Encoding/decoding apparatuses and methods for encoding/decoding vibrotactile signals

A decoding apparatus for decoding a vibrotactile signal from a bitstream, comprising:

• a) a decompression unit configured to decompress the bitstream, wherein in particular an algorithm based on inverse set partitioning in hierarchical trees is provided for the decompression;
• b) a dequantization unit configured to dequantize the decompressed bitstream, wherein the decompressed bitstream is quantized using a psychohaptic model unit configured to generate at least one quantization control signal based on a frequency domain representation of a sampled signal and on a predetermined perceptual model based on human haptic perception, wherein the psychohaptic model unit is configured to identify peaks in the signal spectrum, wherein each peak corresponds to a frequency and a magnitude, and wherein psychohaptic model unit comprises a memory adapted to store the frequency and magnitude of each identified peak;
• and a third transforming unit configured to perform an inverse discrete wavelet transform of the dequantized bitstream.

A decoding method for decoding a vibrotactile signal from a bitstream, comprising:

• a) decompressing the bitstream, wherein in an algorithm based on inverse set partitioning in hierarchical trees is provided for the decompression;
• b) dequantizing the decompressed bitstream, wherein the decompressed bitstream is quantized using a psychohaptic model unit configured to generate at least one quantization control signal based on a frequency domain representation of a sampled signal and on a predetermined perceptual model based on human haptic perception, wherein the psychohaptic model unit is configured to identify peaks in the signal spectrum, wherein each peak corresponds to a frequency and a magnitude, and wherein psychohaptic model unit comprises a memory adapted to store the frequency and magnitude of each identified peak;
• and c) performing an inverse discrete wavelet transform of the dequantized bitstream.