Method for Parametric Spatial Audio Coding and Decoding, Parametric Spatial Audio Coder and Parametric Spatial Audio Decoder

A spatial audio coding device for a multi-channel audio signal comprising a plurality of audio channel signals, the spatial audio coding device comprising:

• a parameter estimation module configured to calculate at least two different spatial coding parameters for an audio channel signal of the plurality of audio channel signals, wherein the at least two different spatial coding parameters are of at least two different types of spatial coding parameters and are calculated with regard to a reference audio signal, and wherein the reference audio signal is another audio channel signal of the plurality of audio channel signals or a downmix audio signal derived from at least two audio channel signals of the plurality of audio channel signals;
• a parameter selection module coupled to the parameter estimation module and configured to select at least one spatial coding parameter of the at least two different spatial coding parameters associated with the audio channel signal on the basis of the values of the calculated spatial coding parameters;
• and
• a streaming module coupled to the parameter estimation module and the parameter selection module and configured to generate an audio bitstream comprising a parameter section comprising a quantized representation of the selected spatial coding parameter and to set a parameter type flag in the parameter section of the audio bitstream indicating the type of the selected spatial coding parameter being included into the audio bitstream.

A spatial audio decoding device, comprising:

• a parameter detection module configured to detect a parameter type flag in a parameter section of a received audio bitstream indicating a type of a selected spatial coding parameter being included into the audio bitstream;
• a selection module configured to read at least one spatial coding parameter from the parameter section of the received audio bitstream according to the detected parameter type;
• and
• an upmixing module coupled to the selection module and configured to upmix a decoded downmixed audio signal from a downmixed audio bitstream included in the audio bitstream to a plurality of audio channel signals of a multi-channel signal using the read at least one spatial coding parameter from the parameter section of the received audio bitstream.

A spatial audio decoding method, comprising:

• detecting a parameter type flag in a parameter section of a received audio bitstream indicating a type of a selected spatial coding parameter being included into the audio bitstream;
• reading at least one spatial coding parameter from the parameter section of the received audio bitstream according to the detected parameter type;
• and
• upmixing a decoded downmixed audio signal from a downmixed audio bitstream included in the audio bitstream to a plurality of audio channel signals of a multi-channel signal using the read at least one spatial coding parameter from the parameter section of the received audio bitstream.