# US 11,310,615 B2 · Audio encoding apparatus and method, audio decoding apparatus and method, and audio reproducing apparatus

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 11,310,615 B2
- Document ID: US11310615B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/747,372
- Filed: 2020-01-20
- Published: 2020-05-14
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2013-09-05
- Assignees: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
- Applicants: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
- Inventors: Seung Kwon Beack; Tae Jin Lee; Jong Mo Sung; Kyeong Ok Kang; Jeong Il Seo; Dae Young Jang; Yong Ju Lee; Jin Woong Kim
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11310615B2

## CPC

- H04S 3/008: {in which the audio signals are in digital form, i.e. employing more than two discrete digital channels (data reduction aspects thereof based on psychoacoustics G10L19/02)}
- G10L 19/008: Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing
- H04S 2420/03: Application of parametric coding in stereophonic audio systems
- H04S: STEREOPHONIC SYSTEMS
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING

## Abstract

An audio encoding apparatus and method that encodes hybrid contents including an object sound, a background sound, and metadata, and an audio decoding apparatus and method that decodes the encoded hybrid contents are provided. The audio encoding apparatus may include a mixing unit to generate an intermediate channel signal by mixing a background sound and an object sound, a matrix information encoding unit to encode matrix information used for the mixing, an audio encoding unit to encode the intermediate channel signal, and a metadata encoding unit to encode metadata including control information of the object sound.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An audio decoding method performed by a processor, comprising:
decoding an encoded intermediate channel signal included in a bitstream, and an object sound or a background sound to be used for unmixing of the decoded intermediate channel signal;
decoding matrix information used for the unmixing the decoded intermediate channel signal;
unmixing the decoded intermediate channel signal using the matrix information and outputs the object sound and the background sound; and
decoding metadata including control information of the object sound and outputs the decoded metadata,
wherein a number of channels of the intermediate channel signal has the same number of channels as a number of channels of the background sound,
wherein the encoded intermediate channel signal is obtained by encoding an intermediate channel signal using an encoder.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein a layout of a speaker system is rendered using the metadata based on audio reproduction environments,
wherein the object sound is a controllable audio and a dynamic audio scene associated with the background sound is formed based on the object sound.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediate channel signal is determined based on a channel gain of the background sound, and a gain of the object sound mixed with the background sound.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the intermediate channel is unmixed by using the object sound to output the background sound and the object sound or
wherein the intermediate channel is unmixed by using the background sound to output the object sound and the background sound.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising:
determining metadata to be used for rendering based on audio reproduction environment information; and
rendering the background sound and the object sound based on the metadata.

### Claim 6

An audio decoding method performed by a processor, comprising:
decoding an encoded intermediate channel signal related to a layout of a speaker system, and a metadata,
extracting a background sound, an object sound from the decoded intermediate channel signal,
rendering the object sound and the background sound based on the metadata,
wherein a number of channels of the intermediate channel signal has the same number of channels as a number of channels of the background sound,
wherein the encoded intermediate channel signal is obtained by encoding an intermediate channel signal using an encoder.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein a layout of a speaker system is rendered using the metadata based on audio reproduction environments.

### Claim 8 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the object sound is a controllable audio and a dynamic audio scene associated with the background sound is formed based on the object sound.

### Claim 9 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein the encoded intermediate channel signal is determined based on a channel gain of the background sound, and a gain of the object sound mixed with the background sound.

### Claim 10 (depends on 6)

The method of claim 6, wherein a target channel signal is outputted for expressing an audio scene by rendering the object sound and the background sound.