MDCT-based complex prediction stereo coding

1. A decoder system for providing a stereo signal by complex prediction stereo coding, the decoder system comprising:

an upmix stage adapted to generate the stereo signal based on first frequency-domain representations of a downmix signal and a residual signal, each of the first frequency-domain representations comprising first spectral components representing spectral content of the corresponding signal expressed in a first subspace of a multidimensional space, the upmix stage comprising:

a module for computing a second frequency-domain representation of the downmix signal based on the first frequency-domain representation thereof, the second frequency-domain representation comprising second spectral components representing spectral content of the signal expressed in a second subspace of the multidimensional space that includes a portion of the multidimensional space not included in the first subspace, wherein the module is adapted to determine the second spectral components of the downmix signal by applying a Finite Impulse Responses (FIR) filter to the first spectral components of the downmix signal;

a weighted summer for computing a side signal by combining the first frequency-domain representation of the residual signal, the first frequency-domain representation of the downmix signal weighted by a real-valued part of a complex prediction coefficient encoded in a bit stream signal, and the second frequency domain representation of the downmix signal weighted by an imaginary-valued part of the complex prediction coefficient; and

a sum-and-difference stage for computing the stereo signal on the basis of the first frequency-domain representation of the downmix signal and the side signal;

a first frequency-domain modifier stage arranged upstream of the upmix stage and operable in an active mode, in which it processes a frequency-domain representation of at least one signal, and a passive mode, in which it acts as a pass-through; and

a second frequency-domain modifier stage arranged downstream of the upmix stage and operable in an active mode, in which it processes a frequency-domain representation of at least one signal, and a passive mode, in which it acts as a pass-through.

2. The decoder system of claim 1 , wherein an impulse response of the FIR filter is determined depending on a window function applied to determine the first frequency domain representation of the downmix signal.

3. The decoder system of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said first and second frequency-domain modifier stages is a temporal noise shaping, TNS, stage.

4. The decoder system of claim 3 , further adapted to receive, for each time frame, a data field associated with that frame and to operate, responsive to the value of the data field, the first frequency-domain modifier stage in its active mode or its pass-through mode and the second frequency-domain modifier stage in its active mode or its pass-through mode.

5. The decoder system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a dequantization stage arranged upstream of the upmix stage, for providing said first frequency-domain representations of the downmix signal and residual signal based on a bit stream signal.

6. A decoding method for upmixing an input stereo signal by complex prediction stereo coding into an output stereo signal, wherein:

said input stereo signal comprises first frequency-domain representations of a downmix channel and a residual channel and a complex prediction coefficient; and

each of said first frequency-domain representations comprises first spectral components representing spectral content of the corresponding signal expressed in a first subspace of a multidimensional space,

the method being performed by an upmix stage and including the steps of:

computing a second frequency-domain representation of the downmix channel based on the first frequency-domain representation thereof, the second frequency-domain representation comprising second spectral components representing spectral content of the signal expressed in a second subspace of the multidimensional space that includes a portion of the multidimensional space not included in the first subspace, wherein computing a second frequency-domain representation of the downmix signal includes determining the second spectral components of the downmix signal by applying a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter to the first spectral components of the downmix signal;

computing a side channel by combining the first frequency-domain representation of the residual signal, the first frequency-domain representation of the downmix signal weighted by a real-valued part of a complex prediction coefficient encoded in a bit stream signal, and the second frequency domain representation of the downmix signal weighted by an imaginary-valued part of the complex prediction coefficient;

and further comprising either the step, to be performed prior to the step of upmixing, of applying temporal noise shaping, TNS, to said first frequency-domain representation of the downmix signal and/or said first frequency-domain representation of the residual channel;

or the step, to be performed after the step of upmixing, of applying TNS to at least one channel of said output stereo signal.

7. A computer-program product comprising a computer-readable medium storing instructions which when executed by a general-purpose computer perform the method set forth in claim 6 .