Patent ID: 7318028
Filing Date: 2008-01-08
Classification: G10L

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for determining an estimate of a need for information units for encoding a signal having audio or video information, wherein the signal has several frequency bands, comprising: a measure provider for providing a measure for an admissible interference for a frequency band of the signal, wherein the frequency band includes at least two spectral values of a spectral representation of the signal, and a measure for an energy of the signal in the frequency band; a measure calculator for calculating a measure for a distribution of the energy in the frequency band, wherein the distribution of the energy in the frequency band deviates from a completely uniform distribution, wherein the measure calculator for calculating the measure for the distribution of the energy is formed to determine, as a measure for the distribution of the energy, an estimate for a number of spectral values the magnitudes of which are greater than or equal to a predetermined magnitude threshold, or the magnitudes of which are smaller than or equal to the magnitude threshold, wherein the magnitude threshold is an exact or estimated quantizer stage causing, in a quantizer, values smaller than or equal to the quantizer stage to be quantized to zero; and an estimate calculator for calculating the estimate using the measure for the interference, the measure for the energy, and the measure for the distribution of the energy.