IP Library Granted Patent US 11,574,644
Granted Patent B2
US 11,574,644 · App. 16/606,276 · Granted Feb 7, 2023

Signal processing device and method, and program

Inventors: Yuki Yamamoto (Tokyo, JP); Toru Chinen (Kanagawa, JP); Minoru Tsuji (Chiba, JP)
Assignee: Sony Corporation
G10L19/20G10L19/008G10L25/51G10L19/02G10L25/78
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,574,644
App. No.
16/606,276
Granted
Feb 7, 2023
Kind
B2
Abstract

The present technology relates to a signal processing device and method, and a program making it possible to reduce the computational complexity of decoding at low cost. A signal processing device includes: a priority information generation unit configured to generate priority information about an audio object on the basis of a plurality of elements expressing a feature of the audio object. The present technology may be applied to an encoding device and a decoding device.

Claims (26)

1. A signal processing device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to generate priority information about an audio object on a basis of at least one element expressing a feature of the audio object, wherein the element is indicative of a position of the audio object in a space, wherein the priority information is transmitted to a decoding device with an audio signal of the audio object, wherein the audio signal is decoded by the decoding device only if a value of the priority information exceeds a threshold based on a computing power of the decoding device, wherein the element comprises metadata of the audio object, and wherein the element comprises a horizontal direction angle indicating a position in a horizontal direction of the audio object in the space.

2. The signal processing device according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to generate the priority information according to a movement speed of the audio object on a basis of the metadata.

3. The signal processing device according to claim 1 , wherein

the element comprises gain information by which to multiply the audio signal of the audio object.

4. The signal processing device according to claim 3 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to generate the priority information of a unit time to be processed, on a basis of a difference between the gain information of the unit time to be processed and an average value of the gain information of a plurality of unit times.

5. The signal processing device according to claim 3 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to generate the priority information on a basis of a sound pressure of the audio signal multiplied by the gain information.

6. The signal processing device according to claim 1 , wherein

the element comprises spread information.

7. The signal processing device according to claim 2 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to generate the priority information according to an area of a region of the audio object on a basis of the spread information.

8. The signal processing device according to claim 1 , wherein

the element comprises information indicating an attribute of a sound of the audio object.

9. The signal processing device according to claim 1 , wherein

the element is indicative of the audio signal of the audio object.

10. The signal processing device according to claim 9 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to generate the priority information on a basis of a result of a voice activity detection process performed on the audio signal.

11. The signal processing device according to claim 1 , wherein

the processing circuitry is configured to smooth the generated priority information in a time direction and treats the smoothed priority information as final priority information.

12. A signal processing method comprising:

generating priority information about an audio object on a basis of at least one element expressing a feature of the audio object, wherein the element is indicative of a position of the audio object in a space, wherein the priority information is transmitted to a decoding device with an audio signal of the audio object, wherein the audio signal is decoded by the decoding device only if a value of the priority information exceeds a threshold based on a computing power of the decoding device, wherein the element comprises metadata of the audio object, and wherein the element comprises a horizontal direction angle indicating a position in a horizontal direction of the audio object in the space.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, perform a process comprising:

generating priority information about an audio object on a basis of at least one element expressing a feature of the audio object, wherein the element is indicative of a position of the audio object in a space, wherein the priority information is transmitted to a decoding device with an audio signal of the audio object, wherein the audio signal is decoded by the decoding device only if a value of the priority information exceeds a threshold based on a computing power of the decoding device, wherein the element comprises metadata of the audio object, and wherein the element comprises a horizontal direction angle indicating a position in a horizontal direction of the audio object in the space.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 10, 2020
From: YAMAMOTO, YUKI; CHINEN, TORU; TSUJI, MINORU
To: SONY CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 051769/0209 →
Priority Claims (1)
JP JP2017-087208 · Apr 26, 2017 · national
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20210118466A1 · Apr 22, 2021