Method for encoding multi-channel signal and encoder

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12154577-B2
Application number	US-202318361028-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 28, 2023
Priority date	Aug 10, 2016
Publication date	Nov 26, 2024
Grant date	Nov 26, 2024

Abstract

A method for encoding an audio signal includes obtaining an ITD value of a current frame of an audio signal; obtaining a characteristic parameter of the current frame, wherein the characteristic parameter comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio of the current frame or a peak feature of cross-correlation coefficients of the current frame; determining, based on the characteristic parameter, whether to use the initial ITD value as the finalized ITD value of the current frame; and encoding the current frame based on the finalized ITD value of the current frame, wherein if the initial ITD value is determined as not used as the finalized ITD value of the current frame, the finalized ITD value of the current frame is the same as a finalized ITD value of a previous frame of the current frame.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for encoding an audio signal, the method comprising:
obtaining a multi-channel signal of a current frame, wherein the multi-channel signal includes a first-channel signal and a second-channel signal;
obtaining a characteristic parameter of the current frame, wherein the characteristic parameter comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio of the current frame or a peak feature of cross-correlation coefficients of the current frame;
determining, based on the characteristic parameter, whether to use a previous inter-channel time difference (ITD) value of a previous frame as a current ITD value of the current frame;
encoding, in response to determining to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value, the current frame based on the previous ITD value to obtain a bitstream; and
storing or transmitting the bitstream.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining the peak feature based on an amplitude of a peak value of the cross-correlation coefficients and an index of a peak position of the cross-correlation coefficients.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein obtaining the peak feature comprises:
obtaining a peak amplitude confidence parameter based on the amplitude, wherein the peak amplitude confidence parameter represents a confidence level of the amplitude;
determining a peak position fluctuation parameter based on an index ITD value corresponding to the index and the previous ITD value, wherein the peak position fluctuation parameter represents a first difference between the index ITD value and the previous ITD value; and
determining the peak feature based on the peak amplitude confidence parameter and the peak position fluctuation parameter.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the peak amplitude confidence parameter comprises determining, as the peak amplitude confidence parameter, a ratio of a second difference to a first amplitude value of the peak value, and wherein the second difference is between the first amplitude value and a second amplitude value of a second-largest value of the cross-correlation coefficients.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining the peak position fluctuation parameter comprises determining, as the peak position fluctuation parameter, an absolute value of the first difference.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, based on the characteristic parameter, whether to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value comprises:
incrementing a frame count by one to obtain a current frame count value, wherein the frame count counts a quantity of continuous target frames, wherein a target frame is a frame that uses an ITD value of a previous frame of the target frame as an ITD value of the target frame;
comparing the current frame count value with a maximum quantity of the continuous target frames; and
determining, in response to the current frame count value not being greater than the maximum quantity, to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining whether the signal-to-noise ratio satisfies a preset signal-to-noise ratio condition; and
determining, in response to the current frame count value not being greater than the maximum quantity and the signal-to-noise ratio satisfying the preset signal-to-noise ratio condition, to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value.

8. An encoder, comprising:
a memory configured to store programming instructions; and
a processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute the programming instructions to cause the encoder to:
obtain a multi-channel signal of a current frame, wherein the multi-channel signal includes a first-channel signal and a second-channel signal;
obtain a characteristic parameter of the current frame, wherein the characteristic parameter comprises at least one of a signal-to-noise ratio of the current frame or a peak feature of cross-correlation coefficients of the current frame;
determine, based on the characteristic parameter, whether to use a previous inter-channel time difference (ITD) value of a previous frame of the current frame as a current ITD value of the current frame;
encode, in response to determining to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value, the current frame based on the previous ITD value to obtain a bitstream; and
store or transmit the bitstream.

9. The encoder of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to further cause the encoder to obtain the peak feature based on an amplitude of a peak value of the cross-correlation coefficients and an index of a peak position of the cross-correlation coefficients.

10. The encoder of claim 9 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to further cause the encoder to:
obtain a peak amplitude confidence parameter based on the amplitude, wherein the peak amplitude confidence parameter represents a confidence level of the amplitude;
determine a peak position fluctuation parameter based on an index ITD value corresponding to the index and the previous ITD value, wherein the peak position fluctuation parameter represents a first difference between the index ITD value and the previous ITD value; and
determine the peak feature based on the peak amplitude confidence parameter and the peak position fluctuation parameter.

11. The encoder of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to further cause the encoder to determine, as the peak amplitude confidence parameter, a ratio of a second difference to a first amplitude value of the peak value, and wherein the second difference is between the first amplitude value and a second amplitude value of a second-largest value of the cross-correlation coefficients.

12. The encoder of claim 10 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to further cause the encoder to determine, as the peak position fluctuation parameter, an absolute value of the first difference.

13. The encoder of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to further cause the encoder to:
increment a frame count by one to obtain a current frame count value, wherein the frame count counts a quantity of continuous target frames, wherein a target frame is a frame that uses an ITD value of a previous frame of the target frame as an ITD value of the target frame;
compare the current frame count value with a maximum quantity of the continuous target frames; and
determine, in response to the current frame count value not being greater than the maximum quantity, to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value.

14. The encoder of claim 13 , wherein the processor is configured to execute the programming instructions to further cause the encoder to:
determine whether the signal-to-noise ratio satisfies a preset signal-to-noise ratio condition; and
determine, in response to the current frame count value not being greater than the maximum quantity and the signal-to-noise ratio satisfies the preset signal-to-noise ratio condition, to use the previous ITD value as the current ITD value.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions, that when executed by a processor, cause an encoder to:
obtain a multi-channel signal of a current frame, wherein the multi-channel signal includes a first-channel signal and a second-channel signal;
obtain a characteristic parameter of the current frame, wherein the characteristic parameter comprises at least one of a signal-t

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Li Haiting
• Liu Zexin
• Zhang Xingtao
• Miao Lei

Classifications

• H04S2420/03

  Application of parametric coding in stereophonic audio systems · CPC title

• H04S3/00

  Systems employing more than two channels, e.g. quadraphonic (H04S5/00, H04S7/00 take precedence) · CPC title

• G10L25/06

  the extracted parameters being correlation coefficients · CPC title

• G10L19/0204

  using subband decomposition · CPC title

• G10L19/008 Primary

  Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing · CPC title