Patent Description:
Parametric coding of multi-channel audio signals is an ongoing topic of research. Generally two approaches to encode multi-channel audio signals can be distinguished. The Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG), a subgroup of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), is currently working on the standardization of technology for the reconstruction of multi-channel audio content from stereo or even mono down-mix signals by adding only a small amount of helper information to the down-mix signals.

In parallel stereo to multi-channel up-mix methods are being developed which do not need any additional side-information that is not already (implicitly) contained in the down-mix signal in order to reconstruct the spatial image of the original multi-channel audio signal.

Existing methods for stereo-compatible multi-channel transmission without additional side-information that gained practical relevance can mostly be characterized as matrixed-surround methods, such as Dolby Pro Logic (Dolby Pro Logic II) and Logic-<NUM>, as described in more detail in "<NPL>and in "<NPL>. The common principle of these methods is that they make use of dedicated ways of multi-channel or stereo down-mixing where the encoder applies phase shifts to the surround channels prior to mixing them together with front and center channels to form a stereo down-mix signal. The generation of the down-mix signal (Lt, Rt) is depicted in the following equation: <MAT>.

The left down-mix signal (Lt) consists of the left-front signal (Lf), the center signal (C) multiplied by a factor q, the left-surround signal (Ls) phase rotated by <NUM> degrees (,j') and scaled by a factor a, and the right-surround signal (Rs) which is also phase rotated by <NUM> degrees and scaled by a factor b. The right down-mix signal (Rt) is generated similarly. Typical down-mix factors are <NUM> for q and a, and <NUM> for b. The rationale for the different signs of the surround channels for the right down-mix signal (Rt) and the left down-mix signal (Lt) is, that it is advantageous to mix the surround channels in anti-phase in the down-mix pair (Lt, Rt). This property helps the decoder to discriminate between front and rear channels from the down-mix signal pair. Hence the down-mix matrix allows for a partial reconstruction of a multi-channel output signal out from the stereo down-mix within the decoder by applying a de-matrixing operation. How close the re-created multi-channel signal resembles the original encoder input signal, however, depends on the specific properties of the multi-channel audio content.

An example for a coding method adding helper information, also called side information, is MPEG Surround audio coding. This efficient way for parametric multi-channel audio coding is for example described in "<NPL> and in "<NPL>.

A schematic overview of an encoder used in spatial audio coding is shown in <FIG>. The encoder splits incoming signals <NUM> (input <NUM>,. input N) in separate time-frequency tiles by means of Quadrature Mirror Filters <NUM> (QMF). Groups of the resulting frequency tiles (bands) are referred to as "parameter bands". For every parameter band, a number of spatial parameters <NUM> are determined by a parameter estimator <NUM> that describes the properties of the spatial image, e.g. level differences between pairs of channels (CLD), cross correlation between pairs of channels (ICC) or information on signal envelopes (CPC). These parameters are subsequently quantized, encoded and compiled jointly into a bit-stream of spatial data. Depending on the operation mode, this bit-stream can cover a wide range of bit-rates, starting from a few kBit/s for good quality multi-channel audio up to tenths of kBit/s for near-transparent quality.

Besides the extraction of parameters, the encoder also generates a mono or stereo down-mix from the multi-channel input signal. Moreover, in case of a stereo down-mix, the user has the choice of a conventional (ITU-style) stereo down-mix or of a down-mix that is compatible with matrixed-surround systems. Finally, the stereo down-mix is transferred to the time-domain by means of QMF synthesis banks <NUM>. The resulting down-mix can be transmitted to a decoder, accompanied by the spatial parameters or the spatial parameter bit-stream <NUM>. Preferably, the down-mix is also encoded before transmission (using a conventional mono or stereo core coder), while the bit-streams of the core coder and the spatial parameters might additionally be combined (multiplexed) to form a single output bit-stream.

A decoder, as sketched in <FIG>, in principle performs the reverse process of the encoder. An input-stream is split into a core coder bit-stream and a parameter bit-stream. This is not shown in <FIG>. Subsequently, the decoded down-mix <NUM> is processed by a QMF analysis bank <NUM> to derive parameter bands that are the same as those applied in the encoder. A spatial synthesis stage <NUM> reconstructs the multi-channel signal by means of control data <NUM> (i.e., the transmitted spatial parameters). Finally, the QMF-domain signals are transferred to the time domain by means of a QMF synthesis bank <NUM> that derives the final multi-channel output signals <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a simple example of a QMF analysis, as it is performed within the prior art encoder in <FIG> and the prior art decoder in <FIG>. An audio sample <NUM>, sampled in the time domain and having four sample values is input into a filter bank <NUM>. The filter bank <NUM> derives three output samples 34a, 34b and 34c having four sample values each. In an ideal case, the filter bank <NUM> derives the output samples 34a to 34c such that the samples within the output signals do only comprise information on discrete frequency ranges of the underlying audio signal <NUM>. In the case shown in <FIG>, the sample 34a has information on the frequency interval ranging from f0 to f1, the sample 34b has information of the frequency interval [f1, f2] and the sample 34c has information on the frequency interval [f2, f3]. Although the frequency intervals in <FIG> do not overlap, in a more general case the frequency intervals of the output samples coming out of a filter bank may very well have a frequency overlap.

A prior art encoder can, as already described above, deliver either an ITU-style down-mix or a matrixed-surround compatible down-mix, when a two-channel down-mix is desired. In the case of a matrixed-surround compatible down-mix (using for example the matrixing approach given in Equation <NUM>), one possibility would be that the encoder generates a matrixed-surround compatible down-mix directly.

<FIG> shows an alternative approach to generate a matrixed-surround compatible down-mix using a down-mix post processing unit <NUM> working on a regular stereo down-mix <NUM>. The matrixed-surround processor <NUM> (MTX encoder) modifies the regular stereo down-mix <NUM> to make it matrixed-surround compatible guided by the spatial parameters <NUM> extracted by the parameter extraction stage <NUM>. For transmission, a matrixed-surround compatible down-mix <NUM> is transferred to the time domain by a QMF synthesis using the QMF synthesis bank <NUM>.

Deriving the matrixed-surround compatible signal by post-processing a regular stereo down-mix has the advantage that the matrixed-surround compatibility processing can be fully reversed at a decoder side if the spatial parameters are available.

Although both of the approaches are suited to transmit a multi-channel signal, there are specific drawbacks of state of the art systems. Matrixed-surround methods are very efficient (since no additional parameters are required) at the price of a very limited multi-channel reconstruction quality.

Parametric multi-channel approaches on the other hand require a higher bit-rate due to the side information, which becomes a problem when a limit is set as a maximum acceptable bit-rate for the parametric representation. When the encoded parameters require a comparatively high amount of bit-rate, the only possible way to stay within such a bit-rate limit is to decrease the quality of an encoded down-mix channel by increasing the compression of the channel. Hence, the result is a general loss in audio quality, which may be unacceptably high. In other words, for parametric multi-channel approaches, there is often a hard limit of the minimum bit-rate that is required for the spatial parameter layer, which may in some cases be unacceptably high.

Although principle backwards compatibility between matrixed-surround methods and spatial audio methods can be achieved by a prior art encoder as illustrated in <FIG>, no additional bit-rate can be saved with this approach when only matrix-based decoding is required. Even then the full set of spatial parameters has to be transmitted, wasting transmission bandwidth.

Whereas the bit-rate that has to be spent when applying the parametric method may be too high in case of certain application scenarios, the audio quality delivered by the methods without transmission of side-information might not be sufficient.

The <CIT> is showing an apparatus for constructing a multi-channel audio signal using an input signal and parametric side information, the input signal including the first input channel and the second input channel derived from an original multi-channel signal, and the parametric side information describing interrelations between channels of the multi-channel original signal.

<CIT> discloses an apparatus for constructing a multi-channel audio signal using an input signal and parametric side information, the input signal including the first input channel and the second input channel derived from an original multi-channel signal, and the parametric side information describing interrelations between channels of the original multi-channel signal.

<CIT> discloses a procedure, in which a part of the spectrum of two or more input signals is encoded using conventional coding techniques, while the rest of the spectrum is encoded using binaural cue coding (BCC). In BCC coding, spectral components of the input signals are downmixed and BCC parameters (e.g., inter-channel level and/or time differences) are generated. In a stereo implementation, after converting the left and right channels to the frequency domain, pairs of left- and right-channel spectral components are downmixed to mono. The mono components are then converted back to the time domain, along with those left- and right-channel spectral components that were not downmixed, to form hybrid stereo signals, which can then be encoded using conventional coding techniques. For playback, the encoded bitstream is decoded using conventional decoding techniques. BCC synthesis techniques may then apply the BCC parameters to synthesize an auditory scene based on the mono components as well as the unmixed stereo components.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a concept for more efficient coding of multi-channel audio signals while being backwards compatible to matrix-based coding solutions.

This object is achieved by a multi-channel audio decoder of claim <NUM>, a method for processing of claim <NUM>, a parametric representation of claim <NUM>, or a computer program of claim <NUM>.

The present invention is based on the finding that a multi-channel audio signal can be efficiently represented by a parametric representation, when a first deriving rule is used for deriving first parametric data of the parametric representation describing a first portion of the multi-channel signal, and when for a second portion of the multi-channel signal second parametric data or no parametric data is included in the parametric representation, whereas the second parametric data is requiring less information units than the first parametric data when describing an identical portion of the multi-channel signal.

Thus, a first portion of the multi channel signal is represented by first parameters allowing for a reconstruction of the multi channel signal with higher quality and a second portion can be represented by second parameters allowing for a reconstruction with slightly lower quality. The bit-rate consumed by the first parametric data is consequently higher than the bit rate consumed by the second parametric data when both parametric data is to describe the same portion of a multi-channel signal. In other words, the first parameters require more bit rate per signal portion than the second parameters.

The purpose of the invention is to bridge the gap between both prior art worlds by gradually improving the sound of the up-mix signal while raising the bit-rate consumed by the side-information starting from <NUM> up to the bit-rates of the parametric methods. That is, the present invention aims at bridging the gap in bit-rates and perceptual quality between fully parametric methods and matrixed-surround methods. More specifically, it provides a method of flexibly choosing an "operating point" somewhere between matrixed-surround (no side-information, limited audio quality) and fully parametric reconstruction (full side-information rate required, good quality). This operating point can be chosen dynamically (i.e. varying in time) and in response to the permissible side-information rate, as it is dictated by the individual application.

By dynamically choosing the size of the first portion of the multi-channel audio signal which is the part of the multi-channel audio signal that is represented by the spatial audio parameters, the demanded bit-rate can be varied within a broad range. Representing major parts of a multi-channel signal by the spatial audio parameters will consume a comparatively high bit-rate at the benefit of a good perceptual quality. Since for the second portion of the multi-channel audio signal a parameter deriving rule is chosen that results in parameters consuming less bit-rate, the resulting total bit-rate can be decreased by increasing the size of the second portion of the multi-channel signal. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, no parametric data at all is transmitted for the second portion of the multi-channel signal, which is of course most bit-saving. Therefore, by dynamically shifting the size of the first portion with respect to the size of the second portion, the bit-rate (or the perceptual quality) can be dynamically adjusted to the needs.

In the present invention, a down-mix signal is derived in a matrix compatible way. Therefore, the first portion of the multi-channel audio signal can be reproduced with high perceptual quality using the spatial audio parameters and the second portion of the multi-channel signal can be reproduced using matrix-based solutions. This allows for a high-quality reproduction of parts of the signals requiring higher quality. At the same time, the overall bit-rate is decreased by relying on a matrix-based reproduction for signal parts less vital for the quality of a reproduced signal.

In the present invention, the inventive concept is applied on the decoder side within a QMF representation of a received down-mix signal. The up-mixing process can principally be sub-divided into three steps:.

Both, the pre-de-correlator matrix as well as the mixed-matrix are two-dimensional matrices with the dimensions "number of time slots" on the one hand and "number of parameter bands" on the other hand. Within a decoding process, the elements of these matrices are filled up with values that are derived from the parameters read from the spatial bit-stream, i.e. by the first parametric data. When the first parametric data is only received for a first portion of the multi-channel signal, only that portion of a reconstruction of a multi-channel signal can be derived using the first parametric data submitted. The matrix elements for deriving the second part of the reconstruction of the multi-channel signal are, according to the present invention, derived using matrix compatible coding schemes. These matrix elements can therefore either be derived based only on knowledge achieved from the down-mix signal or be replaced by pre-defined values.

In a preferred embodiment, a multi-channel audio decoder according to the present invention recognizes by the amount of the transmitted first parametric data, which part of the matrix or which part of the multi-channel audio signal is to be processed by the rule depending on the spatial parameters and which part is to be processed by the matrix based solution.

In another example, an audio encoder creates window information, indicating which parts of a multi-channel signal are being processed by the matrix based solution or by the spatial audio compatible approach. The window information is included in the parametric representation of a multi-channel signal.

An inventive decoder, therefore, is able to receive and to process the window information created to apply the appropriate up-mixing rules on the portions of the multi-channel audio signal indicated by the window information.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the inventive concept is applied in the QMF domain during the signal processing, i.e. in a domain where the signals are represented by multiple representations each representation holding information on a certain frequency band.

In a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the side-information free method (matrix based approach) is applied only to the higher frequency parts while applying (explicit) parametric information (i.e. the first encoding and decoding rule) for a proper reproduction of the low-frequency parts. This is advantageous due to the property of the human hearing to notice small deviations of two similar signals (e.g. phase deviations) a lot easier for low frequencies than for high frequencies.

A great benefit of the present invention is that a backwards compatibility of a spatial audio encoding and decoding scheme with matrix based solutions is achieved without having to introduce additional hard- or software when the encoding and decoding rules of the spatial audio coders are chosen appropriately.

Furthermore, the compatibility is achieved without having to transmit additional data, as it is the case in other prior art attempts. The coding scheme according to the present invention is furthermore extremely flexible, as it allows a seamless adjustment of the bit-rate or the quality, i.e. a smooth transition between full matrix based coding to full spatial audio coding of a given signal. That is, the coding scheme applied can be adjusted to the actual needs, either with respect to the required bit-rate or with respect to the desired quality.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention are subsequently described by referring to the enclosed drawings, wherein:.

<FIG> shows a multi-channel encoder. The multi-channel encoder <NUM> is having a parameter generator <NUM> and an output interface <NUM>.

A multi-channel audio signal <NUM> is input into the encoder <NUM>, where a first portion <NUM> and a second portion <NUM> of the multi-channel signal <NUM> are processed. The parameter generator <NUM> receives the first portion <NUM> and the second portion <NUM> and derives spatial parameters describing spatial properties of the multi-channel signal <NUM>.

The spatial parameters are transferred to the output interface <NUM> that derives a parametric representation <NUM> of the multi-channel signal <NUM> such that the parametric representation <NUM> includes first parametric data for a first portion <NUM> of the multi-channel signal and wherein for a second portion <NUM> of the multi-channel signal <NUM> second parametric data requiring less information than the first parametric data or no parametric data is included in the parametric representation <NUM>.

Several variations of the multi-channel encoder <NUM> are possible to achieve the same goal. For example, the parameter generator <NUM> can apply two different parameter deriving rules on the first portion <NUM> and on the second portion <NUM> that result in different parameter sets that are then transferred to the output interface <NUM> that combines the different parameter sets into the parametric representation <NUM>. A special and preferred case is that for the second portion <NUM> no parameters are included in the parametric representation (and therefore not derived by the parameter generator <NUM>) since on a decoder side the decoder derives the required decoding parameters by some heuristic rules.

Another possibility is that the parameter generator <NUM> derives a full set of spatial audio parameters as well for the first portion <NUM> as for the second portion <NUM>. Hence, the output interface <NUM> would have to process the spatial parameters such that the second parametric data require less bits than the first parametric data.

Furthermore, the output interface <NUM> could add an additional window signal to the parametric representation <NUM> that shall signal to a decoder, how the multi-channel signal <NUM> was split into the first portion <NUM> and into the second portion <NUM> during the encoding. In a modification of the preferred embodiment of a multi-channel encoder <NUM>, the multi-channel encoder <NUM> may additionally have a portion decider for deciding, which part of the multi-channel signal <NUM> is used as the first portion <NUM> and which part is used as the second portion <NUM>, the decision being based on a quality criterion.

The quality criterion can be derived with respect to a resulting total bit-rate of the parametric representation <NUM> or with respect to quality aspects, taking into account the perceptual quality of a reproduction of the multi-channel signal <NUM> based on the parametric representation <NUM>.

A major advantage is that the bit-rate consumed by the parametric representation can thus be varied in time, assuring that the quality criterion is met at any time during the encoding while allowing for an overall reduction of the required bit-rate compared to prior art methods.

<FIG> shows an example of a parametric representation <NUM> created by an encoder.

As mentioned above, the processing of the audio signals is done block-wise, i.e. a number of subsequent samples of the multi-channel signal in the time domain, building a so-called frame, is processed in one step. <FIG> shows a parameter bit-stream, i.e. a parametric representation for two consecutive frames. The parameter bit-stream is having a representation of a high-quality frame <NUM> and a representation of a lower quality frame <NUM>. During the encoding of the high-quality frame <NUM>, the decision was taken that the first portion <NUM> , which is being represented by parametric data has to be big compared to the second portion, which may for example be the case if the audio scene to encode is rather complex. The parameter bit-stream of <FIG> is furthermore created under the assumption that an exemplary encoder is used that does not derive any parametric data for the second portion <NUM> of the multi-channel signal <NUM>. As can be seen in <FIG>, <NUM> spatial parameters ICC and ICLD are included in the parametric representation to describe the high-quality frame <NUM>. For example, the <NUM> spatial parameters describe the lower frequency bands of a QMF representation of the multi-channel signal.

The lower quality frame <NUM> comprises only <NUM> spatial parameter sets having ICC and ICLD parameters as this was found to be sufficient for the desired perceptual quality.

<FIG> shows a transcoder <NUM>. The transcoder receives as an input an input bit stream <NUM> having a full set of spatial parameters describing a first frame <NUM> and a second frame <NUM> of a multi-channel audio signal.

The transcoder <NUM> generates a bit stream <NUM> holding a parametric representation representing the spatial properties of the multi-channel audio signal. In the example shown in <FIG>, the transcoder <NUM> derives the parametric representation such that for the first frame the number of parameters <NUM> is only slightly decreased. The number of parameters <NUM> describing the second frame corresponding to the input parameters <NUM> are strongly decreased, which reduces the amount of bit rate needed by the resulting parametric representation significantly. Such a transcoder <NUM> can therefore be used to post-process an already existing bit stream of spatial parameters to derive an inventive parametric representation requiring less bit rate during transmission or less storage space when stored on a computer-readable medium. It should be noted here that it is of course also possible to implement a transcoder for transcoding in the other direction, i.e. using the parametric representation to generate spatial parameters.

The transcoder <NUM> can be implemented in various different ways, as for example by reducing the amount of parameters with a given rule or by additionally receiving the multi-channel audio signal to analyze the reduction of bit rate possible without disturbing the perceptual quality beyond an acceptable limit.

<FIG> shows an inventive multi-channel audio decoder <NUM> having a processor <NUM>.

The processor is receiving as an input a down-mix signal <NUM> derived from a multi-channel audio signal, first parametric data <NUM> describing a first portion of the multi-channel signal and, for a second portion of the multi-channel signal, optional second parametric data <NUM> requiring less bits than the first parametric data <NUM>. The processor <NUM> is deriving an intermediate signal <NUM> from the down-mix signal <NUM> using a first deriving rule for deriving a high-quality portion <NUM> of the intermediate signal, wherein the high-quality portion <NUM> of the intermediate signal <NUM> is corresponding to the first portion of the multi-channel audio signal. The processor <NUM> is using a second deriving rule for a second portion <NUM> of the intermediate signal <NUM>, wherein the second deriving rule is using the second parametric data or no parametric data and wherein the first deriving rule is depending on the first parametric data <NUM>.

The intermediate signal <NUM> derived by the processor <NUM> is built from a combination of the high-quality portion <NUM> and of the second portion <NUM>.

The multi-channel audio decoder <NUM> may derive by itself, which portions of the down-mix signal <NUM> are to be processed with the first parametric data <NUM> by applying some appropriate rules, for example counting the number of spatial parameters included in the first parametric data <NUM>. Alternatively, the processor <NUM> may be signaled the fractions of the high-quality portion <NUM> and of the second portion <NUM> within the down-mix signal <NUM> by some additional window information which is derived on an encoder side and that is additionally transmitted to the multi-channel audio decoder <NUM>.

In a preferred embodiment, the second parametric data <NUM> is omitted and the processor <NUM> derives the second deriving rule from information already contained in the down-mix signal <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a further embodiment of the present invention that combines the inventive feature of matrix compatibility in a spatial audio decoder. The multi-channel audio decoder <NUM> comprises a pre-de-correlator <NUM>, a de-correlator <NUM> and a mix-matrix <NUM>.

The multi-channel audio decoder <NUM> is a flexible device allowing to operate in different modes depending on the configuration of input signals <NUM> input into the pre-de-correlator <NUM>. Generally, the pre-de-correlator <NUM> derives intermediate signals <NUM> that serve as input for the de-correlator <NUM> and that are partially transmitted unaltered to form, together with decorrelated signals calculated by the de-correlator <NUM>, input signals <NUM>. The input signals <NUM> are the signals input into the mix-matrix <NUM> that derives output channel configurations 610a or 610b, depending on the input channel configuration <NUM>.

In a <NUM>-to-<NUM> configuration, a down-mix signal and an optional residual signal is supplied to the pre-de-correlator <NUM>, that derives four intermediate signals (e1 to e4) that are used as an input of the de-correlator, which derives four de-correlated signals (d1 to d4) that form the input parameters <NUM> together with a directly transmitted signal m derived from the input signal.

It may be noted, that in the case where an additional residual signal is supplied as input, the de-correlator <NUM> that is generally working in a sub-band domain, may be operative to simply forward the residual signal instead of deriving a de-correlated signal. This may also be done in a frequency selective manner for certain frequency bands only.

In the <NUM>-to-<NUM> configuration the input signals <NUM> comprise a left channel, a right channel and optionally a residual signal. In that configuration, the pre-de-correlator matrix <NUM> derives a left, a right and a center channel and in addition two intermediate channels (e1, e2). Hence, the input signals to the mix-matrix <NUM> are formed by the left channel, the right channel, the center channel, and two de-correlated signals (d1 and d2).

In a further modification, the pre-de-correlator matrix may derive an additional intermediate signal (e5) that is used as an input for a de-correlator (D5) whose output is a combination of the de-correlated signal (d5) derived from the signal (e5) and the de-correlated signals (d1 and d2). In this case, an additional de-correlation can be guaranteed between the center channel and the left and the right channel.

The inventive audio decoder <NUM> implements the inventive concept in the <NUM>-to-<NUM> configuration. The transmitted parametric representation is used in the pre-de-correlation matrix <NUM> and in the mix-matrix <NUM>. There, the inventive concept can be implemented in different ways as shown in more detail in <FIG>.

<FIG> shows the pre-de-correlator, implemented as pre-decorrelator-matrix <NUM> and the mix-matrix <NUM> in a principle sketch, wherein the other components of the multi-channel audio decoder <NUM> are omitted.

The matrix used to perform the pre-de-correlation and the mixing has columns that represent time slots, i.e. the individual time samples of a signal and rows that represent the different parameter bands, i.e. each row is associated with one parameter band of an audio signal.

According to the concept of the present invention, the matrix elements of the matrices <NUM> and <NUM> are only partly derived from transmitted parametric data, wherein the remaining matrix elements are derived by the decoder, based for example on knowledge of the down-mix signal. <FIG> shows one example where below a given frequency border line <NUM> the elements of the pre-de-correlator matrix <NUM> and the mix-matrix <NUM> are derived from parameters <NUM> that are read from the bit-stream, i.e. based on information transmitted from the encoder. Above the frequency borderline <NUM> the matrix elements are derived in the decoder based on knowledge of the down-mix signal only.

The border frequency (or in general: the amount of matrix elements derived from transmitted data) can be freely adapted according to the quality and/or bit-rate constraints that have to be met for the particular application scenario.

It is preferred for the novel coding method outlined here that a side-information free up-mix process may be performed with the same structure that has been outlined in the MPEG Spatial Audio Coding Reference Model <NUM>. This invention may consist in describing a method for side-information free up-mix, but preferably provides a method for seamless and advantageous combination of such concepts with methods for side-information assisted up-mix.

In contrary to the MPEG Spatial Audio Coding Reference Model <NUM>, in the side-information free up-mix process the elements of the matrices M1 (<NUM>) and M2(<NUM>) are preferably not derived from data transmitted in a bit-stream but by different means without the help of side-information, e.g. by applying heuristic rules based only on knowledge achieved from the down-mix signal.

In this way it is possible to achieve a gradual scaling between both techniques - in terms of bit-rate as well as in terms of sound quality - by acquiring only parts of the matrices based on the transmitted parameters and applying the rules of the method without side-information to fill up the remaining parts. Conceptually speaking, this corresponds to transmitting for certain parts of the matrices the spatial parameters and for other parts generating them at the decoder.

The determination of the parts of matrices that are to be derived from either the one or the other method can be done in a lot of different ways, such as.

It has been detailed in the above paragraphs that it is advantageous to describe all frequency parts of a multi-channel signal up to a certain border frequency by spatial parameters whereas the remaining frequency parts of the multi-channel signal are not represented by spatial parameters. This takes into account the characteristics of the human ear that has a better perception of lower frequencies than of higher frequencies. Of course, the present invention is by no means limited to this splitting of the multi-channel signal into a first portion and a second portion as it may also be advantageous or appropriate to describe higher frequency parts of the signal with better accuracy. This may especially be the case when in the lower frequency region only little energy is contained in the signal since most of the energy is contained in a high-frequency domain of the audio signal. Due to masking effects the low-frequency part will be mostly dominated by the high frequency parts then and it may be advantageous to provide the possibility for a high-quality reproduction of the high-frequency part of the signal.

Depending on certain implementation requirements of the inventive methods, the inventive methods can be implemented in hardware or in software. The implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium, in particular a disk, DVD or a CD having electronically readable control signals stored thereon, which cooperate with a programmable computer system such that the inventive methods are performed. Generally, the present invention is, therefore, a computer program product with a program code stored on a machine readable carrier, the program code being operative for performing the inventive methods when the computer program product runs on a computer. In other words, the inventive methods are, therefore, a computer program having a program code for performing at least one of the inventive methods when the computer program runs on a computer.

Claim 1:
Multi-channel audio decoder (<NUM>) for processing a downmix audio signal (<NUM>) derived in a matrix compatible way and for processing first parametric data (<NUM>) describing a first portion of a multi-channel signal, wherein for a second portion of the multi-channel signal no parametric data or second parametric data (<NUM>) is processed, the second parametric data (<NUM>) requiring less information units than the first parametric data (<NUM>) when describing an identical portion of the multi-channel signal, comprising:
a processor (<NUM>) for deriving an intermediate signal (<NUM>) from the downmix audio signal (<NUM>), the downmix audio signal (<NUM>) being in a QMF, Quadrature Mirror Filterbank, representation,
using a first deriving rule for deriving a first portion of the intermediate signal (<NUM>), the first portion of the intermediate signal (<NUM>) corresponding to the first portion of the multi-channel audio signal, wherein the first deriving rule is depending on the first parametric data (<NUM>); and
using a second deriving rule for deriving a second portion of the intermediate signal (<NUM>), the second deriving rule using no parametric data or the second parametric data (<NUM>),
wherein the first portion is a time portion or a frequency portion.