Dts, Inc.

Digital Theater Systems, Inc.

Yu-Li You

Zoran Fejzo

William Paul Smith

Stephen M Smyth

Stephen Malcolm Smyth

Ming Yan

William P Smith

Stephen Smyth

A multichannel audio format provides a truly discrete as well as a backward compatible mix for surround-sound, front or other discrete audio channels in cinema, home theater, or music environments. The additional discrete audio signals are mixed with the existing discrete audio channels into a predetermined format such as the 5.1 audio format. In addition these additional discrete audio channels are encoded and appended to the predetermined format as extension bits in the bitstream. The existing base of multichannel decoders can be used in combination with a mix decoder to reproduce truly discrete N.1 multichannel audio.

Discrete multichannel audio with a backward compatible mix

A multi-channel audio compression technology is presented that extends the range of sampling frequencies compared to existing technologies and/or lowers the noise floor while remaining compatible with those earlier generation technologies. The high-sampling frequency multi-channel audio is decomposed into core audio up to the existing sampling frequencies and a difference signal up to the sampling frequencies of the next generation technologies. The core audio is encoded using a first generation technology such as DTS, Dolby AC-3 or MPEG I or II such that the encoded core bit stream is fully compatible with a comparable decoder in the market. The difference signal is encoded using technologies that extend the sampling frequency and/or improve the quality of the core audio. The compressed difference signal is attached as an extension to the core bit stream. The extension data will be ignored by the first generation decoders but can be decoded by the second generation decoders. By summing the decoded core and extension audio signals together, a second generation decoder can effectively extend the audio signal bandwidth and/or improve the signal to noise ratio beyond that available through the core decoder alone.

Sound quality of established low bit-rate audio coding systems without loss of decoder compatibility

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Thousand Oaks, CA, United States of America

Yu-Li You