IP Library Granted Patent US 12688857
Granted Patent B2
US 12688857 · App. 18/835,764 · Granted Jul 21, 2026

Encoding device and encoding method

Inventors: Yuichi Kamiya (Ishikawa, JP); Takuya Kawashima (Ishikawa, JP); Hiroyuki Ehara (Kanagawa, JP); Akira Harada (Kanagawa, JP)
Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America
G10L19/008G10L19/02G10L19/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12688857
App. No.
18/835,764
Granted
Jul 21, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

An encoding device includes a control circuit which, when it has been determined that an input stereo signal is suitable to be encoded using a mid-side stereo technique, decides, according to a condition, whether to convert the input stereo signal into a mid-side signal in a time domain and apply first encoding or apply second encoding; a first encoding circuit that encodes the mid-side signal when the first encoding is to be applied; and a second encoding circuit that encodes the input stereo signal in a frequency domain when the second encoding is to be applied.

Claims (34)

1 . An encoding apparatus, comprising:

control circuitry, which, in operation, determines, when determining that an input stereo signal is suitable for encoding using a mid-side stereo scheme, either conversion of the input stereo signal into a mid-side signal in a time domain and application of first encoding or application of second encoding, depending on a condition;

first encoding circuitry, which, in operation, encodes the mid-side signal when the first encoding is applied; and

second encoding circuitry, which, in operation, encodes the input stereo signal in a frequency domain when the second encoding is applied,

wherein the determination is based on whether a percentage of bands determined to use the mid-side stereo scheme among a plurality of bands of a frequency spectrum of the input stereo signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, or whether the mid-side stereo scheme is determined to be used in all of the plurality of bands.

2 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the first encoding includes Code-Excited-Linear-Prediction (CELP) based encoding, and

the second encoding includes Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) based encoding.

3 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein

the first encoding is multi-mode encoding and further includes Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) based encoding.

4 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the condition is based on a type of the input stereo signal, and

the control circuitry determines to apply the first encoding when the type is a speech signal.

5 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the condition is based on an inter-channel time difference between a left channel and a right channel in the input stereo signal, and

the control circuitry determines to apply the first encoding when the inter-channel time difference is within a threshold range.

6 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the condition is based on a correlation between a left channel and a right channel in the input stereo signal, and

the control circuitry determines to apply the first encoding when the correlation is greater than or equal to a second threshold.

7 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein

the condition is based on a bit rate, and

the control circuitry determines to apply the first encoding when the bit rate is less than or equal to a second threshold.

8 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:

adjustment circuitry, which, in operation, performs adjustment processing of bringing an inter-channel time difference between a left channel and a right channel in the input stereo signal close to zero, wherein

the first encoding circuitry encodes the mid-side signal obtained by converting the input stereo signal after the inter-channel time difference is adjusted.

9 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein

a range of adjustment for the inter-channel time difference is based on an angular resolution for reproducing a speech signal.

10 . The encoding apparatus according to claim 8 , wherein

the control circuitry performs Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) based encoding of the first encoding in a first section adjacent to a second section in which the second encoding is performed, among consecutive sections in which the first encoding is performed.

11 . An encoding method, comprising:

determining, by an encoding apparatus, when determining that an input stereo signal is suitable for encoding using a mid-side stereo scheme, either conversion of the input stereo signal into a mid-side signal in a time domain and application of first encoding or application of second encoding, depending on a condition;

encoding, by the encoding apparatus, the mid-side signal when the first encoding is applied; and

encoding, by the encoding apparatus, the input stereo signal in a frequency domain when the second encoding is applied,

wherein the determining is based on whether a percentage of bands determined to use the mid-side stereo scheme among a plurality of bands of a frequency spectrum of the input stereo signal is greater than or equal to a threshold, or whether the mid-side stereo scheme is determined to be used in all of the plurality of bands.