Simultaneous transmission of data and audio signals by means of perceptual coding
First Claim
1. Apparatus for encoding a data signal to be transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said encoded data signal is masked by said audio signal, the apparatus comprising:
- means for monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof, said monitoring means generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope;
means responsive to said control signals for encoding said data signal as an frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal and for outputting said FSK modulated signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal is masked by said audio signal; and
means for combining said audio signal with said FSK modulated signal to form a composite signal.
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Abstract
A communication system for simultaneously transmitting data and audio signals via a conventional audio communications channel using perceptual coding techniques is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, a first artificial neural network (NN) at an encoder monitors an audio channel to detect "opportunities" to insert the data signal such that the inserted signals are masked by the audio signal, as defined by the "perceptual entropy envelope" of the audio signal. Under the control of the first NN a data signal containing, for example, an ID or serial number, is encoded as one or more whitened direct sequence spread spectrum signals and/or a narrowband FSK data signal and transmitted at the time, frequency and level determined by the first NN such that the data signal is masked by the audio signal. The audio signal is combined with the spread spectrum and/or the FSK data signal(s) to form a composite signal, which is transmitted to one or more receiving locations via the audio channel. A decoder at each of the receiving locations comprises preprocessing circuitry, receiver sync circuitry and FSK decoder circuitry, as well as a second NN, which NN uses pattern and signature recognition techniques to perform block decoding, bit deinterleaving and acquisition confirm functions to recover the encoded ID or serial number.
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Citations
59 Claims
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1. Apparatus for encoding a data signal to be transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said encoded data signal is masked by said audio signal, the apparatus comprising:
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means for monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof, said monitoring means generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope; means responsive to said control signals for encoding said data signal as an frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal and for outputting said FSK modulated signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal is masked by said audio signal; and means for combining said audio signal with said FSK modulated signal to form a composite signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. Apparatus for encoding a data signal to be transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said data signal is masked by said audio signal, the apparatus comprising:
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means for monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof, said monitoring means generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope; means responsive to said control signals for encoding said data signal as a spread spectrum signal and for outputting said spread spectrum signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said spread spectrum signal is masked by said audio signal; and means for combining said audio signal with said spread spectrum signal to form a composite signal. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. Apparatus for decoding a data signal containing an information code transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said data signal is masked by said audio signal, wherein prior to transmission, said data signal is encoded as frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal, a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signal or both, said encoded data signal being combined with said audio signal to form a composite signal, the apparatus comprising:
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means for receiving said composite signal from an audio channel; means connected to said receiving means for filtering said received composite signal, wherein passband parameters of said filtering means are dictated by the bandwidth of said audio channel; means connected to an output of said filtering means for demodulating said FSK modulated signal if said encoded data signal comprises an FSK modulated signal; and means connected to said filtering means output for decoding said DSSS signal if said encoded data signal comprises a DSSS signal. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A communications system for enabling the simultaneous transmission of a data signal and an audio signal via an audio channel such that said data signal is masked by said audio signal, the system comprising:
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means for monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof, said monitoring means generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope; means responsive to said control signals for encoding said data signal as an frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal and for outputting said FSK modulated signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal is masked by said audio signal; means responsive to said control signals for encoding said data signal as a spread spectrum signal and for outputting said spread spectrum signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said spread spectrum signal is masked by said audio signal; means for combining said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal and said spread spectrum signal to form a composite signal; means for transmitting said composite signal via said audio channel; means for receiving said transmitted composite signal from said audio channel; means connected to said receiving means for demodulating said FSK modulated signal of said received composite signal; means connected to said receiving means for decoding said spread spectrum signal of said received composite signal; and means connected to an output of said demodulating means and to an output of said decoding means for recovering an information code from said demodulated FSK signal and said decoded spread spectrum signal using pattern recognition techniques. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of encoding a data signal to be transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said encoded data signal is masked by said audio signal, the method comprising:
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monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof; generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope; responsive to said control signals, encoding said data signal as an frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal; outputting said FSK modulated signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal is masked by said audio signal; and combining said audio signal with said FSK modulated signal to form a composite signal. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 49)
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46. A method of encoding a data signal to be transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said data signal is masked by said audio signal, the method comprising:
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monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof; responsive to said monitoring, generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope; responsive to said control signals, encoding said data signal as a spread spectrum signal; outputting said spread spectrum signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said spread spectrum signal is masked by said audio signal; and combining said audio signal with said spread spectrum signal to form a composite signal. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48)
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50. A method of decoding a data signal containing an information code transmitted simultaneously with an audio signal such that said data signal is masked by said audio signal, wherein prior to transmission, said data signal is encoded as frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal, a direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) signal or both, said encoded data signal being combined with said audio signal to form a composite signal, the method comprising:
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receiving said composite signal from an audio channel; filtering said received composite signal, wherein passband parameters of said filtering are dictated by the bandwidth of said audio channel; demodulating said FSK modulated signal if said encoded data signal comprises an FSK modulated signal; and decoding said DSSS signal if said encoded data signal comprises a DSSS signal. - View Dependent Claims (51, 52, 53)
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54. A method of enabling the simultaneous transmission of a data signal and an audio signal via an audio channel such that said data signal is masked by said audio signal, the method comprising:
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monitoring said audio signal to determine a perceptual entropy envelope thereof, said monitoring means generating control signals indicative of said determined perceptual entropy envelope; responsive to said control signals, encoding said data signal as an frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signal and outputting said FSK modulated signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal is masked by said audio signal; responsive to said control signals, encoding said data signal as a spread spectrum signal and outputting said spread spectrum signal at times, frequencies and levels falling within said determined perceptual entropy envelope of said audio signal such that when combined with said audio signal, said spread spectrum signal is masked by said audio signal; combining said audio signal, said FSK modulated signal and said spread spectrum signal to form a composite signal; transmitting said composite signal via said audio channel; receiving said transmitted composite signal from said audio channel; demodulating said FSK modulated signal of said received composite signal; decoding said spread spectrum signal of said received composite signal; and recovering an information code from said demodulated FSK modulated signal and said decoded spread spectrum signal using pattern recognition techniques. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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Specification