, extracting the additional synchronization words from at least one said guard band segment of the additional encoded audio bitstream or of extracting the additional synchronization words from the P least significant bits of each of at least some of the audio segments, extracting some of the primary audio data from each of at least a subset of the frames of each of the bursts of the encoded audio bitstream, and extracting some of the additional primary audio data from each of at least a subset of the frames of each of the bursts of the additional encoded audio bitstream, where each of N, M, and P is a positive integer, and P is less than M.
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Specification