# US 12,183,360 B2 · Directional loudness map based audio processing

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- Number: US 12,183,360 B2
- Document ID: US12183360B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 17/240,751
- Filed: 2021-04-26
- Published: 2021-12-09
- Granted: 2024-12-31
- Earliest claimed: 2018-10-26
- Assignees: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
- Applicants: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
- Inventors: Jürgen Herre; Pablo Manuel Delgado; Sascha Dick
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12183360B2

## CPC

- G10L 25/03: characterised by the type of extracted parameters
- G10L 25/18: the extracted parameters being spectral information of each sub-band
- G10L 19/008: Multichannel audio signal coding or decoding using interchannel correlation to reduce redundancy, e.g. joint-stereo, intensity-coding or matrixing
- G10L 19/02: using spectral analysis, e.g. transform vocoders or subband vocoders
- G10L 19/173: {Transcoding, i.e. converting between two coded representations avoiding cascaded coding-decoding}
- G10L 25/69: for evaluating synthetic or decoded voice signals
- H04R 1/26: Spatial arrangements of separate transducers responsive to two or more frequency ranges
- H04R 3/04: for correcting frequency response
- G10L: SPEECH ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES OR SPEECH SYNTHESIS; SPEECH RECOGNITION; SPEECH OR VOICE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES; SPEECH OR AUDIO CODING OR DECODING
- H04R: LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; ELECTRIC HEARING AIDS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS (producing sounds with frequency not determined by supply frequency G10K)

## Abstract

An audio analyzer configured to obtain spectral domain representations of two or more input audio signals. Additionally the audio analyzer is configured to obtain directional information associated with spectral bands of the spectral domain representations and to obtain loudness information associated with different directions as an analysis result. Contributions to the loudness information are determined in dependence on the directional information.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A decoder side format converter for converting a format of an audio content, which represents an audio scene, from a first format to a second format,
wherein the format converter is configured to provide a representation of the audio content in the second format on the basis of the representation of the audio content in the first format;
wherein the format converter is configured to adjust a complexity of the format conversion in dependence on contributions of input audio signals of the first format to an overall directional loudness map of the audio scene;
wherein the overall directional loudness map indicates a loudness perception of the audio content for different directions.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The decoder side format converter according to claim 1,
wherein the format converter is configured to compute or estimate a contribution of a given input audio signal to the overall directional loudness map of the audio scene; and
wherein the format converter is configured to decide whether to consider the given input audio signal in the format conversion in dependence on a computation or estimation of the contribution.

### Claim 3

An audio decoder for decoding an encoded audio content,
wherein the audio decoder is configured to receive an encoded representation of one or more audio signals and to provide a decoded representation of the one or more audio signals;
wherein the audio decoder is configured to reconstruct an audio scene using the decoded representation of the one or more audio signals;
wherein the audio decoder is configured to adjust a decoding complexity in dependence on contributions of encoded signals to an overall directional loudness map of a decoded audio scene;
wherein the overall directional loudness map indicates a loudness perception of the audio content for different directions.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The audio decoder according to claim 3,
wherein the audio decoder is configured to receive an encoded directional loudness map information and to decode the encoded directional loudness map information, to acquire the overall directional loudness map and/or one or more directional loudness maps.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The audio decoder according to claim 4,
wherein the audio decoder is configured to derive the overall directional loudness map from the one or more directional loudness maps.

### Claim 6 (depends on 3)

The audio decoder according to claim 3,
wherein the audio decoder is configured to compute or estimate a contribution of a given encoded signal to the overall directional loudness map of the decoded audio scene; and
wherein the audio decoder is configured to decide whether to decode the given encoded signal in dependence on a computation or estimation of the contribution.

### Claim 7

A renderer for rendering an audio content,
wherein the renderer is configured to reconstruct an audio scene on the basis of one or more input audio signals;
wherein the renderer is configured to adjust a rendering complexity in dependence on contributions of the input audio signals to an overall directional loudness map of a rendered audio scene;
wherein the overall directional loudness map indicates a loudness perception of the audio content for different directions.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The renderer according to claim 7,
wherein the renderer is configured to compute or estimate a contribution of a given input audio signal to the overall directional loudness map of the audio scene; and
wherein the renderer is configured to decide whether to consider the given input audio signal in the rendering in dependence on a computation or estimation of the contribution.