Patent Description:
State-of-the-art audio coding uses time-frequency decomposition to represent the signal in a meaningful way for data reduction. Specifically, audio coders use transforms to perform a mapping of the time-domain samples into frequency-domain coefficients. Discrete-time transforms used for this time-to-frequency mapping are typically based on kernels of sinusoidal functions, such as the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) and the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT). It can be shown that such transforms achieve "energy compaction" of the audio signal. This means that, in the transform (or frequency) domain, the energy distribution is localized on fewer significant coefficients than in the time-domain samples. Coding gains can then be achieved by applying adaptive bit allocation and suitable quantization to the frequency-domain coefficients. At the receiver, the bits representing the quantized and encoded parameters (for example, the frequency-domain coefficients) are used to recover the quantized frequency-domain coefficients (or other quantized data such as gains), and the inverse transform generates the time-domain audio signal. Such coding schemes are generally referred to as transform coding.

By definition, transform coding operates on consecutive blocks of samples of the input audio signal. Since quantization introduces some distortion in each synthesized block of audio signal, using non-overlapping blocks may introduce discontinuities at the block boundaries, which may degrade the audio signal quality. Hence, in transform coding, to avoid discontinuities, the encoded blocks of audio signal are overlapped prior to applying the discrete transform, and appropriately windowed in the overlapping segment to allow smooth transition from one decoded block to the next. Using a "standard" transform such as the DFT (or its fast equivalent, the FFT) or the DCT and applying it to overlapped blocks unfortunately results in what is called "non-critical sampling". For example, taking a typical <NUM>% overlap condition, encoding a block of N consecutive time-domain samples actually requires taking a transform on 2N consecutive samples - N samples from the present block and N samples from the next block overlapping part). Hence, for every block of N time-domain samples, 2N frequency-domain coefficients are encoded. Critical sampling in the frequency domain implies that N input time-domain samples produce only N frequency-domain coefficients to be quantized and encoded.

Specialized transforms have been designed to allow the use of overlapping windows and still maintain critical sampling in the transform-domain - 2N time-domain samples at the input of the transform result in N frequency-domain coefficients at the output of the transform. To achieve this, the block of 2N time-domain samples is first reduced to a block of N time domain samples through special time inversion and summation of specific parts of the 2N-sample long windowed signal. This special time inversion and summation introduces what is called "time-domain aliasing" or TDA. Once this aliasing is introduced in the block of signal, it cannot be removed using only that block. It is this time-domain aliased signal that is the input of a transform of size N (and not 2N), producing the N frequency-domain coefficients of the transform. To recover N time-domain samples, the inverse transform actually has to use the transform coefficients from two consecutive and overlapping frames to cancel out the TDA, in a process called Time-domain aliasing cancellation, or TDAC.

An example of such a transform applying TDAC, which is widely used in audio coding, is the Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (or MDCT). Actually, the MDCT performs the above mentioned TDA without explicit folding in the time domain. Rather, time-domain aliasing is introduced when considering both the direct and inverse MDCT (IMDCT) of a single block. This comes from the mathematical construction of the MDCT and is well known to people of ordinary skill in the art. But it is also known that this implicit time-domain aliasing can be seen as equivalent to first inverting parts of the time-domain samples and adding (or subtracting) these inverted parts to other parts of the signal. This is known as "folding".

A problem arises when an audio coder switches between two coding models, one using TDAC and the other not. Suppose for example that a codec switches from a TDAC coding model to a non-TDAC coding model. The side of the block of samples encoded using the TDAC coding model, and which is common to the block encoded without using TDAC, contains aliasing which cannot be cancelled out using the block of samples encoded using the non-TDAC coding model.

A first solution is to discard the samples which contain aliasing that cannot be cancelled out.

This solution results in an inefficient use of transmission bandwidth because the block of samples for which TDA cannot be cancelled out is encoded twice, once by the TDAC-based codec and a second time by the non-TDAC based codec.

A second solution is to use specially designed windows which do not introduce TDA in at least one part of the window when the time inversion and summation process is applied. <FIG> is a diagram of an exemplary window introducing TDA on its left side but not on its right side. More specifically, in <FIG>, a 2N-sample window <NUM> introduces TDA <NUM> on its left side. The window <NUM> of <FIG> is useful for transitions from a TDAC-based codec to a non-TDAC based codec. The first half of this window is shaped so that it introduces TDA <NUM>, which can be cancelled if the previous window also uses TDA with overlapping. However, the right side of the window in <FIG> has a zero-valued sample <NUM> after the folding point at position 3N/<NUM>. This part of the window <NUM> therefore does not introduce any TDA when the time-inversion and summation (or folding) process is performed around the folding point at position 3N/<NUM>.

Further, the left side of the window <NUM> contains a flat region <NUM> preceded by a tapered region <NUM>. The purpose of the tapered region <NUM> is to provide a good spectral resolution when the transform is computed and to smooth the transition during overlap-and-add operations between adjacent blocks. Increasing the duration of the flat region <NUM> of the window reduces the information bandwidth and decreases the spectral performance of the window because a part of the window is sent without any information.

In the multi-mode Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) Unified Speech and Audio Codec (USAC) audio codec, several special windows such as the one described in <FIG> are used to manage the different transitions from frames using rectangular, non-overlapping windows to frames using non-rectangular, overlapping windows. These special windows were designed to achieve different compromises between spectral resolution, data overhead reduction and smoothness of transition between these different frame types. Additional information about the types of windows that can be used in USAC can be found in<NPL>.

Therefore, there is a need for an aliasing cancellation technique for supporting switching between coding modes, wherein the technique compensates for aliasing effects at a switching point between these modes.

Therefore, according to the present invention, there is provided a device for forward cancelling time-domain aliasing in a coded signal received in a bitstream, upon a transition from an ACELP frame to a TCX frame, according to claim <NUM>.

The present invention further relates to a method for forward cancelling time-domain aliasing in a coded audio signal received in a bitstream, upon a transition from an ACELP frame to a TCX frame, according to claim <NUM>.

The foregoing and other features will become more apparent upon reading of the following non-restrictive description of illustrative embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiments of the invention will be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:.

The following disclosure addresses the problem of cancelling the effects of time-domain aliasing and non-rectangular windowing when an audio signal is encoded using both overlapping and non-overlapping windows in contiguous frames. Using the technology described herein the use of the special, non-optimal windows may be avoided while still allowing proper management of frame transitions in a model using both rectangular, non-overlapping windows and non-rectangular, overlapping windows.

An example of a frame using rectangular, non-overlapping windowing is Linear Predictive (LP) coding, and in particular ACELP coding. Alternatively, an example of non-rectangular, overlapping windowing is Transform Coded eXcitation (TCX) coding as applied in the MPEG Unified Speech and Audio Codec (USAC) where TCX frames use both overlapping windows and Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT), which introduces Time Domain Aliasing (TDA). USAC is also a typical example where contiguous frames can be encoded using either rectangular, non-overlapping windows such as in ACELP frames, or non-rectangular, overlapping windows, such as in TCX frames and in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) frames. Without loss of generality, the present disclosure thus considers the specific example of USAC to illustrate the benefits of the proposed system and method.

Two distinct cases are addressed. The first case happens when the transition is from a frame using a rectangular, non-overlapping window to a frame using a non-rectangular, overlapping window. The second case happens when the transition is from a frame using a non-rectangular, overlapping window to a frame using a rectangular, non-overlapping window. For the purpose of illustration and without suggesting limitation, frames using a rectangular, non-overlapping window may be encoded using the ACELP model, and frames using a non-rectangular, overlapping window may be encoded using the TCX model. Further, specific durations are used for some frames, for example <NUM> milliseconds for a TCX frame, noted TCX20. However, it should be kept in mind that these specific examples are used only for illustration purposes, but that other frame lengths and coding types, other than ACELP and TCX, can be contemplated.

The case of a transition from a frame with rectangular, non-overlapping window to a frame with non-rectangular, overlapping window will now be addressed in relation to the following description taken in conjunction with <FIG>, which is a diagram of an exemplary transition from a block using a non-overlapping rectangular window to a block using an overlapping window.

Referring to <FIG>, an exemplary rectangular, non-overlapping window comprises an ACELP frame <NUM> and an exemplary a non-rectangular, overlapping window <NUM> comprises a TCX20 frame <NUM>. TCX20 refers to the short TCX frames in USAC, which nominally have <NUM> in duration, as do the ACELP frames in many applications. <FIG> shows which samples are used in each frame, and how they are windowed at a coder. The same window <NUM> is applied at a decoder, such that the combined effect seen at the decoder is the square of the window shape shown in <FIG>. Of course, this double windowing, once at the coder and a second time at the decoder, is typical in transform coding. When no window is drawn, as in the ACELP frame <NUM>, this actually means that a rectangular window is used for that frame. The non-rectangular window <NUM> for the TCX20 frame <NUM> shown in <FIG> is chosen such that, if the previous and next frames also use overlapping and non-rectangular windows, then the overlapping portions 204a and 204b of the windows are, after the second windowing at the decoder, complementary and allow recovering the "non windowed" signal in the overlapping region of the windows.

To encode the TCX20 frame <NUM> of <FIG> in an efficient manner, time-domain aliasing (TDA) is typically applied to the windowed samples for that TCX20 frame <NUM>. Specifically, the left 204a and right 204d portions of the window <NUM> are folded and combined. <FIG> is a diagram showing folding and TDA applied to the diagram of <FIG>. The non-rectangular window <NUM> introduced in the description of <FIG> is shown in four quarters. The <NUM>st and <NUM>th quarters, 204a and 204d of the window <NUM> are shown in dotted line as they are combined with the <NUM>nd and <NUM>rd quarters 204b, 204c, shown in solid line. Combining the <NUM> st and <NUM>th quarters 204a, 204d, to the <NUM>nd and <NUM>rd quarters 204b, 204c, is done, in a process similar to the one used in MDCT encoding, as follows. The <NUM>st quarter 204a is time-reversed, then it is aligned, sample-by-sample, to the <NUM>nd quarter 204b of the window, and finally the time-reversed and shifted <NUM>st quarter 204e is subtracted from the <NUM>nd quarter 204b of the window. Similarly, the <NUM>th quarter 204d of the window is time-reversed and shifted (204f) to be aligned with the <NUM>rd quarter 204c of the window, and is finally added to the <NUM>rd quarter 204c of the window. If the TCX20 window <NUM> shown in <FIG> has 2N samples, then at the end of this process we obtain N samples extending exactly from the beginning to the end of the TCX20 frame <NUM> of <FIG>. Then these N samples form the input of an appropriate transform for efficient encoding in the transform domain. Using the specific time-domain aliasing described in <FIG>, the MDCT can be the transform used for this purpose.

After the combination of time-reversed and shifted portions of the window described in <FIG>, it is no longer possible to recover the original time-domain samples in the TCX20 frame because they are mixed with time-reversed versions of samples outside the TCX20 frame. In an MDCT-based audio coder such as MPEG AAC, where all frames are encoded using the same transform and overlapping windows, this time-domain aliasing can be cancelled, and the audio samples can be recovered by using two consecutive overlapped frames. However, when contiguous frames do not use the same windowing and overlapping process, as in <FIG> where the TCX20 frame is preceded by an ACELP frame, the effect of the non-rectangular window and time-domain aliasing cannot be eliminated using only the information from the previous ACELP frame and next TCX20 frame.

Techniques to manage this type of transition were presented hereinabove. The present disclosure proposes an alternative approach to managing these transitions. This approach does not use non-optimal and asymmetric windows in the frames where MDCT-based transform-domain coding is used. Instead, the methods and devices introduced herein allow the use of symmetric windows, centered at the middle of the encoded frame, such as for example the TCX20 frame of <FIG>, and with <NUM>% overlap with MDCT-coded frames also using non-rectangular windows. The methods and devices introduced herein thus propose to send from the coder to the decoder, as additional information in the bitstream, the correction to cancel the windowing effect and the time-domain aliasing when switching from frames coded with a rectangular, non-overlapping window and frames coded with a non-rectangular, overlapping window, and vice-versa. Several cases are possible in these transitions.

In <FIG>, rectangular, non-overlapping windowing is shown for the ACELP frame, and non-rectangular, overlapping windowing is shown for the TCX20 frame. Using the TDA introduced in <FIG>, a decoder receiving at first, the bits from the ACELP frame has sufficient information to completely decode this ACELP frame up to its last sample. But then, receiving the bits from the TCX20 frame, properly decoding all the samples in the TCX20 frame is impaired by the aliasing effect caused by the presence of the preceding ACELP frame. If a next frame also uses an overlapping window, then the non-rectangular windowing and TDA introduced at the coder can be cancelled in the second half of the shown TCX20 frame and theses samples can be decoded properly. It is thus in the first half of the TCX20 frame, where the time-reversed and shifted <NUM>st quarter 204e is subtracted from 204b in <FIG> that the effect of the non-rectangular window and the TDA introduced at the coder cannot be cancelled since the previous ACELP frame uses a non-overlapping window. Hence, the methods and devices introduced herein propose to transmit the information, Forward time-domain Aliasing Cancellation (FAC), for cancelling these effects, and properly recover the first half of the TCX20 frame.

<FIG> is a diagram showing forward aliasing correction (FAC) applied to the diagram of <FIG>. <FIG> illustrates the situation at the decoder, where the windowing, for example a cosine window applied by MDCT, has already been applied a second time after the inverse transform. Only the ACELP to TCX20 transition is considered, independently of the frame following the TCX20 frame. Hence, in <FIG>, the samples where the FAC correction is applied correspond to the first half of the TCX20 frame. This is what is referred to as the FAC area <NUM>. There are two effects that are compensated for by the FAC in this example. The first effect is the windowing effect, referred to as x_w <NUM> in <FIG>. This corresponds to the product of the samples in the first half of the TCX20 frame <NUM> by the <NUM>nd quarter 204b of the non-rectangular window in <FIG>. Thus, the first part of the FAC correction comprises adding the complement of these windowed samples, which corresponds to the correction for x_w <NUM> segment in <FIG>. For example, if a given input sample x[n] was multiplied by window sample w[n] at the coder, then the complement of this windowed sample is simply ((<NUM>-w[n]) times x[n]). The sum of x_w <NUM> and the correction for x_w <NUM> is <NUM> for all samples in this segment. The second part of the FAC correction corresponds to the time-domain aliasing component that was added at the coder in the TCX20 frame. To eliminate this aliasing component, named aliasing part x_a <NUM> in <FIG>, the correction for x_a <NUM> in <FIG> is time-inverted, aligned to the first half of the TCX20 frame and added to this first half of the segment, shown as an x_a aliasing part <NUM>. The reason why it is added, and not subtracted, is that in <FIG>, the left part of the folding leading to time-domain aliasing involved subtracting this component, so to eliminate it is now added back. The sum of these two parts, the window compensation x_w <NUM> and the aliasing compensation x_a <NUM>, which forms the complete FAC correction in the FAC area <NUM>.

There are several options for encoding the FAC correction. <FIG> is a diagram showing an unfolded FAC correction (left) and a folded FAC correction (right). One option may be to directly encode the FAC windowed signal, as shown on the left-hand side of <FIG>. This signal, referred to as the FAC window <NUM> in <FIG>, covers twice the length of the FAC area. At the decoder, the decoded FAC windowed signal may then be folded (time-inverting the left half and adding it to the right half) and then this folded signal may be added, as a correction <NUM>, in the FAC area <NUM>, as shown at the right-hand side of <FIG>. In this approach, twice the time-domain samples are encoded compared to the length of the correction.

Another approach for encoding the FAC correction signal shown at the left of <FIG> is to perform the folding at the coder prior to encoding this signal. This results in the folded signal at the right of <FIG>, where the left half of the FAC windowed signal is time-reversed and added to the right half of the FAC windowed signal. Then, transform coding, using for example DCT, can be applied to this folded signal. At the decoder, the decoded folded signal can be simply added in the FAC area, since the folding has already been applied at the coder. This approach allows encoding the same number or time-domain samples as the length of the FAC area, resulting in critically-sampled transform coding.

Yet another approach to encode the FAC correction signal shown at the left of <FIG> is to use the implicit folding of the MDCT. <FIG> is an illustration of a first application of a method of FAC correction using MDCT. In the upper left quadrant, a content of the FAC window <NUM> is shown, with a slight modification. Specifically, the last quarter of the FAC window 502a is shifted to the left of the FAC window <NUM> and inverted in sign (502b). In other words, the FAC window of <FIG> is cyclically rotated to the right by ¼ of its total length, and then the sign of the first ¼ of the samples is inverted. An MDCT is then applied to this windowed signal. The MDCT applies, implicitly by its mathematical construction, a folding operation, which results in the folded signal <NUM> shown at the upper right quadrant of <FIG>. This folding in the MDCT applies a sign inversion on the left part 502b, but not on the right part 502c, where the folded segment is added. Comparing the resulting folded signal <NUM> to the complete FAC correction <NUM> of <FIG>, it can be seen that it is equivalent to the FAC correction <NUM> except for time inversion. Thus, at the decoder, after inverse MDCT (IMDCT), this signal <NUM>, which is an inverted FAC correction signal, is inverted in time (or flipped) and becomes a FAC correction signal <NUM> as shown at the bottom right quadrant of <FIG>. As above, this FAC correction <NUM> can be added to the signal in the FAC area of <FIG>.

In the specific case of a transition from an ACELP frame to a TCX frame, further efficiency can be achieved by taking advantage of information already available at the decoder. <FIG> is a diagram of a FAC correction using information from the ACELP mode. An ACELP synthesis signal <NUM> up to the end of the ACELP frame <NUM> is known at the decoder. Further, a zero-input response (ZIR) <NUM> of a synthesis filter has good correlation with the signal at the beginning of the TCX20 frame <NUM>. This particularity is already used in the 3GPP AMR-WB+ standard to manage transitions from ACELP to TCX frames. Here, this information is used for two purposes: <NUM>) to reduce the signal amplitude to be encoded as the FAC correction and <NUM>) to ensure continuity in the error signal so as to enhance the efficiency of MDCT coding of this error signal. Looking at <FIG>, a correction signal <NUM> to be encoded for transmission of the FAC correction is computed as follows. The first half of this correction signal <NUM>, that is up to the end of the ACELP frame <NUM>, is taken as the difference <NUM> between the weighted signal <NUM> in the original, uncoded domain, and the weighted synthesis signal <NUM> in the ACELP frame <NUM>. Given the ACELP coding module has sufficient performance, this first half of the correction signal <NUM> has reduced energy and amplitude compared to the original signal. Then, for a second half of said correction signal <NUM>, the difference <NUM> is taken between the weighted signal <NUM> in the original, uncoded domain at the beginning of the TCX20 frame <NUM> and the zero-input response <NUM> of the ACELP weighted synthesis filter. Since the zero-input response <NUM> is correlated to the weighted signal <NUM>, at least to some extent especially at the beginning of the TCX20 frame, this difference has lower amplitude and energy compared to the weighted signal <NUM> at the beginning of the TCX20 frame. This efficiency of the zero-input response <NUM> in modeling the original signal is typically greater at the beginning of the frame. Adding the effect of the FAC window <NUM>, which has a decreasing amplitude for this second half of the FAC window, the shape of the second half of the correction signal <NUM> in <FIG> should tend towards zero at the beginning and the end, with possibly more energy concentrated in the middle of the second half of the FAC window <NUM>, depending on the accuracy of fit of the ZIR to the weighted signal. After performing these windowing and difference operations as described in relation to <FIG>, the resulting correction signal <NUM> can be encoded as described in <FIG> or <FIG>, or by any selected method to encode the FAC signal. At the decoder, the actual FAC correction signal is re-computed by first decoding the transmitted correction signal <NUM> described above, and then adding back the ACELP synthesis signal <NUM> to signal <NUM>, in the first half of the FAC window <NUM> and adding the ZIR <NUM> to the same signal <NUM>, in the second half of the FAC window <NUM>.

Up to this point, the present disclosure has described transitions from a frame using a rectangular, non-overlapping window, to a frame using a non-rectangular, overlapping window, using as an example the case of a transition from an ACELP frame to a TCX frame. It is understood that the opposite situation can arise, namely a transition from a TCX frame to an ACELP frame. <FIG> is a diagram of a FAC correction applied upon transition from a frame using an overlapping non-rectangular window to a frame using a non-overlapping rectangular window. <FIG> shows a TCX20 frame <NUM> followed by an ACELP frame <NUM>, with a folded TCX20 window <NUM>, as seen at the decoder, in the TCX frame. <FIG> also shows a FAC area <NUM> where a FAC correction is applied to cancel the windowing effect and the time-domain aliasing at the end of the TCX20 frame <NUM>. It is to be noted that the ACELP frame <NUM> does not carry the information to cancel these effects. A FAC window <NUM> is the symmetrical of the FAC window <NUM> of <FIG>.

Folding of the two parts <NUM>-left and <NUM>-right of the FAC window <NUM> is thus shown in the case of a transition from a TCX frame to an ACELP frame. Comparing to <FIG>, the differences are the following: the FAC window <NUM> is now time-reversed and the folding of the aliasing part applies a subtraction operation, instead of an addition as illustrated in <FIG>, in order to be coherent with the folding sign of the MDCT in that portion of the window.

<FIG> is a diagram of an unfolded FAC correction (left) and folded FAC correction (right). The FAC window <NUM> is reproduced at the left-hand side of <FIG>. The folded FAC correction signal <NUM> may be encoded using a DCT or some other applicable method. Assuming a Hanning window in the transform, as used for example in MDCT, equations <NUM> and <NUM> of <FIG> describe the FAC window <NUM> in the case of <FIG>. Of course, when other window shapes are used, other equations coherent with the window shapes are used to describe the FAC window. Also, using a Hanning-type window in the MDCT means that a cosine window is used at the coder, prior to MDCT and, again, a cosine window is used at the decoder, after IMDCT. It is the sample-by-sample combination of these two cosine windows that results in the desired Hanning window shape which has the appropriate complementary shape for overlap-and-add in the <NUM>% overlap portion of the window.

Again, an MDCT approach can also be used to encode the FAC window, as was described in <FIG>. <FIG> is an illustration of a second application of the method of FAC correction using MDCT. In the upper left quadrant of <FIG>, the FAC window <NUM> of <FIG> is shown. The first quarter 812a of the FAC window <NUM> is shifted to the right of the FAC window and inverted in sign (812b). In other words, the FAC window <NUM> is cyclically rotated to the left by ¼ of its total length, and then the sign of the last ¼ of the samples is inverted. In the upper right quadrant of <FIG>, an MDCT is then applied to this windowed signal. The MDCT applies, internally, a folding operation, which results in the folded signal <NUM> shown at the upper right quadrant of <FIG>. This folding in the MDCT applies a sign inversion on the left part 812c, and not on the right part 812b, where the folded segment is added. Comparing the resulting folded signal <NUM> to the FAC correction signal <NUM> at the right-hand side of <FIG>, it can be seen that it is equivalent except for time inversion (flipping) and sign inversion. Thus, at the decoder, after IMDCT, this signal <NUM>, which is an inverted FAC correction, is inverted in time (or flipped) and inverted in sign and becomes a FAC correction <NUM> as shown at the bottom right quadrant of <FIG>. As above, this FAC correction <NUM> can be added to the signal in the FAC area of <FIG>.

Quantizing the signal corresponding to the FAC correction involves proper care. Indeed, the FAC correction is a part of the transform-domain encoded signal, including for example, the TCX20 frames used in the examples of <FIG>, since it is added to the frame to compensate the windowing and aliasing effects. Since quantization of this FAC correction introduces distortion, this distortion is controlled in such as way that it blends properly in, or matches the distortion of, the transform-domain encoded frame, and does not introduce audible artifacts in this transition corresponding to the FAC area. If the noise level due to quantization, as well as the quantization noise shape in the time and frequency domain, are maintained approximately the same in the FAC correction signal as in the transform-based encoded frame where the FAC correction is applied, then the FAC correction does not introduce additional distortion.

There are several approaches possible to quantize the FAC correction signal, including but not limited to scalar quantization, vector quantization, stochastic codebooks, algebraic codebooks, and the like. In every case, it can be understood that there is a strong correlation in the attributes of the coefficients of the FAC correction and the coefficients of the corresponding transform-domain coded frame, as in the exemplary TCX <NUM> frame. Indeed, the time-domain samples used in the FAC area should be the same time-domain samples at the beginning of the transform-domain coded frame. Thus, the scale factors used in the quantization device applied to the transform-domain coded frame are approximately the same as the scale factors used in the quantization device applied to FAC correction. Of course, the number of samples, or frequency-domain coefficients, in the FAC correction is not the same as in the transform-domain coded frame: the transform-domain coded frame has more samples than the FAC correction, which covers only a part of the transform-domain coded frame. What is important is to maintain the same level of quantization noise, per frequency-domain coefficient, in the FAC correction signal as in the corresponding transform-domain coded frame (for example a TCX <NUM> frame).

Taking the specific example of the Algebraic Vector Quantization (AVQ) approach used in the 3GPP AMR-WB+ audio coding standard to quantize spectral coefficients, and applying it to the quantization of the FAC correction, the following observation can be drawn. The global gain of the AVQ calculated in the quantization of the transform-domain coded frame, for example a TCX20 frame, this global gain being used to scale the amplitudes of the frequency-domain coefficients to keep the bit consumption below a specific bit budget, can be a reference gain for the one used in the quantization of the FAC frame. This applies also to any other scale factors, for example the scale factors used in the Adaptive Low-Frequency Enhancer (ALFE) such as the one used in the AMR-WB+ standard. Yet other examples include the scale factors in AAC encoding. Any other scale factors which control the noise level and shape in the spectrum are also considered in this category.

Depending on the length of the transform-domain coded frame, an m-to-<NUM> mapping of these scale factor parameters are applied between the transform-domain coded frame and the FAC correction. For example, in the case where three <NUM>, <NUM> or <NUM> TCX frame lengths are used, as in the MPEG USAC audio codec, the scale factors, such as for example the scale factors used in ALFE, used for m consecutive spectral-domain coefficients in the transform-domain coded frame may be used for <NUM> spectral-domain coefficient in the FAC correction.

To match the quantization error level of the FAC correction to the quantization error level of the transform-based encoded frame, it is appropriate to take into account, at the coder, the coding error of the windowed transform-based encoded frame. <FIG> is a block diagram of FAC quantization including TCX error correction. First, a difference <NUM> is calculated between the windowed and folded signal in the TCX frame <NUM> and the windowed and folded TCX synthesis of that frame <NUM>. The TCX synthesis <NUM>, in this context, is simply the inverse transform - including windowing applied at the decoder - of the quantized transform-domain coefficients of that TCX frame. Then, this difference signal <NUM>, or TCX coding error, is added at <NUM> to the FAC correction signal <NUM>, synchronized with the FAC area. It is then this composite signal <NUM>, comprising the FAC correction <NUM> signal plus coding error <NUM> of the TCX frame, which is quantized by a quantizer <NUM> for transmission to the decoder. As such, this quantized FAC correction signal <NUM>, as per <FIG>, corrects, at the decoder, the windowing effect and aliasing effect, as well as the TCX coding error in the FAC area. Using the TCX scale factors <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, allows matching the distortion of the FAC correction to the distortion in the TCX frame.

<FIG> is a diagram of a use case of the FAC correction in a multi-mode coding system. Examples are provided showing switching between regular shaped windows with <NUM>% or more overlap and variable shaped windows, including the FAC windows. In <FIG>, the lower part can be seen as a continuation of the upper part on the time axis. It is assumed in <FIG> that all frames are encoded after pre-processing the input audio signal through a time-varying filtering process, which can be, for example, a weighting filter derived from an LPC analysis on the input signal, or some other processing with the aim of weighting the input signal. In this example, the input signal is encoded, up to "switch point A", using an approach in the family of state-of-the-art audio coding such as AAC, where the analysis windows are optimized for frequency-domain coding. Typically, this means using windows with <NUM>% overlap and regular shape as in the cosine window used in MDCT coding even though other window shapes can be used for this purpose. Then, between "Switch point A" and "Switch point B", the input signal is encoded using windows of variable length and shape, not necessarily optimized for transform-domain coding but rather designed to achieve some compromise between time and frequency resolution for the coding modes used in this segment. <FIG> shows the specific example of ACELP and TCX coding modes used in this segment. It can be seen that the window shapes, for these coding modes, are significantly heterogeneous and vary in shape and length. The ACELP window is rectangular and non-overlapping, while the window for TCX is non-rectangular and overlapping. This is where the FAC window is used to cancel the time-domain aliasing, as was described herein above. The FAC window itself, shown in bold in <FIG>, with its specific shape and length, is one of the variable shape windows enclosed in the segment between "Switch point A" and "Switch point B".

<FIG> is a diagram of another use case of the FAC correction in a multi-mode coding system. <FIG> shows how the FAC window can be used in a context where a coder switches locally from regular shaped windows to variable-shape windows to encode a transient signal. This is similar to the context of AAC coding where a start- and stop-window is used to locally use windows with smaller time support for encoding transients. Here, instead, in <FIG>, the signal between "Switch point A" and "Switch point B", assumed to be a transient, is encoded using multi-mode coding, involving ACELP and TCX in the presented example, which requires the use of the FAC window to properly manage the transition with the ACELP coding mode.

<FIG> and <FIG> are diagrams of first and second use cases of the FAC correction upon switching between short transform-based frames and ACELP frames. These are cases where switching is done between short transform-based frames in the LPC domain, for example, short TCX frames, and ACELP frames. The example of <FIG> and <FIG> can be seen as a local situation in a longer signal which may also use other coding modes in other frames (not shown). It should be noted that the window for the short TCX frames in <FIG> and <FIG> may have more than <NUM>% overlap. For example, this may be the case in the Low-Delay AAC codec, which uses a long asymmetric window. In that case, some specific start- and stop-windows are designed to allow proper switching between these long asymmetric windows and the short TCX windows of <FIG> and <FIG>.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a non-limitative example of device <NUM> for forward cancelling time-domain aliasing in a coded signal received in a bitstream <NUM>. The device <NUM> is given, for the purpose of illustration, with reference to the FAC correction of <FIG> using information from the ACELP mode. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a corresponding device <NUM> can be implemented in relation to every other example of FAC correction given in the present disclosure.

The device <NUM> comprises a receiver <NUM> for receiving the bitstream <NUM> representative of a coded audio signal including the FAC correction.

ACELP frames from the bitstream <NUM> are supplied to an ACELP decoder <NUM> including an ACELP synthesis filter. The ACELP decoder <NUM> produces a zero-input-response (ZIR) <NUM> of the ACELP synthesis filter. Also, the ACELP synthesis decoder <NUM> produces an ACELP synthesis signal <NUM>. The ACELP synthesis signal <NUM> and the ZIR <NUM> are concatenated to form an ACELP synthesis signal followed by the ZIR. The unfolded FAC window <NUM> is then applied to the concatenated signals <NUM> and <NUM>, and then folded and added in processor <NUM>, and then applied to a positive input of an adder <NUM> to provide a first (optional) part of the audio signal in TCX frames.

Parameters (prm) for TCX <NUM> frames from the bitstream <NUM> are supplied to a TCX decoder <NUM>, followed by an IMDCT transform and a window <NUM> for the IMDCT, to produce a TCX <NUM> synthesis signal <NUM> applied to a positive input of the adder <NUM> to provide a second part of the audio signal in TCX <NUM> frames.

However, upon a transition between coding modes (for example from an ACELP frame to a TCX <NUM> frame), a part of the audio signal would not be properly decoded without the use of a FAC canceller <NUM>. In the example of <FIG>, the FAC canceller <NUM> comprises a FAC decoder <NUM> for decoding from the received bitstream <NUM> the correction signal <NUM> (<FIG>) which corresponds to the correction signal <NUM> (<FIG>) after folding as in <FIG>, and an inverse DCT (IDCT). The output of the IDCT <NUM> is supplied to a positive input of the adder <NUM>. The output of the adder <NUM> is supplied to a positive input of the adder <NUM>.

The global output of the adder <NUM> represents the FAC cancelled synthesis signal for a TCX frame following an ACELP frame.

<FIG> is a block diagram of a non-limitative example of device <NUM> for forward time-domain aliasing cancellation in a coded signal for transmission to a decoder. The device <NUM> is given, for the purpose of illustration, with reference to the FAC correction of <FIG> using information from the ACELP mode. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that a corresponding device <NUM> can be implemented in relation to every other example of FAC correction given in the present disclosure.

An audio signal <NUM> to be encoded is applied to the device <NUM>. A logic (not shown) applies ACELP frames of the audio signal <NUM> to an ACELP coder <NUM>. An output of the ACELP coder <NUM>, the ACELP-coded parameters <NUM>, is applied to a first input of a multiplexer (MUX) <NUM>. Another output of the ACELP coder is an ACELP synthesis signal <NUM> followed by the zero-input response (ZIR) <NUM> of an ACELP synthesis filter of the coder <NUM>. A FAC window <NUM> is applied to the concatenation of signals <NUM> and <NUM>. The output of the FAC window processor <NUM> is applied at a negative input of an adder <NUM>.

The logic (not shown) also applies TCX <NUM> frames of the audio signal <NUM> to a MDCT encoding module <NUM> to produce the TCX <NUM> encoded parameters <NUM> applied to a second input of the multiplexer <NUM>. The MDCT encoding module <NUM> comprises an MDCT window <NUM>, an MDCT transform <NUM>, and quantizer <NUM>. The windowed input to the MDCT module <NUM> is supplied to a positive input of an adder <NUM>. The quantized MDCT coefficients <NUM> are applied to an inverse MDCT (IMDCT) <NUM>, and the output of IMDCT <NUM> is supplied to a negative input of the adder <NUM>. The ouput of the adder <NUM> forms a TCX quantization error, which is windowed in processor <NUM>. The output of processor <NUM> is supplied to a positive input of an adder <NUM>. As indicated in <FIG>, the output of processor <NUM> can be used optionally in the device.

Upon a transition between coding modes (for example from an ACELP frame to a TCX <NUM> frame), some of the audio frames coded by the MDCT module <NUM> may not be properly decoded without additional information. A calculator <NUM> provides this additional information, more specifically the correction signal <NUM> (<FIG>). All components of the calculator <NUM> may be viewed as a producer of a FAC correction signal. The producer of a FAC correction signal comprises applying a FAC window <NUM> to the audio signal <NUM>, providing the output of FAC window <NUM> to a positive input of the adder <NUM>, providing the output of adder <NUM> to the MDCT <NUM>, and quantizing the output of MDCT <NUM> in quantizer <NUM> to produce the FAC parameters <NUM> which are applied to an input of multiplexer <NUM>.

The signal at the output of the multiplexer <NUM> represents the encoded audio signal <NUM> to be transmitted to a decoder (not shown) through a transmitter <NUM> in a coded bitstream <NUM>.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize that the description of the devices and methods for forward cancelling time-domain aliasing in a coded signal are illustrative only and are not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments will readily suggest themselves to such persons with ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Furthermore, the disclosed systems can be customized to offer valuable solutions to existing needs and problems of cancelling time-domain aliasing in a coded signal.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that numerous types of terminals or other apparatuses may embody both aspects of coding for transmission of coded audio, and aspects of decoding following reception of coded audio, in a same device.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the implementations of forward cancellation of time-domain aliasing in a coded signal are shown and described. It will, of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation of the audio coding, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the developer's specific goals, such as compliance with application-, system-, network- and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the field of audio coding systems having the benefit of this disclosure.

In accordance with this disclosure, the components, process steps, and/or data structures described herein may be implemented using various types of operating systems, computing platforms, network devices, computer programs, and/or general purpose machines. In addition, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that devices of a less general purpose nature, such as hardwired devices, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or the like, may also be used. Where a method comprising a series of process steps is implemented by a computer or a machine and those process steps can be stored as a series of instructions readable by the machine, they may be stored on a tangible medium.

Systems and modules described herein may comprise software, firmware, hardware, or any combination(s) of software, firmware, or hardware suitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modules may reside on servers, workstations, personal computers, computerized tablets, PDAs, and other devices suitable for the purposes described herein. Software and other modules may be accessible via local memory, via a network, via a browser or other application in an ASP context or via other means suitable for the purposes described herein. Data structures described herein may comprise computer files, variables, programming arrays, programming structures, or any electronic information storage schemes or methods, or any combinations thereof, suitable for the purposes described herein.

Claim 1:
A device for forward cancelling time-domain aliasing in a coded audio signal received in a bitstream, upon a transition from an ACELP frame to a TCX frame, comprising:
a receiver for receiving the bitstream representative of the coded audio signal including FAC correction;
an ACELP decoder supplied with the ACELP frame from the bitstream and including an ACELP synthesis filter, wherein the ACELP decoder produces (a) an ACELP synthesis signal and (b) a zero-input-response of the ACELP synthesis filter;
means for concatenating the ACELP synthesis signal and the zero-input-response of the ACELP synthesis filter, with the ACELP synthesis signal before the zero-input response in the concatenation;
an unfolded FAC window for windowing the concatenated ACELP synthesis signal and zero-input-response, wherein the unfolded FAC window comprises (a) a first half at the end of the ACELP frame for windowing the ACELP synthesis signal at the end of the ACELP frame and (b) a second half at the beginning of the TCX frame for windowing the zero-input-response at the beginning of the TCX frame following the ACELP frame;
a processor (a) for folding the first half of the unfolded FAC window onto the second half of the unfolded FAC window, after windowing of the concatenated ACELP synthesis signal and zero-input-response with the unfolded FAC window, and (b) for adding the windowed and folded ACELP synthesis signal and the windowed zero-input-response;
a FAC canceller comprising a FAC decoder for decoding from the received bitstream a correction signal and an inverse DCT transform for inverse DCT transforming the decoded correction signal;
a TCX decoder supplied with parameters for the TCX frame from the bitstream, and an IMDCT transform and a window for the IMDCT transform for IMDCT transforming and windowing the decoded parameters to produce a TCX synthesis signal; and
adder means for adding in the TCX frame (a) the added, windowed and folded ACELP synthesis signal and windowed zero-input-response, (b) the decoded and inverse DCT transformed correction signal and (c) the synthesis signal from the TCX decoder, IMDCT transform and window for the IMDCT transform to produce a FAC cancelled TCX synthesis signal for the TCX frame.