Patent ID: 7646875

Claim:
A method of encoding a plurality of input signals (l, r) to generate corresponding encoded data, the method comprising steps of: (a) processing, using a first processor, the input signals (l, r) to determine first parameters (φ2) describing at least one of relative phase difference and temporal difference between the signals (l, r), and applying these first parameters (φ2) to process the input signals to generate corresponding intermediate signals; (b) processing, using a second processor, the intermediate signals and/or the input signals (l, r) to determine second parameters describing rotation of the intermediate signals required to generate a dominant signal (m) and a residual signal (s), said dominant signal (m) having a magnitude or energy greater than that of the residual signal (s), and applying these second parameters to process the intermediate signals to generate the dominant (m) and residual (s) signals; (c) quantizing, in a quantizer, the first parameters, the second parameters, and encoding at least a part of the dominant signal (m) and the residual signal (s) to generate corresponding quantized data; and (d) multiplexing, using a multiplexer, the quantized data to generate the encoded data.