Patent ID: 7949014
Filing Date: 2011-05-24
Classification: G10L,G11B,H04S

Abstract:
1. A method of processing an audio signal by an encoder, the method comprising: independently subdividing, by the encoder, at least first and second channels in a frame of the audio signal into blocks if the first and second channels are not correlated with each other; correspondingly subdividing, by the encoder, the first and second channels into blocks such that lengths of the blocks into which the second channel is subdivided correspond to lengths of the blocks into which the first channel is subdivided if the first and second channels are correlated with each other; generating, by the encoder, first information indicating the subdivision of the first and second channels into the blocks, wherein the first information is generated commonly for the first and second channels when the first and second channels are correlated, and the first information is generated respectively for each of the first and second channels when the first and second channels are not correlated; and generating, by the encoder, second information indicating a number of levels in a subdivision hierarchy, wherein the independently subdividing step and the correspondingly subdividing step both subdivide the first and second channels according to the subdivision hierarchy, the subdivision hierarchy has more than one level, and at least two of the blocks in each of the first and second channels for each level have different lengths, wherein a length of the first information is based on the number of levels in the subdivision hierarchy, wherein the second information indicates whether the subdivision hierarchy includes one of up to three levels, four levels, and five levels, if the second information is 01, the second information indicates the subdivision hierarchy includes up to three levels, if the second information is 10, the second information indicates the subdivision hierarchy includes four levels, if the second information is 11, the second information indicates the subdivision hierarchy includes five levels.