Method and apparatus for increasing stability of an inter-channel time difference parameter

Abstract

A method for increasing stability of an inter-channel time difference (ICTD) parameter in parametric audio coding, wherein a multi-channel audio input signal comprising at least two channels is received. The method comprises obtaining an ICTD estimate, ICTDest(m), for an audio frame m and a stability estimate of said ICTD estimate, and determining whether the obtained ICTD estimate, ICTDest(m), is valid. If the ICTDest(m) is not found valid, and a determined sufficient number of valid ICTD estimates have been found in preceding frames, a hang-over time is determined using the stability estimate and a previously obtained valid ICTD parameter, ICTD(m−1), is selected as an output parameter, ICTD(m), during the hang-over time. The output parameter, ICTD(m), is set to zero if valid ICTDest(m) is not found during the hang-over time.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.