Slot position coding for non-guided spatial audio coding

• US 7,792,668 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2006
• Issued: 09/07/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Pang, Hee Suk, Oh, Hyen O., Lim, Jae Hyun, Jung, Yang Won, Kim, Dong Soo
• Primary Examiner(s): Dorvil; Richemond
• Assistant Examiner(s): GODBOLD, DOUGLAS
• Application Number:
  US11/514,359
• Publication Number:
  US 20070094037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,469 Days
• Field of Search: 704/200, 704/200.1, 704/201, 704/500, 704/501
• US Class Current: 704/200.1
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/008 Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/167 Audio streaming, i.e. formatting and decoding of an encoded audio signal representation into a data stream for transmission or storage purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/11 Transducers incorporated or for use in hand-held devices, e.g. mobile phones, PDA's, camera's
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 1/007 in which the audio signals are in digital form data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 2420/03 Application of parametric coding in stereophonic audio systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 3/002 Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30

Abstract

Spatial information associated with an audio signal is encoded into a bitstream, which can be transmitted to a decoder or recorded to a storage media. The bitstream can include different syntax related to time, frequency and spatial domains. In some embodiments, the bitstream includes one or more data structures (e.g., frames) that contain ordered sets of slots for which parameters can be applied. The data structures can be fixed or variable. The data structure can include position information that can be used by a decoder to identify the correct slot for which a given parameter set is applied. The slot position information can be encoded with either a fixed number of bits or a variable number of bits based on the data structure type as indicated by the data structure type indicator.

Claims

1. A method of decoding an audio signal, comprising:

receiving, in a computer-readable medium including one of non-volatile medium, volatile medium, transmission medium and combinations thereof, an audio signal including at least one frame, the frame comprising at least one time slot and at least one parameter set;

extracting, by one or more processors, a number of time slots and a number of parameter sets from the audio signal to identify time slot information, the time slot information indicating a time slot to which a parameter set is applied, based on instructions received from the computer-readable medium;

determining, by one or more processors, a bit length of time slot information, the bit length being variable according to the number of time slots, the number of parameter sets and previous time slot information associated with a previous parameter set, based on instructions received from the computer-readable medium;

extracting, by one or more processors, the time slot information based on the bit length, based on instructions received from the computer-readable medium; and

decoding, by one or more processors, the audio signal by applying the parameter set to the time slot corresponding to the time slot information, based on instructions received from the computer-readable medium,

wherein the number of time slot information is equal to the number of parameter sets and the time slot information includes an absolute value for indicating a time slot to which a first parameter set is applied or a difference value for indicating a time slot to which a following parameter set of the first parameter set is applied, and

wherein the absolute value is determined within a first maximum range, the first maximum range being calculated using the number of parameter sets and the number of time slots, and

wherein the difference value is determined within a second maximum range, the second maximum range being calculated according to the previous time slot information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time slot information is position information indicating a position of time slot to which a parameter set is applied.

3. A system, comprising:

a processor;

a computer-readable medium selected from the group consisting of a non-volatile computer-readable medium, a volatile computer-readable medium, and combinations thereof, the computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations of;

receiving an audio signal including at least one frame, the frame comprising at least one time slot and at least one parameter set;

extracting a number of time slots and a number of parameter sets from the audio signal to identify time slot information, the time slot information indicating a time slot to which a parameter set is applied;

determining a bit length of time slot information, the bit length being variable according to the number of time slots, the number of parameter sets and previous time slot information associated with a previous parameter set;

extracting the time slot information based on the bit length; and

decoding the audio signal by applying the parameter set to the time slot corresponding to the time slot information,

wherein the number of time slot information is equal to the number of parameter sets and the time slot information includes an absolute value for indicating a time slot to which a first parameter set is applied or a difference value for indicating a time slot to which a following parameter set of the first parameter set is applied, and

wherein the absolute value is determined within a first maximum range, the first maximum range being calculated using the number of parameter sets and the number of time slots, and

wherein the difference value is determined within a second maximum range, the second maximum range being calculated according to the previous time slot information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the time slot information is position information indicating a position of time slot to which a parameter set is applied.

5. A system, comprising:

means for receiving an audio signal including at least one frame, the frame comprising at least one time slot and at least one parameter set;

means for extracting a number of time slots and a number of parameter sets from the audio signal to identify time slot information, the time slot information indicating a time slot to which a parameter set is applied, based on instructions received from computer-readable media including one of non-volatile media, volatile media, transmission media and combinations thereof;

means for determining a bit length of time slot information, the bit length being variable according to the number of time slots, the number of parameter sets and previous time slot information associated with a previous parameter set, based on instructions received from the computer-readable media;

means for extracting the time slot information based on the bit length, based on instructions received from the computer-readable media; and

means for decoding the audio signal by applying the parameter set to the time slot corresponding to the time slot information, based on instructions received from the computer-readable media,

wherein the number of time slot information is equal to the number of parameter sets and the time slot information includes an absolute value for indicating a time slot to which a first parameter set is applied or a difference value for indicating a time slot to which a following parameter set of the first parameter set is applied, and

wherein the absolute value is determined within a first maximum range, the first maximum range being calculated using the number of parameter sets and the number of time slots, and

wherein the difference value is determined within a second maximum range, the second maximum range being calculated according to the previous time slot information.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the instructions are transmitted via one or more buses including one of EISA, PCI, PCI express.

7. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

means for establishing and maintaining network connections to search a network for information relating to the audio signal, based on instructions received from the computer-readable media.