Title of Invention

MULTI-CHANNEL AUDIO ENERGY LOSS COMPENSATION

Abstract The invention relates to a Multi-channel audio synthesiser for generating at least three output channels (1100) using an input signal having at least one base channel (1102), the base channel being derived from the original multi-channels signal (101,102,103), comprising an up-mixer (1104) for up-mixing the at least one base channel based on an energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule (201,1407) so that the at least three output channels are obtained, wherein the up-mixer (1104) is operative to generate the at least three output channels in response to an energy measure (1106) and at least two different up-mixing parameters (1108) so that the at least three output channels (1100) have an energy higher than an energy of a signal obtained by only using the energy-loss introducing up- mixing rule, thus compensating have an energy error, the energy error depending on the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, and wherein the at least two different up-mixing parameters (1108) and the energy measure for controlling the up-mixer are included in the input signal, wherein the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule is a predictive up-mixing rule using an up-mixing matrix having matrix coefficients, which are based on prediction coefficients, and wherein the at least two different up-mix parameters are two different elements (C11, C22) of the up-mixing matrix or are parameters, from which the two different elements of the up-mixing matrix are derivable.
Full Text TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to multi-channel reconstruction
of audio signals based on an available stereo signal and
additional control data.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Recent development in audio coding has made available the
ability to recreate a multi-channel representation of an audio
signal based on a stereo (or mono) signal and corresponding
control data. These methods differ substantially from older
matrix based solution such as Dolby Prologic, since additional
control data is transmitted to control the re-creation, also
referred to as up-mix, of the surround channels based on the
transmitted mono or stereo channels.
Hence, the parametric multi-channel audio decoders reconstruct
N channels based on M transmitted channels, where N > M, and
the additional control data. The additional control data
represents a significant lower data rate than transmitting the
additional N-M channels, making the coding very efficient
while at the same time ensuring compatibility with both M
channel devices and N channel devices.
These parametric surround coding methods usually comprise a
parameterisation of the surround signal based on IID (Inter
channel Intensity Difference) and ICC (Inter Channel
Coherence). These parameters describe power ratios and
correlation between channel pairs in the up-mix process.
Further parameters also used in prior art comprise prediction
parameters used to predict intermediate or output channels
during the up-mix procedure.
One of the most appealing usage of prediction based method as
described in prior art is for a system that re-creates 5.1
channel from two transmitted channels. In this configuration a
stereo transmission is available at the decoder side, which is
a downmix of the original 5.1 multi-channel signal. In this
context it is particularly interesting to be able to as
accurately as possible extract the center channel from the
stereo signal, since the center channel is usually downmixed
to both the left and the right downmix channel. This is done
by means of estimating two prediction coefficients describing
the amount of each of the two transmitted channels used to
build the center channel. These parameters are estimated for
different frequency regions similarly to the IID and ICC
parameters above.
However, since the prediction parameters do not describe a
power ratio of two signals, but are based on wave-form
matching in a least square error sense, the method becomes
inherently sensitive to any modification of the stereo
waveform after the calculation of the prediction parameters.
Further developments in audio coding over the recent years has
introduced High Frequency Reconstruction methods as a very
useful tool in audio codecs at low bitrates. One example is
SBR (Spectral Band Replication) [WO 98/57436], that is used in
MPEG standardized codecs such as MPEG-4 High Efficiency AAC.
Common for these methods are that they re-create the high
frequencies on the decoder side from a narrow-band signal
coded by the underlying core-codec and a small amount of
additional guidance information. Similar to the case of the
parametric reconstruction of multi-channel signals based on
one or two channels, the amount of control data required to
re-create the missing signal components (in the case of SBR,
the high frequencies), is significantly smaller than the
amount of data that would be required to code the entire
signal with a wave-form codec.
It should be understood however, that the re-created highband
signal, is perceptually equal to the original highband signal,
while the actual wave-form differs significantly. Furthermore,
for wave-form coders coding stereo signals at low bitrate
stereo pre-processing is commonly used, which means that a
limitation on the side signal of the mid/side representation
of the stereo signal is performed.
When a multi-channel representation is desired based on a
stereo codec signal using MPEG-4 High Efficiency AAC or any
other codec utilising high frequency reconstruction
techniques, these and other aspects of the codec used to code
the down-mixed stereo signal must be considered.
Even further, it is common that for a recording available as a
multi-channel audio signal there is a dedicated stereo mix
available, that is not an automated down-mix version of the
multi-channel signal. This is commonly referred to as
"artistic down-mix". This down-mix cannot be expressed as a
linear combination of the multi-channel signals.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an
improved multi-channel down-mix/encoder or up-mix/decoder
concept, which results in a better quality reconstructed
multi-channel output.
This object is achieved by a multi-channel synthesiser in
accordance with claim 1, an encoder for processing a multi-
channel input signal in accordance with claim 30, a method of
generating at least three output channels in accordance with
claim 42, a method of encoding in accordance with claim 43, an
encoded multi-channel signal in accordance with claim 44, a
data carrier in accordance with claim 45.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the problem of waveform
modification of the down mixed multi-channel signal when
prediction based up-mix methods are used. This includes when
the down-mixed signal is coded by a codec performing stereo-
pre-processing, high frequency reconstruction and other coding
schemes that significantly modifies the waveform. Furthermore,
the invention addresses the problem that arises when using
predictive up-mix techniques for an artistic down-mix, i.e. a
down-mix signal that is not automated from the multi-channel
signal.
The present invention comprises the following features:
- Estimation of the prediction parameters based on the
modified wave-form instead of the downmixed waveform;
- Using of prediction based methods only in the frequency
ranges where it is advantageous;
- Correction of the energy loss and inaccurate correlation
between channels introduced in the prediction based upmix
procedure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANING DRAWINGS
The present invention will now be described by way of
illustrative examples, not limiting the scope or spirit of the
invention, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
Fig. 1 illustrates a prediction based reconstruction of
three channels from two channels;
Fig. 2 illustrates a predictive up-mix with energy
compensation;
Fig. 3 illustrates an energy compensation in the predictive
up-mix;
Fig. 4 illustrates a prediction parameter estimator on the
encoder side with energy compensation of the down-mix
signal;
Fig. 5 illustrates a predictive up-mix with correlation
reconstruction;
Fig. 6 illustrates a mixing module for mixing the
decorrelated signal with the up-mixed signal in the
up-mix with correlation reconstruction;
Fig. 7 illustrates an alternative mixing module for mixing
the decorrelated signal with the up-mixed signal in
the up-mix with correlation reconstruction;
Fig. 8 illustrates prediction parameter estimation on the
encoder side;
Fig. 9 illustrates prediction parameter estimation on the
encoder side;
Fig. 10 illustrates prediction parameter estimation on the
encoder side.
Fig. 11 illustrates an inventive up-mixer device;
Fig. 12 illustrates an energy chart showing the result of an
energy-loss introducing up-mix and the preferred
compensation;
Fig. 13 a Table of preferred energy compensation methods;
Fig. 14a a schematic diagram of a preferred multi-channel
encoder;
Fig. 14b a flow chart of the preferred method performed by the
device of Fig. 14a;
Fig. 15a a multi-channel encoder having a spectral band
replication functionality for generating a different
parameterisation compared to the device in Fig. 14a;
Fig. 15b a tabular illustration of frequency-selective
generation and transmission of parametric data; and
Fig. 16a an inventive decoder illustrating the calculation of
up-mix matrix coefficients;
Fig. 16b a detailed description of parameter calculation for
the predictive up-mix;
Fig. 17 a transmitter and a receiver of a transmission system;
and
Fig. 18 an audio recorder having an inventive encoder and an
audio player having a decoder.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The below-described embodiments are merely illustrative for
the principles of the present invention. It is understood that
modifications and variations of the arrangements and the
details described herein will be apparent to others skilled in
the art. It is the intent, therefore, to be limited only by
the scope of the impending patent claims and not by the
specific details presented by way of description and
explanation of the embodiments herein.
It is emphasized that subsequent parameter calculation,
application, upmixing, downmixing or any other actions can be
performed on a frequency band selective base, i.e. for
subbands in a filterbank.
In order to outline the advantages of the present invention a
more detailed description of a predictive upmix as known by
prior art is given first. Let's assume a three channel upmix
based on two downmix channels, as outlined in Fig 1, where 101
represents the left original channel, 102 represents the
center original channel,103 represents the right original
channel, 104 represents the down-mix and parameter extraction
module on the encoder side, 105 and 106 represents prediction
parameters, 107 represents the left down-mixed channel, 108
represents the right downmixed channel, 109 represents the
predictive upmix module, and 110, 111 and 112 represents the
reconstructed left, center, and right channel respectively.
Assume the following definitions where X is a 3 x L matrix
containing the three signal segments 1 (k) , r(k), c(k),
k=0,...,L-1 as rows.
Likewise, let the two downmixed signals lo(k) , r0(k) form the
rows of X0. The downmix process is described by

where the downmix matrix is defined by

A preferred choice of downmix matrix is

which means that the left downmix signal lo(k) will contain
only 1 (k) and ac(k), and r0(k) will contain only r(k) and
ac(k). This downmix matrix is preferred since it assigns an
equal amount of the center channel to the left and right
downmix, and since it does not assign any of the original
right channel to the left downmix or vice versa.
The upmix is defined by

where C is a 3 x 2 upmix matrix.
The predictive upmix as known from prior art relies on the
idea of solving the overdetermined system

for C in the least squares sense. This leads to the normal
equations

Multiplying (6) from the left with D gives DCX0X*0=X0X*0, which,
in the generic case where X0X0* = DXX*D* is non-singular,
implies

where, In, denotes the n identity matrix. This relation reduces
the parameter space C to dimension two.
Given the above, the upmix matrix can be completely
defined on the decoder side if the downmix matrix D is known,
and two elements of the C matrix are transmitted, e.g. c11 and
C22.
The residual (prediction error) signals are given by

Multiplying from the left with D yields

due to (7). It follows that there is a 1 x L row vector signal
xr such that

where v is a 3 x 1 unit vector spanning the kernel (null
space) of D. For instance, in the case of downmix (3), one can
use
In general, when and the this
just means that, up to a weight factor, the residual signal is
common for all three channels,

Due to the orthogonality principle, the residual xr(k) is
orthogonal to all three predicted signals l(k), ?(k), c(k).
Problems solved and improvements obtained by preferred
embodiments of the present invention
Evidently the following problems arise when using prediction
based up-mix according to prior art as outlined above:
• The method relies on matching wave-form in a least mean
square errors sense, which does not work for systems
where the waveform of the downmixed signals are not
maintained.
• The method does not provide the correct correlation
structure between the reconstructed channels (as will be
outlined below).
• The method does not re-construct the right amount of
energy in the reconstructed channels.
Energy compensation
As mentioned above, one of the problems with prediction based
multi-channel re-construction is that the prediction error
corresponds to an energy loss of the three reconstructed
channels. In the below, the theory for this energy loss and a
solution as taught by preferred embodiments is outlined.
Firstly, the theoretical analysis is performed, and
subsequently a preferred embodiment of the present invention
according to the below outlined theory is given.
Let E, Ê, and Er be the sum of the energies of the original
signals in X, the predicted signals in X and the prediction
error signals in Xr, respectively. From orthogonality, it
follows that

The total prediction gain can be defined as but in the
following it will be more convenient to consider the parameter

Hence, measures the total relative energy of the
predictive upmix.
Given this ?, it is possible to readjust each channel by
applying a compensation gain, such that
for z = 1, r, c. Specifically, the target energy is given by
(12),

so we need to solve

Here, since v is a unit vector,

and it follows from the definition (14) of ? and (13) that

Putting all this together, we arrive at the gain

It is evident that with this method, in addition to
transmitting ?, the energy distribution of the decoded
channels has to be computed at the decoder. Moreover only the
energies are reconstructed correctly, while the off diagonal
correlation structure is ignored.
It is possible to derive a gain value that ensures that the
total energy is preserved, while not ensuring that the energy
of the individual channels are correct. A common gain for all
channels gz = g that ensures that the total energy is preserved
is obtained via the defining equation g2Ê = E. That is,

By linearity, this gain can be applied in the encoder to the
downmixed signals, so that no additional parameter has to be
transmitted.
Fig 2. outlines a preferred embodiment of the present
invention that re-creates the three channels while maintaining
the correct energy of the output channels. The downmixed
signals l0 and r0 are input to the upmix module 201, along with
the prediction parameters c1 and c2. The upmix module re-
creates the upmix matrix C based on knowledge about the
downmix matrix D and the received prediction parameters. The
three output channels from 201 are input to 202 along with the
adjustment parameter ?. The three channels are gain adjusted
as a function of the transmitted parameter ? and the energy
corrected channels are output.
In Fig. 3 a more detailed embodiment of the adjustment module
202 is displayed. The three up-mixed channels are input to
adjustment module 304, as well as to module 301, 302 and 303
respectively. The energy estimation modules 301 - 303
estimates the energy of the three up-mixed signals and inputs
the measured energy to adjustment module 304. The control
signal ? (representing the prediction gain) received from the
encoder is also input to 304. The adjustment module implements
equation (19) as outlined above.
In an alternative implementation of the present invention the
energy correction can be done on the encoder side. Fig. 4
illustrates an implementation of the encoder where the
downmixed signals l0 107 and r0 108 are gain adjusted by 401
and 402 according to a gain value calculated by 403. The gain
value is derived according to equation (20) above. As outlined
above it is an advantage of this embodiment of the present
invention, since it is not necessary to calculate the energy
of the three re-created channels from the predictive up-mix.
However, this only ensures that the total energy of the three
re-created channels is correct. It does not ensure that the
energy of the individual channels are correct.
A preferred example for a down-mixing matrix corresponding to
equation (3) is noted below the down-mixer in Fig. 4. However,
the down-mixer can apply any general down-mix matrix as
outlined in equation (2).
As will be outlined later on, for the present case of a down-
mixer having, as an input, three channels, and, having, as an
output, two channels, two additional up-mix parameters C1, C2
are at least required. When a down-mixing matrix D is variable
or not fully known to a decoder, also additional information on
the used down-mix has to be transmitted from the encoder-side
to a decoder-side, in addition to the parameters 105 and 106.
Correlation structure
One of the problems with the up-mix procedure described by
prior art is that it does not re-construct the correct
correlation between the re-created channels. Since, as was
outlined above, the centre channel is predicted as a linear
combination of the left down-mix channel and the right down-
mix channel, and the left and right channels are re-
constructed by subtracting the predicted center channel from
the left and right down-mix channels. It is evident that the
prediction error will result in remains of the original center
channel in the predicted left and right channel. This implies
that the correlations between the three channels are not the
same for the reconstructed channels as it was for the original
three channels.
A preferred embodiment teaches that the predicted three
channels should be combined with de-correlated signals in
accordance with the measured prediction error.
The basic theory for achieving the correct correlation
structure is now outlined. The special structure of the
residual can be used to reconstruct the full 3 x 3 correlation
structure XX* by substituting a de-correlated signal xd for
the residual in the decoder.
First, note that the normal equations (6) lead to XrX*0=0 so

Hence, as

where (10) and (17) were applied for the last equality.
Let xd be a signal de-correlated from all decoded signals l,
?, c such that The enhanced signal

then has the correlation matrix

In order to completely reproduce the original correlation
matrix (22), it suffices that

If xd is obtained by de-correlating the downmixed signal, say
followed by a gain ? then it should hold that
This gain can be computed in the encoder. However, if the more
well-defined parameter from (14) is to be used,
estimation of Ê and has to be performed in the
decoder. In light of this, a more attractive alternative is to
generate xd using three decorrelators

since then so (25) is satisfied by the choice

Fig. 5 illustrates one embodiment of the present invention for
predictive up-mix of three channels from two down-mix
channels, while maintaining the correct correlation structure
between the channels. In Fig. 5 module 109, 110, 111 and 112
are the same as in Fig. 1 and will not be elaborated further
on here. The three up-mixed signals that are output from 109
are input to de-correlation modules 501, 502 and 503. These
generate mutually de-correlated signals. The de-correlated
signals are summed and input to the mixing modules 504, 505
and 506, where they are mixed with the output from 109.
The mixing of the predictive up-mixed signals with de-
correlated versions of the same is an essential feature of the
present invention. In Fig. 6 one embodiment of the mixing
modules 504, 505 and 506 is displayed. In this embodiment of
the invention the level of the de-correlated signal is
adjusted by 601 based on the control signal ?. The de-
correlated signal is subsequently added to the predictive up-
mixed signal in 602.
A third preferred embodiment uses decorrelators 501, 502, 503
for the up-mixed channels. A de-correlated signal can also be
generated by a de-correlator 501', which receives, as an input
signal, the down-mix channel or even all down-mix channels.
Furthermore, in case of more than one down-mix channel, as
shown in Fig. 5, the de-correlation signal can also be
generated by separate de-correlators for the left base channel
l0 and the right base channel r0 and by combining the output of
these separate de-correlators. This possibility is
substantially the same as the possibility shown in Fig. 5, but
has a difference to the possibility shown in Fig. 5 in that the
base channels before up-mixing are used.
Furthermore, it is outlined in connection with Fig. 5 that the
mixing modules 504, 505 and 506 do not only receive the factor
Y, which is equal for all three channels, since this factor
only depends on the energy measure p, but also receive the
channel-specific factor vl, vc and vr, which is determined as
outlined in connection with equations (10) and (11). This
parameter, however, does not have to be transmitted from an
encoder to a decoder, when the decoder knows the down-mix used
at the encoder. Instead, these parameters in the matrix v as
shown in equation (10) and (11) are preferably pre-programmed
into the mixing modules 504, 505, and 506 so that these
channel-specific weighting factors do not have to be
transmitted (but can of course be transmitted when required).
In Fig. 6, it is shown that the weighting device 601 adjusts
the energy of the de-correlated signal using the product of ?
and the channel-specific down-mix-dependent parameter vz,
wherein z stands for 1, r or c. In this context, it is noted
that equation (26a) makes sure that the energy of xd is equal
to the sum energy of the predictively up-mixed left, right and
centre channels. Therefore, device 601 can simply be
implemented as a scaler using the scaling factor GI. When,
however, the de-correlated signal is generated alternatively,
the mixing module 504, 505, 506 has to perform an absolute
energy adjustment of the de-correlated signal added by adding
device 602 so that the energy of the signal added at adder 602
is equal to the energy of the residual signal, e.g., the
energy, which is lost by the non-energy preserving predictive
up-mix.
Regarding the channel-specific down-mix-dependent parameter vz,
the same remarks as outlined above with respect to Fig. 6 also
apply for the Fig. 7 embodiment.
Furthermore, it is to be noted here that the Fig. 6 and Fig. 7
embodiment are based on the recognition that at least a part of
the energy lost in the predictive up-mixing is added using a
de-correlation signal. In order to have correct signal energies
and correct portions of the dry signal component (un-
corrected) signal and the "wet" signal component (de-
correlated) , it is to be made sure that the "dry" signal input
into the mixing module 504 is not pre-scaled. When, for
example, the base channels have been pre-corrected on the de-
encoder-side (as shown in Fig. 4) then this pre-correction of
Fig. 4 has to be compensated for by multiplying the channel by
the (relative) energy measure p before inputting the channel
into the mixer box 504, 505 or 506. Additionally, the same
procedure has to be done, when such an energy correction has
been performed on a decoder-side before entering the down-mix
channels into the up-mixer 109 as shown in Fig. 5.
When only a part of the residual energy is to be covered by a
de-correlated signal, pre-correction only has to be partly
removed by pre-scaling the signal input into the mixing box
504, 505, 506 by a p-dependent factor, which is, however,
closer to one than the factor p itself. Naturally, this partly-
compensating pre-scaling factor will depend on the encoder-
generated signal ? input at 605 in Fig. 7. When such a partly
pre-scaling has to be performed, then the weighting factor
applied in G2 is not necessary. Instead, then the branch from
input 604 to the summer 602 will be the same as in Fig. 6.
Controlling the degree of decorrelation
A preferred embodiment of the invention teaches that the
amount of de-correlation added to the predicted up-mixed
signals can be controlled from the encoder, while still
maintaining the correct output energy. This is since in a
typical "interview" example of dry speech in the center
channel and ambience in the left and right channels, the
substitution of de-correlated signal for prediction error in
the center channel may be undesirable.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention
an alternative mixing procedure to the one outlined in Fig. 5
can be used. It will be shown below how according to the
present invention the issues of total energy preservation and
true correlation reproduction can be separated and the amount
of de-correlation can be controlled by the parameter k.
We will assume that a total energy preserving gain
compensation (20) has been performed on the downmixed signal,
so that we first obtain the decoded signal . From this, a
decorrelated signal d with same total energy is
produced, for instance by use of three decorrelators as in the
previous section. The total upmix is then defined according to

where is a transmitted parameter. The choice ?=1
corresponds to total energy preservation without decorrelated
signal addition and K=p corresponds to full 3 x 3 correlation
structure reproduction. We have

so the total energy is preserved for all as it can be
seen by computing the traces (sum of diagonal values) of the
matrices in (30). However, correct individual energy is only
obtained for ? = ?.
Fig 7 illustrates an embodiment of the mixing modules 504, 505
and 506 of Fig. 5 according to the theory outlined above. In
this alternative of the mixing modules the control parameter y
is input to 702 and 701. The gain factor used for 702
corresponds to ? according to equation (29) above, and the
gain factor used for 701 corresponds to according to
equation (29) above.
The above described embodiment of the present invention,
allows the system to employ a detection mechanism on the
encoder side, that estimates the amount of de-correlation to
be added in the prediction based up-mix. The implementation
described in Fig. 7 will add the indicated amount of de-
correlated signal, and apply energy correction so that the
total energy of the three channels is correct, while still
being able to replace an arbitrary amount of the prediction
error by de-correlated signal.
This means that for an example with three ambient signals,
e.g. a classical music piece, with a lot of ambience, the
encoder can detect the lack of a "dry" center channel, and let
the decoder replace the entire prediction error with de-
correlated signal, thus re-creating the ambience of the sound
from the three channels in a way that would not be possible
with prior-art prediction based methods alone. Furthermore,
for a signal with a dry center channel, e.g. speech in the
center channel and ambient sounds in the left and right
channels, the encoder detects that replacing the prediction
error by de-correlated signal is not psycho-acoustically
correct and instead let the decoder adjust the levels of the
three reconstructed channels so that the energy of the three
channels is correct. Obviously the extreme examples above
represents two possible outcomes of the invention. It is not
limited to cover just the extreme cases outlined in the above
examples.
Adapting the prediction coefficients to modified waveforms.
As outlined above the prediction parameters are estimated by
minimising the mean square error given the original three
channels X and a downmix matrix D. However, in many situations
it cannot be relied upon that the downmixed signal can be
described as a downmix matrix D multiplied by a matrix X
describing the original multichannel signal.
One obvious example for this is when a so called "artistic
downmix" is used, i.e. the two channel downmix can not be
described as a linear combination of the multichannel signal.
Another example is when the downmixed signal is coded by a
perceptual audio codec that utilises stereo-pre processing or
other tools for improved coding efficiency. It is commonly
known in prior art that many perceptual audio codecs rely on
mid/side stereo coding, where the side signal is attenuated
under bitrate constrained condition, yielding an output that
has a narrower stereo image than that of the signal used for
encoding.
Fig 8 displays a preferred embodiment of the present invention
where the parameter extraction on the encoder side apart from
the multi-channel signal also has access to the modified
downmix signal. The modified down-mix is here generated by
801. If only two parameters of the C matrix are transmitted, a
knowledge of the D matrix on the decoder side is needed in
order to be able to do the up-mix, and get the least mean
square error for all up-mixed channels. However, the present
embodiment teaches that you can replace the downmixed signals
10 and r0 on the encoder side by the downmixed signals 1'0 and
r'0 that are obtained by using a downmix matrix D that is not
necessarily the same as that assumed on the decoder. Using the
alternative downmix for parameter estimation on the encoder
side only guarantees a correct center channel reproduction at
the decoder side. By transmitting additional information from
the encoder to the decoder a more accurate up-mix of the three
channels can be obtained. In one extreme case all six elements
of the C matrix can be transmitted. However, the present
embodiment teaches that a subset of the C matrix can be
transmitted if it is accompanied with information on the
downmix matrix D used 802.
As mentioned earlier perceptual audio codecs employ mid/side
coding for stereo coding at low bitrates. Furthermore, stereo
pre-processing is commonly employed in order to reduce the
energy of the side signal under bitrate constrained
conditions. This is done based on the psycho acoustical notion
that for a stereo signal reduction of the width of the stereo
signal is a preferred coding artefact over audible
quantisation distortion and bandwidth limitation.
Hence, if a stereo pre-processing is used, the down-mix
equation (3), can be expressed as

where ? is the attenuation of the side signal. As outlined
earlier the D matrix needs to be known on the decoder side in
order to correctly be able to reconstruct the three channels.
Hence, the present embodiment teaches that the attenuation
factor should be sent to the decoder.
Fig. 9 displays another embodiment of the present invention
where the downmix signal l0 and r0 output from 104 is input to
a stereo pre-processing device 901 that limits the side signal
(lo - r0) of the mid/side representation of the downmix signal
by a factor ?. This parameter is transmitted to the decoder.
Parameterisation for HFR codec signals
If the prediction based upmix is used with High Frequency
Reconstruction methods such as SBR [WO 98/57436], the
prediction parameters estimated on the encoder side will not
match the re-created high band signal on the decoder side. The
present embodiment teaches the use of an alternative non-wave
form based up-mix structure for re-creation of three channels
from two. The proposed up-mix procedure is designed to re-
create the correct energy of all up-mixed channels in case of
un-correlated noise signals.
Assuming that the downmix matrix Da as defined in (3) is used.
And that we now will define the upmix matrix C . Then the upmix
is defined by

Striving at only re-creating the correct energy of the up-
mixed signal l (k), r(k), and c(k), where the energies are L, R
and C, the up-mix matrix is chosen so that the diagonal
elements of XX* and XX* are the same, according to:

The corresponding expression for the downmix matrix will be


Setting the diagonal element of equal to the diagonal
element of translates to three equations defining the
relation between the elements in C and L, R and C

Based on the above an up-mix matrix can be defined. It is
preferable to define an up-mix matrix that does not add the
right down-mixed channel to the left up-mixed channel and vice
versa. Hence, a suitable up-mix matrix may be
This gives a C matrix according to:

It can be shown that the elements of the C matrix can be re-
created on the decoder side from the two transmitted
parameters
Fig 10 outlines a preferred embodiment of the present
invention. Here 101 - 112 are the same as in Fig. 1 and will
not be elaborated on further here. The three original signals
101 - 103 are input to the estimation module 1001. This module
estimates two parameters, e.g. from which the
C matrix can be derived on the decoder side. These parameters
along with the parameters output from 104 are input to
selection module 1002. In one preferred embodiment, the
selection module 1002 outputs the parameters from 104 if the
parameters correspond to a frequency range that is coded by a
wave-form codec, and outputs the parameters from 1001 if the
parameters correspond to a frequency range reconstructed by
HFR. The selection module 1002 also outputs information 1005
on which parameterisation is used for the different frequency
ranges of the signal.
On the decoder side the module 1004 takes the transmitted
parameters and directs them to the predictive up-mix 109 or
the energy-based up-mix 1003 according to the above, dependent
on the indication given by the parameter 1005. The energy
based up-mix 1003 implements the up-mix matrix C according to
equation (40).
The upmix matrix C as outlined in equation (40) has equal
weights (8) to obtain the estimated (decoder) signal c(k) from
the two downmixed signals lo(k), ro(k). Based on the
observation that the relative amount of the signal c(k) may
differ in the two downmixed signals l0(k), ro(k) (i.e., C/L not
equal to C/R), one could also consider the following generic
upmix matrix:

In order to estimate c(k), this embodiment also requires
transmission of two control parameters c1 and c2, which are
for example equal to . A
possible implementation of the upmix matrix functions fi is
then given by

The signalling of the different parameterisation for the SBR
range according to the present invention is not limited to
SBR. The above outlined parameterisation can be used in any
frequency range where the prediction error of the prediction
based up-mix is deemed too large. Hence, module 1002 may
output the parameters from 1001 or 104 dependent on a
multitude of criteria, such as coding method of the
transmitted signals, prediction error etc.
A preferred method for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction includes, at the encoder side, extracting
different multi-channel parameterisations for different
frequency ranges, and, at the decoder side, applying these
parameterisations to the frequency ranges in order to re-
construct the multi-channels.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention
includes a method for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction including, at the encoder side, extracting
information on the down-mix process used and subsequently
sending this information to a decoder, and, at the decoder
side, applying an up-mix based on extracted prediction
parameters and the information on the down-mix in order to
reconstruct the multi-channels.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention
includes a method for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction, in which, at the encoder side, the energy of
the down-mix signal is adjusted in accordance with a prediction
error obtained for the extracted predictive up-mix parameters.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention relates
to a method for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction, in which, at the decoder side, an energy lost
due to the prediction error is compensated for by applying a
gain to the up-mixed channels.
A further embodiment of the present invention relates to a
method for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction, in which, at the decoder side, the energy lost
due to a prediction error is replaced by a de-correlated
signal.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention relates
to a method for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction, in which, at the decoder side, a part of the
energy lost due to a prediction error is replaced by a de-
correlated signal, and a part of the energy lost is replaced by
applying a gain to the up-mixed channels. This part of the
energy lost is preferably signalled from an encoder.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is an
apparatus for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction comprising means for adjusting the energy of the
down-mix signal in accordance with the prediction error
obtained for the extracted predictive up-mix parameters.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is an
apparatus for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction comprising means for compensating for the energy
loss due to the prediction error by applying a gain to the up-
mixed channels.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is an
apparatus for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction comprising means for replacing the energy lost
due to the prediction error by a de-correlated signal.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is an
apparatus for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction comprising means for replacing part of the
energy lost due to the prediction error by a de-correlated
signal, and part of the energy lost by applying a gain to the
up-mixed channels.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is an
encoder for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction including adjusting the energy of the down-mix
signal in accordance with the prediction error obtained for the
extracted predictive up-mix parameters.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is a
decoder for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction including compensating for an energy loss due to
the prediction error by applying a gain to the up-mixed
channels.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention relates
to a decoder for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction including replacing the energy lost due to the
prediction error by a de-correlated signal.
A further preferred embodiment of the present invention is a
decoder for improved prediction based multi-channel
reconstruction including replacing a part of the energy lost
due to the prediction error by a de-correlated signal, and a
part of the energy lost by a applying a gain to the down-mixed
channels.
Fig. 11 shows a multi-channel synthesiser for generating at
least three output channels 1100 using an input signal having
at least one base channel 1102, the at least one base channel
being derived from an original multi-channel signal. The multi-
channel synthesiser as shown in Fig. 11 includes an up-mixer
device 1104, which can be implemented as shown in any of the
Figures 2 to 10. Generally, the up-mixer device 1104 is
operable to up-mix the at least one base channel using an up-
mixing rule so that the at least three output channels are
obtained. The up-mixer 1104 is operative to generate the at
least three output channels in response to an energy measure
1106 and at least two different up-mixing parameters 1108 using
an energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule so that the at least
three output channels have an energy, which is higher than an
energy of signals resulting from the energy-loss introducing
up-mixing rule alone. Thus,irrespective of an energy error
depending on the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, the
invention results in an energy compensated result, wherein the
energy compensation can be done by scaling and/or addition of a
decorrelated signal. The at least two different up-mixing
parameters 1108, and the energy measure 1106 are included in
the input signal.
Preferably, the energy measure is any measure related to an
energy loss introduced by the upmixing rule. It can be an
absolute measure of the upmix-introduced energy error or the
energy of the upmix signal (which is normally lower in energy
than the original signal), or it can be a relative measure such
as a relation between the original signal energy and the upmix
signal energy or a relation between the energy error and the
original signal energy or even a relation between the energy
error and the upmix signal energy. A relative energy measure
can be used as a correction factor, but nevertheless is an
energy measure since it depends on the energy error introduced
into the upmix signal generated by an energy-loss introducing
upmixing rule or - stated in other words - a non-energy-
preserving upmixing rule.
An exemplary energy-loss introducing upmixing rule (non-energy-
preserving upmixing rule) is an upmix using transmitted
prediction coefficients. In case of a non-prefect prediction of
a frame or subband of a frame, the upmix output signal is
affected by a prediction error, corresponding to an energy
loss. Naturally, the prediction error varies from frame to
frame, since in case of an almost perfect prediction (a low
prediction error) only a small compensation (by scaling or
adding a decorrelated signal) has to be done while in case of a
larger prediction error (a non-perfect prediction) more
compensation has to be done. Therefore, the energy measure also
varies between a value indicating no or only a small
compensation and a value indicating a large compensation.
When the energy measure is considered as an InterChannel
Coherence (ICC) value, which consideration is natural, when the
compensation is done by adding a decorrelated signal scaled
depending on the energy measure, the preferably used relative
energy measure (p) varies typically between 0.8 and 1.0,
wherein 1.0 indicates that the upmixed signals are decorrelated
as reguired or that no decorrelated signal has to be added or
that the energy of the predictive upmix result is equal to the
energy of the original signal or that the prediction error is
zero.
However, the present invention is also useful in connection
with other energy-loss introducing upmixing rules, i.e. rules
that are not based on waveform matching but that are based on
other techniques, such as the use of codebooks, spectrum
matching, or any other upmixing rules that do not care for
energy preservation.
Generally, the energy compensation can be performed before or
after applying the energy-loss introducing upmixing rule.
Alternatively, the energy loss compensation can even be
included into the upmixing rule such as by altering the
original matrix coefficients using the energy measure so that a
new upmixing rule is generated and used by the upmixer. This
new upmixing rule is based on the energy-loss introducing
upmixing rule and the energy measure. Stated in other words,
this embodiment is related to a situation in which the energy
compensation is "mixed" into the "enhanced" upmixing rule so
that the energy compensation and/or the addition of a
decorrelated signal are performed by applying one or more
upmixing matrices to an input vector (the one or more base
channel) to obtain (after the one or more matrix operations)
the output vector (the reconstructed multi-channel signal
having at least three channels).
Preferably, the up-mixer device receives two base channels l0,
r0 and outputs three re-constructed channels l, r and c.
Subsequently, reference is made to Fig. 12 to show an example
energy situation at different positions on an encoder-decoder-
path. Block 1200 shows an energy of a multi-channel audio
signal such as a signal having at least a left channel, a right
channel and a centre channel as shown in Fig. 1. For the
embodiment in Fig. 12, it is assumed that the input channels
101, 102, 103 in Fig. 1 are completely uncorrelated, and that
the down-mixer is energy-preserving. In this case, the energy
of the one or more base channels indicated by block 1202 is
identical to the energy 1200 of the multi-channel original
signal. When the original multi-channel signals are correlated
to each other, the base channel energy 1202 can be lower than
the energy of the original multi-channel signal, when, for
example, the left and the right (partly) cancel each other.
For the subsequent discussion, however, it is assumed that the
energy 1202 of the base channels is the same as the energy 1200
of the original multi-channel signal.
1204 illustrates the energy of the up-mix signals, when the up-
mix signals (e.g., 110, 111, 112 of Fig. 1) are generated using
a non-energy preserving up-mix or a predictive up-mix as
discussed in connection with Fig. 1. Since, as will be outlined
later with respect to Fig. 14a, and 14b, such a predictive up-
mix introduces an energy error Er, the energy 1204 of the up-
mix result will be lower than the energy of the base channels
1202.
The up-mixer 1104 is operative to output output channels, which
have an energy, which is higher than the energy 1204.
Preferably, the up-mixer device 1104 performs a complete
compensation so that the up-mix result 1100 in Fig. 11 has an
energy as shown at 1206.
Preferably, the up-mix result, the energy of which is shown at
1204, is not simply up-scaled as shown in Fig. 2, or
individually up-scaled as shown in Fig. 3 or encoder-side up-
scaled as shown in Fig. 4. Instead, the remaining energy Er,
which corresponds to the error due to the predictive up-mix is
"filled up" using a de-correlated signal. In another preferred
embodiment, this energy error Er is only partly covered by a
de-correlated signal, while the rest of the energy error is
made up by up-scaling the up-mix result. The complete covering
of the energy error by a de-correlated signal is shown in Fig.
5 and Fig. 6, while the "in-part"-solution is illustrated by
Fig. 7.
Fig. 13 shows a plurality of energy-compensation methods, e.g.,
methods, which have in common the feature that, based on an
energy measure which depends on the energy error, the energy of
the output channels is higher than the pure result of the
predictive up-mix, i.e., the result of the (not-corrected)
energy-loss introducing upmixing rule.
Number 1 of the Table in Fig. 13 relates to the decoder-side
energy compensation, which is performed subsequent to the up-
mix. This option is shown in Fig. 2 and is, additionally,
further elaborated in connection with Fig. 3, which shows the
channel-specific up-scaling factors gz, which not only depend
on the energy measure ?, but which, additionally, depend on the
channel-dependent down-mix factors vz, wherein z stands for 1,
r or c.
Number 2 of Fig. 13 includes the encoder-side energy
compensation method, which is performed subsequent to the down-
mix, which is illustrated in Fig. 4. This embodiment is
preferable in that the energy measure ? or ? does not have to be
transmitted from the encoder to the decoder.
Number 3 of the Table in Fig. 13 relates to the decoder-side
energy compensation, which is performed before the up-mix. When
Fig. 2 is considered, the energy correction 202, which is
performed after the up-mix in Fig. 2 would be performed before
the up-mix block 201 in Fig. 2. This embodiment results,
compared to Fig. 2, in an easier implementation, since no
channel-specific correction factors as shown in Fig. 3 are
required, although quality losses might occur.
Number 4 of Fig. 13 relates to a further embodiment, in which
an encoder-side correction is performed before down-mixing.
When Fig. 1 is considered, channels 101, 102, 103 would be up-
scaled by a corresponding compensation factor so that the down-
mixer output is increased after down-mixing as shown at 1208 in
Fig. 12. Thus, the number four embodiment in Fig. 13 has the
same consequence for the base channels' output by an encoder as
the number two embodiment of the present invention.
Number 5 of the Fig. 13 Table relates to the embodiment in Fig.
5, when the de-correlated signal is derived from the channels
generated by the non-energy preserving up-mixing rule 109 in
Fig. 5.
The number 6 embodiment in the Table in Fig. 13 relates to the
embodiment, in which only part of the residual energy is
covered by the de-correlated signal. This embodiment is
illustrated in Fig. 7.
The number 8 embodiment of Fig. 13 is similar to the number 5
or 6 embodiment, but the de-correlated signal is derived from
the base channels before up-mixing as outlined by box 501' in
Fig. 5.
Subsequently, a preferred embodiment of the encoder is
described in detail. Fig. 14a illustrates an encoder for
processing a multi-channel input signal 1400 having at least
two channels and, preferably, having at least three channels 1,
c, r.
The encoder includes an energy measure calculator 1402 for
calculating an error measure depending on an energy difference
between an energy of the multi-channel input signal 1400 or an
at least one base channel 1404 and an up-mixed signal 1406
generated by a non-energy conserving up-mixing operation 1407.
Furthermore, the encoder includes an output interface 1408 for
outputting the at least one base channel after being scaled
(401, 402) by a scaling factor 403 depending on the energy
measure or for outputting the energy measure itself.
In a preferred embodiment, the encoder includes a down-mixer
1410 for generating the at least one base channel 1404 from the
original multi-channels 1400. For generating the up-mix
parameters, a difference calculator 1414 and a parameter
optimiser 1416 are also present. These elements are operative
to find the best-matching up-mix parameters 1412. At least two
of this set of best fitting up-mix parameters are outputted via
the output interface as the parameter output in a preferred
embodiment. The difference calculator is preferably operative
to perform a minimum means square error calculation between the
original multi-channel signal 1400 and the up-mixer-generated
up-mix signal for parameters input at parameter line 1412. This
parameter optimisation procedure can be performed by several
different optimisation procedures, which are all driven by the
goal to obtain a best-matching up-mix result 1406 by a certain
up-mixing matrix included in the up-mixer 1408.
The functionality of Fig. 14a encoder is shown in Fig. 14b.
After a down-mixing step 1440 performed by the down-mixer 1410,
the base channel or the plurality of base channels can be
output as illustrated by 1442. Then, an up-mix parameter
optimisation step 1444 is performed, which, depending on a
certain optimisation strategy, can be an iterative or non-
iterative procedure. However, iterative procedures are
preferred. Generally, the up-mix parameter optimisation
procedure can be implemented such that the difference between
the up-mix result and the original signal is as low as
possible. Depending on the implementation, this difference can
be an individual channel-related difference or a combined
difference. Generally, the up-mix parameter optimisation step
1444 is operative in minimising any cost function, which can be
derived from individual channels or from combined channels so
that, for one channel, a larger difference (error) is accepted,
when a much better matching is, for example, achieved for the
other two channels.
Then, when the best fitting parameters set, e.g., the best
fitting up-mix matrix has been found, at least two up-mixing
parameters of the parameters set generated by step 1444 are
output to the output interface as indicated by step 1446.
Furthermore, after the up-mix parameter optimisation step 1444
is complete, the energy measure can be calculated and output as
indicated by step 1448. Generally, the energy measure will
depend on the energy error 1210. In a preferred embodiment, the
energy measure is the factor ? which depends on the relation of
the energy of the up-mix result 1406 and the energy of the
original signal 1400 as shown in Fig. 2. Alternatively, the
energy measure calculated and output can be an absolute value
for the energy error 1210 or can be the absolute energy of the
up-mix result 1406, which, of course, depends on the energy
error. In this context, it is to be noted that the energy
measure as output by the output interface 1408 is preferably
quantized, and, again preferably entropy-encoded using any
well-known entropy-encoder such as an arithmetic encoder, a
Huffman encoder or a run-length encoder, which is especially
useful when there are many subsequent identical energy
measures. Alternatively or additionally, the energy measures
for subsequent time portions or frames can be difference-
encoded, wherein this difference-encoding is preferably
performed before entropy-coding.
Subsequently, reference is made to Fig. 15a showing an
alternative down-mixer embodiment, which is, in accordance with
a preferred embodiment of the present invention, combined to
the Fig. 14a encoder. The Fig. 15a embodiment covers an SBR-
implementation, although this embodiment can also be used in
cases, in which no spectral band replication is performed, but
in which the complete bandwidth of the base channels is
transmitted. The Fig. 15a encoder includes a down-mixer 1500
for down-mixing the original signal 1500 to obtain at least one
base channel 1504. In a non-SBR-embodiment, the at least one
base channel 1504 is input into a core coder 1506, which can be
an AAC encoder for mono-signals in case of a single base
channel, or which can be any stereo coder in case of for
example two stereo base channels. On the output of the core
coder 1506, a bit stream including an encoded base channel or
including a plurality of encoded base channels is output
(1508).
When the Fig. 15a embodiment has an SBR functionality, the at
least one base channel 1504 is low-pass filtered 1510 before
being input into the core coder. Naturally, the functionalities
of blocks 1510 and 1506 can be implemented by a single encoder
device, which performs low-pass filtering and core coding
within a single encoding algorithm.
The encoded base channels at the output 1508 only include a
low-band of the base channels 1504 in encoded form. Information
on the high-band is calculated by an SBR spectral envelope
calculator 1512, which is connected to an SBR information
encoder 1514 for generating and outputting encoded SBR-side
information at an output 1516.
The original signal 1502 is input into an energy calculator
1520, which generates channel energies (for a certain time
period of the original channels l, c, r, wherein the channel
energies are indicated by L, C, R, output by block 1520). The
channel energies L, C, R, are input into a parameter calculator
block 1522. The parameter calculator 1522 outputs two up-mix
parameters c1, c2, which can, for example, be the parameters
c1, c2, indicated in Fig. 15a. Naturally, other (e.g. linear)
energy combinations involving the energies of all input
channels can be generated by the parameter calculator 1522 for
transmission to a decoder. Naturally, different transmitted up-
mix parameters will result in a different way of calculating
the remaining up-mixing matrix elements. As indicated in
connection with equation (40) or equations (41 - 44), the up-
mix matrix for the energy-directed Fig. 15 embodiment has at
least four non-zero elements, wherein the elements in the third
row are equal to each other. Thus, the parameter calculator
1522 can use any combination of energies L, C, R for example,
from which the four elements in the up-mix matrix such as up-
mix matrix indication (40) or (41) can be derived.
The Fig. 15a embodiment illustrates an encoder, which is
operative to perform the energy-preserving, or, stated in
general, the energy-derived up-mix for the whole bandwidth of a
signal. This means that, on the encoder-side, which is
illustrated in Fig. 15a, the parametric representation output
by the parameter calculator 1522 is generated for the whole
signal. This means that, for each sub-band of the encoded base
channel, a corresponding set of parameters is calculated and
output. When, for example, the encoded base channel, which is,
for example, a full-bandwidth signal having ten sub-bands is
considered, the parameter calculator might output ten
parameters C1 and c2 for each sub-band of the encoded base
channel. When, however, the encoded base channel would be a
low-band signal in an SBR environment, for example only
covering only the five lower sub-bands, then the parameter
calculator 1522 would output a set of parameters for each of
the five lower sub-bands, and, additionally, for each of the
five upper sub-bands, although the signal at output 1508 does
not include a corresponding sub-band. This is due to the fact,
that such a sub-band would be recreated on the decoder-side, as
will be subsequently described in connection with Fig. 16a.
Preferably, however, and as described in connection with Fig.
10, the energy calculator 1520 and the parameter calculator
1522 are only operative for the high-band part of the original
signal, while parameters for the low-band part of the original
signal are calculated by the predictive parameter calculator
104 in Fig. 10, which would correspond to the predictive up-
mixer 109 in Fig. 10.
Fig. 15b shows a schematic representation of a parametric
representation output by selection module 1002 in Fig. 10.
Thus, a parametric representation in accordance with the
present invention includes (with or without the encoded base
channel(s) and, optionally, even without the energy measure) a
set of predictive parameters for the low-band, e.g., for the
sub-bands 1 to i and sub-band-wise parameters for the high-
band, e.g., for the sub-bands i+1 to N. Alternatively, the
predictive parameters and the energy style parameters can be
mixed, e.g., that a sub-band having energy style parameters can
be positioned between sub-bands having predictive parameters.
Furthermore, a frame having only predictive parameters can
follow a frame having only energy style parameters. Therefore,
generally stated, the present invention as discussed in
connection with Fig. 10 relates to different parameterisations,
which can be different in the frequency direction as shown in
Fig. 15b or which can be different in the time direction, when
a frame having only predictive parameters is followed by a
frame having only energy style parameters. Naturally, the
distribution or parameterisation of sub-bands can change from
frame to frame, so that, for example, sub-band i has a first
(e.g. predictive) parameter set as shown in Fig. 15b at first
frame, and has a second (e.g. energy style) parameter set in
another frame.
Furthermore, the present invention is also useful when
parameterisations different from the predictive
parameterisation as shown in Fig. 14a or the energy style
parameterisation as shown in Fig. 15a are used. Also further
examples for parameterisation apart from predictive or energy
style can be used as soon as any target parameter or target
event indicates that the up-mix quality, the down-mix bit rate,
the computational efficiency on the encoder side or on the
decoder side or, for example, the energy consumption of e.g.
battery-powered devices, etc. say that, for a certain sub-band
or frame, the first parameterisation is better than the second
parameterisation. Naturally, the target function can also be a
combination of different individual targets/events as outlined
above. An exemplary event would be a SBR-reconstructed high
band etc.
Furthermore, it is to be noted that the frequency or time-
selective calculation and transmission of parameters can be
signalled explicitly as shown at 1005 in Fig. 10.
Alternatively, the signalling can also be performed implicitly
such as discussed in connection with Fig. 16a. In this case,
pre-defined rules for the decoder are used, for example that
the decoder automatically assumes that the transmitted
parameters are energy style parameters for sub-bands belonging
to the high-band in Fig. 15b, e.g., for sub-bands, which have
been reconstructed by a spectral band replication or high-
frequency regeneration technique.
Furthermore, it is to be noted that the encoder-side
calculation of one, two or even more different
parameterisations and the encoder-side selection, which
parameterisation is transmitted is based on a decision using
any encoder-side available information (the information can be
an actually used target function or signalling information used
for other reasons such as SBR processing and signalling) can be
performed with or without transmitting the energy measure. Even
when the preferred energy correction is not performed at all,
e.g., when the result of the non-energy-conserving up-mix
(predictive up-mix) is not energy-corrected, or when no
corresponding pre-compensation on the encoder-side is
performed, the preferred switching between different
parameterisations is useful for obtaining a better multi-
channel output quality and/or lower bit rate.
Particularly, the preferred switching between different
parameterisations depending on available encoder-side
information can be used with or without addition of a de-
correlated signal completely or at least partly covering the
energy error performed by the predictive up-mix as shown in
connection with Figs. 5 to 7. In this context, the addition of
a de-correlated signal as described in connection with Fig. 5
is only performed for the sub-bands/frames, for which
predictive up-mix parameters are transmitted, while different
measures for de-correlation are used for those sub-bands or
frames, in which energy style parameters have been transmitted.
Such measures are, for example, down-scaling the wet signal and
generating a de-correlated signal and scaling the de-correlated
signal so that a required amount of de-correlation as, for
example, required by a transmitted inter-channel-correlation
measure such as ICC is obtained, when the properly scaled de-
correlated signals are added to the dry signal.
Subsequently, Fig. 16a is discussed for illustrating a decoder-
side implementation of the preferred up-mixing block 201 and
the corresponding energy correction in 202. As discussed in
connection with Fig. 11, transmitted up-mix parameter 1108 are
extracted from a received input signal. These transmitted up-
mix parameters are preferably input into a calculator 1600 for
calculating the remaining up-mix parameters, when the up-mix
matrix 1602 including energy compensation is to perform a
predictive up-mix and a preceding or subsequent energy
correction. The procedure for calculating the remaining up-mix
parameters is subsequently discussed in connection with Figs.
16b.
The calculation of the up-mix parameters is based on the
equation in Fig. 16b, which is also repeated as equation (7).
In the three-input-signal/two-output-signal embodiment, the
down-mix matrix D has six variables. Additionally, the up-mix
matrix C has also six variables. However, on the right hand
side of equation (7), there are only four values. Therefore, in
case of an unknown down-mix and unknown up-mix, one would have
twelve unknown variables from matrices D and C and only four
equations for determining these twelve variables. However, the
down-mix is known so that the number of variables, which are
unknown reduces to the coefficients of the up-mix matrix C,
which has six variables, although there still exist four
equations for determining these six variables. Therefore, the
optimisation method as discussed in connection with step 1444
in Fig. 14b and as illustrated in Fig. 14a is used for
determining at least two variables of the up-mix matrix, which
are, preferably, C11 and C22. Now, since there exist four
unknowns, e.g., C12, C21, C31 and C32 and since there exist four
equations, e.g., one equation for each element in the identity
matrix I on the right hand side of the equation in Fig. 16b,
the remaining unknown variables of the up-mix matrix can be
calculated in a straight-forward manner. This calculation is
performed in the calculator 1600 for calculating the remaining
up-mix parameters.
The up-mix matrix in the device 1602 is set in accordance with
the two transmitted up-mix parameters as forwarded by broken
line 1604 and by the remaining four up-mix parameters
calculated by block 1600. This up-mix matrix is then applied to
the base channels input via line 1102. Depending on the
implementation, an energy measure for a low-band correction is
forwarded via line 1106 so that a corrected up-mix can be
generated and output. When the predictive up-mix is only
performed for the low-band as, for example, implicitly
signalled via line 1606, and when there exist energy style up-
mix parameters on line 1108 for the high-band, this fact is
signalled, for a corresponding sub-band, to the calculator 1600
and to the up-mix matrix device 1602. In the energy style case,
it is preferred to calculate the up-mix matrix elements of up-
mix matrix (40) or (41). To this end, the transmitted
parameters as indicated below equation (40) or the
corresponding parameters as indicated below equation (41) are
used. In this embodiment, the transmitted up-mix parameters C1,
C2 cannot be directly used for an up-mix coefficient, but the
up-mix coefficients of the up-mix matrix as shown in equation
(40) or (41) have to be calculated using the transmitted up-mix
parameters c1 and c2.
For the high-band, an up-mix matrix as determined for the
energy-based up-mix parameters is used for up-mixing the high-
band part of the multi-channel output signals. Subsequently,
the low-band part and the high-band part are combined in a
low/high combiner 1608 for outputting the full-bandwidth
reconstructed output channels 1, r, c. As illustrated in Fig.
16a, the high-band of the base channels is generated using a
decoder for decoding the transmitted low-band base channels,
wherein this decoder is a mono-decoder for a mono base channel,
and is a stereo decoder for two stereo base channels. This
decoded low-band base channel(s) are input into an SBR device
1614, which additionally receives envelope information as
calculated by device 1512 in Fig. 15a. Based on the low-band
part and the high band envelope information, the high band of
the base channels is generated to obtain full band-width base
channels on the line 1102, which are forwarded into the up-mix
matrix device 1602.
The preferred methods or devices or computer programs can be
implemented or included in several devices. Fig. 17 shows a
transmission system having a transmitter including an inventive
encoder and having a receiver including an inventive decoder.
The transmission channel can be a wireless or wired channel.
Furthermore, as shown in Fig. 18, the encoder can be included
in an audio recorder or the decoder can be included in an audio
player. Audio records from the audio recorder can be
distributed to the audio player via the Internet or via a
storage medium distributed using mail or courier resources or
other possibilities for distributing storage media such as
memory cards, CDs or DVDs.
Depending on certain implementation requirements of the
inventive methods, the inventive methods can be implemented in
hardware or in software. The implementation can be performed
using a digital storage medium, in particular a disk or a CD
having electronically readable control signals stored thereon,
which can cooperate with a programmable computer system such
that the inventive methods are performed. Generally, the
present invention is, therefore, a computer program product
with a program code stored on a machine-readable carrier, the
program code being configured for performing at least one of
the inventive methods, when the computer program products runs
on a computer. In other words, the inventive methods are,
therefore, a computer program having a program code for
performing the inventive methods, when the computer program
runs on a computer.
WE CLAIM
1. Multi-channel audio synthesiser for generating at least three output
channels (1100) using an input signal having at least one base channel
(1102), the base channel being derived from the original multi-channels
signal (101,102,103), comprising:
an up-mixer (1104) for up-mixing the at least one base channel based on
an energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule (201,1407) so that the at least
three output channels are obtained,
wherein the up-mixer (1104) is operative to generate the at least three
output channels in response to an energy measure (1106) and at least
two different up-mixing parameters (1108) so that the at least three
output channels (1100) have an energy higher than an energy of a signal
obtained by only using the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, thus
compensating have an energy error, the energy error depending on the
energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, and
wherein the at least two different up-mixing parameters (1108) and the
energy measure for controlling the up-mixer are included in the input
signal,
wherein the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule is a predictive up-
mixing rule using an up-mixing matrix having matrix coefficients, which
are based on prediction coefficients, and
wherein the at least two different up-mix parameters are two different
elements (C11, C22) of the up-mixing matrix or are parameters, from which
the two different elements of the up-mixing matrix are derivable.
2. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the energy
measure directly or indirectly indicates a relation of an energy of an up-
mix result using the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule to an energy
of the original multi-channel signal, or a relation of the energy error to an
energy or the original multi-channel signal or the energy error in absolute
terms.
3. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the up-mixer comprises a calculator (1600) for deriving an up-mix
matrix based on the at least two up-mixing parameters and information
on a down-mix rule used for generating the at least one base channel
from the original multi-channel signal.
4. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the up-mixer is operative to process a left base channel and a
right base channel and to output a left output signal, a right output signal
and a centre signal, wherein the left base channel and the right base
channel are a stereo-compatible representation of the multi-channel
signals.
5. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the up-mixer (1104) is operative to individually scale (304) the at
least three output channels using scaling factors, wherein a scaling factor
(gz) for an output channel depends on an energy of an up-mix result of
the energy-loss introducing up-mix rule and an energy of the output
channel after up-mixing using the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule
and information on a down-mix (v) for generating the at least base
channel.
6. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 5, wherein the scaling factor
is determined as follows:

wherein vz is a down-mix dependent factor for an output channel z,
wherein p is the energy measure, wherein Ê is the energy of the multi-
channel signal generated by the energy-loss introducing up-mix rule, and
wherein represents an energy of the to be scaled output channel of
the energy-loss introducing up-mix rule.
7. Multi-channel synthesiser as clamed in one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the
up-mixer (1104) comprises a de-correlator (501,502,503,501',503') for
generating a de-correlated signal from the at least one base channel or
from at least one the output signals of the energy-loss introducing up-
mixing rule, and
wherein the up-mixer is operative to use the de-correlated signal such
that an energy amount of the de-correlated signal in an output cannels is
smaller than or equal to an amount of the energy error as derivable by
the energy measure.
8. Multi-channel synthesiser as clamed in claim 7, wherein up-mixer is
operative to generate a de-correlation signal having an energy being
equal to an energy of the output channel downscaled by a downscaling
factor, the downscaling factor depending on the energy measure, and
wherein the up-mixer is operative to add the de-correlated signal and an
output signal of the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule (109).
9. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the de-
correlator is operative to individually de-correlate the at least three output
channels by adding a de-correlated signal weighted by a channel-specific
factor (v) and weighted using the energy measure (p) and to add (602)
the weighted de-correlated signal to an output signal of an up-mixer (109)
performing the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule.
10. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 8 or 9, wherein the de-
correlator is operative to filter an input signal using a digital filter.
11. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 8, wherein the downscaling
factor is derived as follows:

wherein y is the downscaling factor, and wherein p is the energy measure.
12. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the up-mixer (1104) is operative to add, for party or fully
compensating the energy-loss due to the energy-loss introducing up-
mixing rule a de-correlated signal having an energy smaller than the
energy error and greater than 0 to at least one channel as generated by
the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule.
13. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 12, wherein when the
energy of the decorrelated signal is smaller than the energy error, the
upmixer is operative to upscale the at least one base channel or a signal
generated by the upmixing rule such that the combined energy of the
upscaled signal or an upmix signal generated using the upscaled at least
one base channel and the added decorrelated signal is equal to or smaller
than an energy of the original signal.
14. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 13, wherein the energy of
the added de-correlated signal is determined by a de-correlation factor,
wherein a high de-correlation factor close to 1 indicates that a smaller
level de-correlated signals is to be added, while a smaller de-correlation
factor close to 0 indicates that a higher level de-correlation signal is to be
added, and
wherein the de-correlation measure is extracted from the input signal.
15. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 12 or 13, wherein the at
least one base channel is a scaled version of a base channel generated by
a down-mixing matrix, the scaling factor depending on the energy
measure, so that the de-correlation information (605) is the only
transmitted energy measure also depending on the error energy.
16. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 13, wherein the energy
measure included in the input signal comprises a first energy value
depending on the energy error (?), and including a second energy value
depending on a degree of correlation (k).
17. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the input signal comprises, in addition to the two different up-
mixing parameters information on a down-mix underlying the at least one
base channel, and
wherein the up-mixer is operative to use the additional down-mixing
information for generating an up-mixing matrix (802).
18. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 17, wherein information (?)
of a stereo pre-processing (901) calculation is included in the input signal
as the down-mix information.
19. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of the preceding claims,
wherein the input signal comprises an up-mixer mode indication (1005)
indicating, in a first state that a first up-mixing rule is to be performed,
and, indicating, in a second state, that a different up-mixing rule is to be
performed, and
wherein the up-mixer (1104) is operative to calculate parameters for the
up-mixing rule using the at least two different up-mixing parameters
(1108) in dependence on the up-mixer mode indication (1005).
20. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 19, wherein the up-mixer
mode indication is operative to sub-band-wise or frame-wise signaling an
up-mixer mode.
21. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 19 or 20, wherein the first
up-mixing rule is a predictive up-mixing rule and in which a second up-
mixing rule is an up-mixing rule having energy-dependent up-mixing
parameters.
22. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 20, wherein the second up-
mixing rule is performed as follows:

wherein L is an energy value of a left input channel,
wherein C is an energy value of a centre input channel,
wherein R is an energy value of a right input channel, and
wherein a is a down-mix determined parameters.
23. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of claims 19 to 22, wherein
the second up-mixing rule is so that a right down-mix channel is not
added to a left up-mixed channel and vice versa.
24. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claims 19 to 23, wherein the first
up-mixing rule is determined by a wave form matching between wave
forms of the original multi-channel signal and wave forms of signals
generated by the first up-mixing rule.
25. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of claims 19 to 24, wherein
the first or second up-mixing rule is determined as follows:

in which function f1,f2,f3 indicate functions of the transmitted two different
up-mixing parameters c1,c2, and, in which the functions are determined as
follows:

wherein a is a real-valued parameter.
26. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in one of claims 19 to 25, comprising
an SBR unit 1614 for regenerating a band of the at least one base channel
not included in the transmitted base channel using a part of the at least
one base channel included in the input signal, and
wherein the multi-channel synthesiser is operative to apply the second up-
mix rule in a regenerated band of the at least base-channel, and to apply
the first up-mixing rule in a band of the base channel, which is included in
the input signal.
27. Multi-channel synthesiser as claimed in claim 26, wherein the up-mixer
mode indication is an SBR signaling (1606) included in the input signal.
28. Encoder for processing a multi-channel audio input signal, comprising an
energy measure calculator (1402) for calculating an energy measure (?)
depending on an energy difference between a multi-channel input signal
or an at least one base channel derived from the multi-channel input
signal and an up-mixed signal generated by an energy-loss introducing
up-mixing operation; and
an output interface (1408) for outputting the at least one base channel
after being scaled (401,402) by a scaling factor (403) dependent on the
energy measure or for outputting the energy measure.
29. Encoder as claimed in claim 28, wherein the energy measure (?) is
determined based on a relation of an energy of the up-mixed signal
generated by up-mixing the at least one base channel using an energy-
introducing up-mixing rule, and an energy of the original multi-channel
signal, and the scaling factor is determined by inverting the energy
measure.
30. Encoder as claimed in claim 28 or 29, comprising a correlation degree
calculator for determining a degree of correlation (k), and in which the
output interface is operative to output a correlation measure (k) based on
the degree of correlation.
31. Encoder as claimed in one of claims 28 to 30, comprising an up-mixer
parameter calculator (1407,1414,1416) for calculating at least two
different up-mixing parameters (1412), and
wherein the output interface is operative to output the at least two
different up-mixing parameters.
32. Encoder as claimed in one of claims 28 to 31, comprising a down-mixer
device (1410) for calculating the at least one base channel, and
wherein the output interface (1408) is operative to output information on
a down-mix operation.
33. Encoder as claimed in claim 32, wherein the down-mixer device comprises
stereo preprocessor, and wherein the output interface is operative to
output information on the stereo preprocessor.
34. Encoder as claimed in claim 31, wherein the up-mixer parameter
calculator is operative to perform a parameter optimisation (1444) by
using wave forms of up-mixed channels, to generate at least two up-
mixing parameters to be transmitted to a decoder based on optimum up-
mixing parameters, and to calculate and output the energy measure
based on signals generated by up-mixing the at least one base channel
using the optimum up-mixing parameters.
35. Encoder as claimed in one of claims 28 to 34, comprising a parameter
generator (104,1001,1520,1522,1414,1416) for generating a specific
parametric representation among a plurality of different parametric
representations based on information available a the encoder;
wherein the output interface (1408) is operative to output the generated
parametric representation and information implicitly or explicitly indicating
the specific parameter representation among the plurality of different
parameter representations.
36. Encoder as claimed in claim 35, wherein the plurality of different
parameter representations comprises a first parametric representation for
a wave form-based predictive up-mixing scheme, and a second parametric
representation for a non-wave form-based up-mixing rule.
37. Encoder as claimed in claim 36, wherein the non-wave form-based up-
mixing rule is an energy-conserving up-mixing rule.
38. Encoder as claimed in one of claims 35 to 37, wherein a first parametric
representation is a parameter representation, the parameters of which are
determined using an optimization procedure, and
wherein a second parametric representation is determined by calculating
(1502) the energies of the original channels and by calculating parameters
(1522) based on combinations of energies.
39. Encoder as claimed in one of claims 28 to 38, comprising a spectral band
replication module (1512, 1514) for generating spectral band replication
side information for at least one band of the original input signal, which is
not included in a base channel output by the encoder.
40. Method of generating at least three audio output channels (1100) using
an input signal having at least one base channel (1102), the base channel
being derived from the original multi-channel signal (101,102,103),
comprising:
up-mixing (1104) the at least one base channel based on an energy-loss
introducing up-mixing rule (201,1408) so that the at least three output
channels are obtained,
wherein, in the step of upmixing, the at least three output channels are
generated in response to an energy measure (1106) and at least two
different up-mixing parameters (1108) so that the at least three output
channels have an energy higher than an energy of a signal obtained by
only using the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, thus compensating
an energy error, the energy error, the energy error depending on the
energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, and
wherein the at least two different up-mixing parameters (1108) and the
energy measure for controlling the up-mixer are included in the input
signal,
wherein the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule is a predictive up-
mixing rule using an up-mixing matrix having matrix coefficients, which
are based on prediction coefficients, and
wherein the at least two different up-mix parameters are two different
elements (C11, C22) of the up-mixing matrix or are parameters, from which
the two different elements of the up-mixing matrix are derivable.
41. Method of processing a multi-channel audio input signal, comprising:
calculating (1402) an error measure (p) depending on an energy
difference between a multi-channel input signal or an at least one base
channel derived from the multi-channel input signal and an up-mixed
signal generated by an energy-loss introducing up-mixing operation; and
outputting (1408) the at least one base channel after being scaled
(401,402) by a scaling factor (403) dependent on the energy measure or
outputting the energy measure.
42. Encoded multi-channel audio information signal having at least one base
channel, an energy measure, and at least two different up-mix
parameters, wherein the energy measure, and at least two different up-
mix parameters, wherein the energy measure, depends on an energy
difference between a multi-channel input signal or an at least one base
channel derived from the multi-channel input signal and an up-mixed
signal generated by an energy-loss introducing up-mixing operations,
wherein the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule is a predictive up-
mixing rule using an up-mixing matrix having matrix coefficients, which
are based on prediction coefficients, and wherein the at least two different
up-mix parameters are two different elements (c11,c22) of the up-mixing
matrix or are parameters, from which the two different elements of the
up-mixing matrix are derivable.
43.Transmission system comprising a transmitter and a receiver, the
transmitter having an encoder as claimed in any of claims 28 to 39, and
the receiver having a synthesiser as claimed in any of claims 1 to 27.

The invention relates to a Multi-channel audio synthesiser for generating at least
three output channels (1100) using an input signal having at least one base
channel (1102), the base channel being derived from the original multi-channels
signal (101,102,103), comprising an up-mixer (1104) for up-mixing the at least
one base channel based on an energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule (201,1407)
so that the at least three output channels are obtained, wherein the up-mixer
(1104) is operative to generate the at least three output channels in response to
an energy measure (1106) and at least two different up-mixing parameters
(1108) so that the at least three output channels (1100) have an energy higher
than an energy of a signal obtained by only using the energy-loss introducing up-
mixing rule, thus compensating have an energy error, the energy error
depending on the energy-loss introducing up-mixing rule, and wherein the at
least two different up-mixing parameters (1108) and the energy measure for
controlling the up-mixer are included in the input signal, wherein the energy-loss
introducing up-mixing rule is a predictive up-mixing rule using an up-mixing
matrix having matrix coefficients, which are based on prediction coefficients, and
wherein the at least two different up-mix parameters are two different elements
(C11, C22) of the up-mixing matrix or are parameters, from which the two different
elements of the up-mixing matrix are derivable.

Documents:

03543-kolnp-2006 abstract.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 claims.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 correspondence others.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 correspondence-1.5.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 description(complete).pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 drawings.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 form-1.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 form-2.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 form-3.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 form-5.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 international publication.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 international search authority report.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 others document.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 pct request form.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006 priority document.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-correspondence others-1.1.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-correspondence-1.2.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-correspondence-1.3.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-correspondence-1.4.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-form-18.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-form-26.pdf

03543-kolnp-2006-international search authority report-1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-(25-05-2012)-CERTIFIED COPIES(OTHER COUNTRIES).pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-(25-05-2012)-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-(25-05-2012)-FORM-13-1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-(25-05-2012)-FORM-13.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-(25-05-2012)-PA-CERTIFIED COPIES.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-ABSTRACT 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-AMANDED CLAIMS.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-AMANDED PAGES OF SPECIFICATION.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-CANCELLED PAGES 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE 1.5.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE 1.6.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-CORRESPONDENCE.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE) 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-DRAWINGS 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-EXAMINATION REPORT.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 1 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 13.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 18.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 2 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 26.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 3 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 3.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 5 1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-FORM 5.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-ABSTRACT.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-CLAIMS.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-DESCRIPTION (COMPLETE).pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-DRAWINGS.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-FORM 1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-FORM 2.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-GRANTED-SPECIFICATION.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-MISCLLENIOUS.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-OTHERS.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-PETITION UNDER RULE 137 1.2.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-PETITION UNDER RULE 137-1.1.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT.pdf

3543-KOLNP-2006-REPLY TO EXAMINATION REPORT1.1.pdf

abstract-03543-kolnp-2006.jpg


Patent Number 252160
Indian Patent Application Number 3543/KOLNP/2006
PG Journal Number 18/2012
Publication Date 04-May-2012
Grant Date 30-Apr-2012
Date of Filing 27-Nov-2006
Name of Patentee KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS ELECTRONICS N.V.
Applicant Address GROENEWOUDSEWEG 1, 5621 BA EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 JEROEN BREEBAART GROENEWOUDSEWEG 1 NL-5621 BA EINDHOVEN, NL
2 GERARD HOTHO GROENEWOUDSEWEG 1 NL-5621 BA EINDHOVEN, NL
3 JONAS RODEN DOBELNSGATEN 64, S-11352 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
4 LARS VILLEMOES DOBELNSGATEN 64, S-11352 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
5 HEIKO PURNHAGEN DOBELNSGATEN 64, S-11352 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
6 KRISTOFER KJORLING DOBELNSGATEN 64, S-11352 STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
PCT International Classification Number G10L 19/00
PCT International Application Number PCT/EP2005/011586
PCT International Filing date 2005-10-28
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 0402652-2 2004-11-02 Sweden