Patent ID: 8135141

Claim:
An audio signal transmitting apparatus which transmits audio signals to external connection apparatuses through a plurality of channels, comprising: a channel mapping unit which determines the audio signals allocated to each of the channels and generates channel mapping information representing types of the audio signals allocated to each of the channels; an audio signal transmitting unit which transmits the audio signals allocated to each of the channels by the channel mapping unit to the external connection apparatuses by a first transmitting scheme or a second transmitting scheme; and a connection management information providing unit which provides connection management information including the channel mapping information and transmitting scheme information representing the transmitting scheme of the audio signals to the external connection apparatuses, and wherein the plurality of audio signals acquired from one audio source includes one main signal and one or two or more surround signals corresponding to a surround component of an audio output obtained by the main signal, the first transmitting scheme is a transmitting scheme which allocates the surround signal to at least one of the channels to transmit the surround signal, and the second transmitting scheme is a transmitting scheme which allocates only the main signals to some or all of the plurality of channels to transmit the main signals.