Patent · US Expired

Perceptual coding of audio signals

US5040217A · kind A · utility

175Cited by
2References
16Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 18, 1989
Grant dateAug 13, 1991
Priority date
Expiry dateOct 18, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B1/665
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method is disclosed for determining estimates of the perceived noise masking level of audio signals as a function of frequency. By developing a randomness metric related to the euclidian distance between (i) actual frequency components amplitude and phase for each block of sampled values of the signal and (ii) predicted values for these components based on values in prior blocks, it is possible to form a tonality index which provides more detailed information useful in forming the noise masking function. Application of these techniques is illustrated in a coding and decoding context for audio recording or transmission. The noise spectrum is shaped based on a noise threshold and a tonality measure for each critical frequency-band (bark).

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.