Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation

Douglas E Mandell

Martin John Richards

Mark Leighton Atherton

Mark Franklin Davis

Charles G Seagrave

Craig C Todd

Paul R Goldberg

Ioan R Allen

Pierre-Anthony Stivell Lemieux

Roger Wallace Dressler

Makarand Prabhakar Karanjkar

Methods and systems for generating a speaker feed for driving a sealed speaker, including: generating feedback indicative of excursion of the speaker; in response to the feedback, equalizing an input signal to generate the speaker feed, such that the speaker feed is equalized for driving the speaker with: a desired frequency response above the speaker's resonance frequency; and an at least substantially flat frequency response in a variable sub-resonance equalization band without exceeding the speaker's excursion limit, where the sub-resonance equalization band extends from the resonance frequency down to a variable cutoff frequency, and the cutoff frequency is determined in response to the feedback. The speaker feed is generated in a feedback-controlled filter configured to boost the input signal at frequencies in the sub-resonance equalization band, the boost having a sloping frequency-amplitude response whose slope is set to overcome or cancel the speaker's natural falloff in the speaker's spring-loaded region.

Variable-frequency sliding band equalization for controlling sealed loudspeaker excursion

In a digital cinema network of NTP-timekeeping devices in which one of the devices decodes video information, the scheduling of future instructions takes into account the differences between the nominal and actual frame rates of the video decoding device and the network's NTP latency.

Frame synchronization in an ethernet NTP time-keeping digital cinema playback system

A storage medium carries symbols representing digital information encoded in two dimensions. A method and apparatus recovers the symbols using oversampling in two dimensions and derives the information represented by the symbols. In one embodiment, the symbols are carried on motion picture film between the sprocket holes.

Selecting analog or digital motion picture sound tracks

A storage medium carries physically distinct blocks of symbols representing digital information. The symbols are arranged in the blocks such that the digital information represented by the symbols can be determined from only the two-dimensional position of the symbols relative to one another and any other differentiable characteristic intrinsic to the symbols. A method and apparatus recovers the symbols using oversampling in two dimensions and derives the information represented by the symbols. Blocks having two or more two-dimensional alignment patterns with good auto-correlation properties are used in some embodiments to facilitate recovery of the digital information. In one embodiment, motion picture film carries a conventional analog soundtrack and a digital soundtrack for a plurality of channels; the digital soundtrack is represented by symbols carried on the film in the areas between sprocket hole perforations.

Storage medium for carrying information encoded in two dimensions

An apparatus recovers audio information from analog and digital motion picture film soundtracks using a single optical sensor that senses across the widths of both soundtracks. Symbols representing audio information in the digital soundtrack are encoded in two dimensions and are recovered by oversampling the symbols in two dimensions. The two-dimensional encoding of digital information can be used with a variety of recording media; however, in one embodiment, the symbols are carried on motion picture film between the sprocket holes.

Apparatus using one optical sensor to recover audio information from

An apparatus and method receive and process information, and adapt the operational characteristics of the processing in response to material included in the received information. More particularly, the apparatus and method embody a software-controlled process which adapts or modifies the software in response to the received information. One embodiment is described in connection with a motion picture film which carries a conventional analog SVA soundtrack and a digital soundtrack with a digital representation of software required to properly process the digital soundtrack. An apparatus and a method according to one embodiment establishes what version of software is required to properly process the digital soundtrack, optionally modifies its software from information carried with the digital soundtrack if the current version on hand is not adequate and uses the updated version of software to process the digital soundtrack on the remainder of the current film and other future films until such time as another software update is required.

Dynamic loader

Storage medium and apparatus and method for recovering information from

The invention relates generally to an apparatus and a method for receiving and processing information, and for adapting the operational characteristics of the processing in response to material included in the received information. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and a method embodying a software-controlled process which adapts or modifies the software in response to the received information. Although the invention has many applications, the invention is more particularly described in connection with a motion picture application in which film stock carries a conventional analog SVA soundtrack and a digital soundtrack with a digital representation of the software required to properly process the digital soundtrack. An apparatus and a method according to one embodiment establishes what version of software is required to properly process the digital soundtrack, optionally modifies its software from information carried with the digital soundtrack if the current version on hand is not appropriate, and uses the updated version of software to process the digital soundtrack on the remainder of the current film and other future films until such time as another software update is required.

Recovering digital information represented by multi-dimensionally

The decoder of this invention decodes at least two channel signals in a directional information system where one or more input signals containing directional information have been encoded into the two or more channel signals. The decoder generates a first control signal substantially proportional to the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitudes of two of the channel signals to detect, as between two of the channel signals, whether the amplitude of one signal dominates that of the other. The decoder also generates a second control signal substantially proportional to the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitudes of the sum and the difference between two of the channel signals to detect the dominant signal in terms of amplitude. The decoder includes a matrix means responsive to the two or more channel signals and the two control signals for generating a number of output signals according to an algorithm. The control signals generated are used to steer the directional information systems in such manner through the matrix means that the directional effects of the output signals are enhanced. The matrix means generates three directional control signals from the two control signals.

Variable matrix decoder with three output channels

An adaptive single-bit encoder and decoder has its adaptive function determined by dynamically dividing the message frequency band into delta-sigma and delta modulation regimes of operation. In a practical embodiment this is accomplished by varying the corner frequency of a variable-frequency low-pass filter in a leaky integrator so that below the corner frequency the operation is that of delta-sigma modulation and above the corner frequency the operation is that of delta modulation. An adaptation control circuit removes the clock signal component from the encoded bit stream to provide an analog signal representative of bit stream information or loading for use in generating the control signal. The analog signal is peak rectified, smoothed, and (optionally) non-linearly processed to provide the control signal.

Adaptive-filter single-bit digital encoder and decoder and adaptation

The decoder of this invention decodes at least two channel signals in a directional information system where at least four input signals containing directional information have been encoded into the two or more channel signals. The decoder generates a first control signal substantially proportional to the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitudes of two of the channel signals to detect, as between two of the channel signals, whether the amplitude of one signal dominates that of the other. The decoder also generates a second control signal substantially proportional to the logarithm of the ratio of the amplitudes of the sum and the difference between two of the channel signals to detect the dominant signal in terms of amplitude. The decoder includes a matrix means responsive to the two or more channel signals and the two control signals for generating a number of output signals according to an algorithm. The control signals generated are used to steer the directional information systems in such manner through the matrix means that the directional effects of the output signals are enhanced. Two decoders of the type described above may be used to decode the high frequency and low frequency portions of the channel signals where the high and low frequency portions are separated by means of two crossover filters. The crossover frequency of the two crossover filters is controlled so that it is approximately at the top end of the signal frequencies intended for the center loudspeaker. Very low frequency signal components are separately processed and evenly distributed among the left, center and right channels.

Variable matrix decoder

An adaptive single-bit encoder and decoder has its adaptive function determined by dynamically dividing the message frequency band into delta-sigma and delta modulation regimes of operation. IN a practical embodiment this is accomplished by varying the corner frequency of a variable-frequency low-pass filter in a leaky integrator so that below the corner frequency the operation is that of delta-sigma modulation and above the corner frequency the operation is that of delta modulation. An adaptation control circuit removes the clock signal component from the encoded bit stream to provide an analog signal representative of bit stream information or loading for use in generating the control signal. The analog signal is peak rectified, smoothed, and (optionally) non-linearly processed to provide the control signal.

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San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Douglas E Mandell