IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,368,423
Granted Patent B2
US 12,368,423 · App. 18/123,070 · Granted Jul 22, 2025

Multichannel audio enhancement, decoding, and rendering in response to feedback

Inventors: Timothy Alan Port (Drummoyne, AU); Sean Alexander Brady (Glebe, AU)
Assignee: Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
H03G9/025G06F3/165G10L19/008H03G3/3005H03G9/005H04R3/04H04R2430/03
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,368,423
App. No.
18/123,070
Granted
Jul 22, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

In some embodiments, a method for performing at least one of enhancement, decoding, or rendering of a multichannel audio signal in response to compression feedback or feedback from a smart amplifier. For example, the compression feedback may be indicative of amount of compression applied to each of multiple frequency bands, of the audio signal or an enhanced audio signal generated in response thereto. The enhancement (e.g., bass enhancement) may include dynamic routing of audio content of the input audio signal between channels of an enhanced audio signal generated in response thereto. The enhancement and compression may be performed on a per speaker class basis. Other aspects are systems (e.g., programmed processors) and devices (e.g., devices having physically-limited bass reproduction capabilities, such as, for example, a notebook or laptop computer, tablet, soundbar, mobile phone, or other device with small speakers) configured to perform any embodiment of the method.

Claims (16)

1. A method for audio signal decoding, comprising:

providing compression feedback from a multiband limiter; and decoding a multichannel audio signal in response to said compression feedback, thereby generating a decoded audio signal, wherein the compression feedback is indicative of at least one of: amount of compression applied or to be applied by the multiband limiter to each of at least one frequency band of at least one channel of the decoded audio signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , also including a step of:

performing enhancement on the decoded audio signal to generate an enhanced audio signal, wherein the enhancement is performed in response the compression feedback.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the decoding and the enhancement is performed in response to the compression feedback, and the compression feedback is indicative of amount of compression applied to each of at least two frequency bands of the decoded audio signal.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the multichannel audio signal includes object channels, and the decoding ignores, and does not decode, at least one of the object channels in response to said compression feedback.

5. A system for audio signal rendering, compressing:

a feedback subsystem, coupled and configured to generate compression feedback from a multiband limiter; and

a rendering subsystem coupled and configured to render a multichannel audio input signal in response to said compression feedback, thereby generating a multichannel audio signal, wherein the compression feedback is indicative of at least one of: amount of compression applied or to be applied by the multiband limiter to each of at least one frequency band of the multichannel audio signal or an enhanced version of the multichannel audio signal.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the system also includes:

an enhancement subsystem, coupled and configured to perform enhancement on the multichannel audio signal to generate an enhanced audio signal, wherein the enhancement subsystem is configured to perform the enhancement in response to the compression feedback.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the enhanced audio signal is an enhanced multichannel audio signal, and the enhancement includes dynamic routing of audio content of the multichannel audio signal between channels of the enhanced multichannel audio signal.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the compression feedback is indicative of amount of compression applied to each of at least two frequency bands of the multichannel audio signal or an enhanced version of the multichannel audio signal.

9. The system of claim 5 , wherein the compressed multichannel audio signal includes object channels, and the rendering subsystem is configured to perform object-based audio rendering to render the multichannel audio input signal.

10. The system of claim 5 , wherein the multichannel audio input signal includes object channels, and the rendering subsystem is configured to ignore, and not to render, at least one of the object channels in response to said compression feedback.

11. The system of claim 5 , wherein said system is at least one of: an audio playback system, a decoder system, a processor programmed to implement the rendering subsystem and the feedback subsystem and a digital signal processor programmed to implement the rendering subsystem and the feedback subsystem.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 7, 2023
From: PORT, TIMOTHY ALAN; BRADY, SEAN ALEXANDER
To: DOLBY LABORATORIES LICENSING CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 064828/0673 →
Continuity (4)
Division 17255350
Provisional Application 62827004 · Mar 30, 2019
Provisional Application 62688625 · Jun 22, 2018
Related Publication 20230231526A1 · Jul 20, 2023
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