Patent ID: 7991012
Filing Date: 2011-08-02
Classification: G10L,G11B,H04S

Abstract:
1. A method of processing an audio signal by an encoder, comprising: subdividing, by the encoder, a channel in a frame of the audio signal into a plurality of blocks according to a subdivision hierarchy, the subdivision hierarchy having more than one level, each level being associated with a different block length, and at least two blocks of the plurality of blocks being capable of different lengths; generating, by the encoder, first subdivision information indicating whether the channel has been subdivided; and generating, by the encoder, second subdivision information indicating the subdivision of the channel into the plurality of blocks if the subdividing step has been performed, wherein a length of the second subdivision information depends on a number of levels in the subdivision hierarchy, and the length of the second subdivision information is one of 8 bits, 16 bits and 32 bits, if the first subdivision information indicates the subdivision hierarchy includes up to three levels, the length of the second subdivision information is 8 bits, if the first subdivision information indicates the subdivision hierarchy includes four levels, the length of the second subdivision information is 16 bits; if the first subdivision information indicates the subdivision hierarchy includes five levels, the length of the second subdivision information is 32 bits.