Patent ID: 7573912

Claim:
Multi-channel encoder for encoding an original multi-channel signal having at least two channels, comprising: a parameter provider for providing one or more parameters, the one or more parameters being formed such that a reconstructed multi-channel signal can be formed using one or more downmix channels derived from the multi-channel signal and the one or more parameters; a residual encoder for generating an encoded residual signal based on the original multi-channel signal, the one or more downmix channels or the one or more parameters so that the reconstructed multi-channel signal when formed using the residual signal is more similar to the original multi-channel signal than when formed without using the residual signal, the residual encoder including: a multi-channel decoder for generating a decoded multi-channel signal using the one or more downmix channels and the one or more parameters; an error calculator for calculating a multi-channel error signal representation based on the decoded multi-channel signal and the original multi-channel signal; and a residual processor for processing the multi-channel error signal representation to obtain the encoded residual signal; and a data stream former for forming a data stream having the encoded residual signal and the one or more parameters.