Loudness adjustment for downmixed audio content

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9686624-B2
Application number	US-201615091366-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 5, 2016
Priority date	Sep 12, 2013
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

Audio content coded for a reference speaker configuration is downmixed to downmix audio content coded for a specific speaker configuration. One or more gain adjustments are performed on individual portions of the downmix audio content coded for the specific speaker configuration. Loudness measurements are then performed on the individual portions of the downmix audio content. An audio signal that comprises the audio content coded for the reference speaker configuration and downmix loudness metadata is generated. The downmix loudness metadata is created based at least in part on the loudness measurements on the individual portions of the downmix audio content.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for gain adjustments of audio signals based on encoder-generated loudness information, the method comprising:
receiving, by an audio decoder operating in a specific playback environment different from a reference channel configuration, an audio signal for the reference channel configuration, the audio signal including audio sample data and encoder-generated loudness metadata, the encoder-generated loudness metadata comprising a plurality of portions of loudness metadata for a plurality of playback environments, the plurality of portions of loudness metadata comprising one or more respective portions of loudness metadata for each playback environment in the plurality of playback environments;
selecting one or more portions of specific loudness metadata, based on the specific playback environment, from among the plurality of portions of loudness metadata for the plurality of playback environments, the one or more portions of specific loudness metadata relating to the specific playback environment;
determining loudness adjustment gains from the one or more portions of specific loudness metadata for the specific playback environment;
applying the loudness adjustment gains as a part of overall gains applied to the audio sample data to generate output audio data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overall gains comprise one or more of: gains related to downmixing, gains related to recovering an original dynamic range from which an input dynamic range of the audio sample data is converted, gains related to gain limiting, gains related to gain smoothing, or gains related to dialog loudness normalization.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific playback environment has a different number of audio channels than the reference channel configuration.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising downmixing the audio sample data into downmixed audio sample data for the audio channels of the specific playback environment.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving encoder-generated dynamic range control (DRC) metadata, wherein the encoder-generated DRC metadata comprises definition data for the one or more sets of DRC gains.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overall gains comprise gains that are to be partially/individually applied, applied in series, applied in parallel, or applied in part series in part parallel.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overall gains comprise gains that are applied to a subset of channels in the specific playback environment.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific playback environment corresponds to a dynamic range compression profile in a plurality of dynamic range compression profile.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving encoder-generated metadata for dynamic range compression;
using the encoder-generated metadata to reduce an inter-program loudness level difference.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the audio sample data represents sub-frames in audio data frames, and wherein the overall gains are applied to the sub-frames in the audio data frames.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the overall gains comprise individual gains for individual frequency bands.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein a first gain in the overall gains applies to a first frequency band; and wherein a second different gain in the overall gains applies to a second different frequency band.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein a first gain in the overall gains applies to a first channel; and wherein a second different gain in the overall gains applies to a second different channel.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoder-generated loudness metadata is generated, by an audio encoder, based at least in part on a measured loudness of a downmix audio sound output for the specific playback environment.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the measured loudness is obtained based on a Loudness-K-weighted-Full-Scale (LKFS) standard.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoder-generated loudness metadata is generated by the audio encoder based at least in part on one or more of instantaneous loudness levels or loudness levels smoothed over one or more time intervals.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specific playback environment is a two-channel configuration.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a specific type of downmixing operation;
applying the specific type of downmixing operation in downmixing the audio sample data coded for the reference channel configuration to downmix audio sample data coded for the specific playback environment;
determining, from the encoder-generated loudness metadata, the one or more portions of specific loudness metadata to which the specific type of downmixing operation correspond; and
performing gain adjustments on the downmix audio sample data coded for the specific playback environment based at least in part on the one or more portions of specific loudness metadata.

Assignees

• Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corp
• Dolby Int Ab

Inventors

• Ward Michael
• Riedmiller Jeffrey
• Norcross Scott Gregory
• Groeschel Alexander

Classifications

• G10L21/0324

  Details of processing therefor · 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

• H04S7/30 Primary

  Control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field · CPC title

• H04S2400/13

  Aspects of volume control, not necessarily automatic, in stereophonic sound systems · CPC title

• H04S1/002

  Non-adaptive circuits, e.g. manually adjustable or static, for enhancing the sound image or the spatial distribution (control circuits for electronic adaptation of the sound field H04S7/30) · CPC title