Patent ID: 7945449

Claim:
A method for audio signal decoding in which one or more input audio signals have been encoded into a bitstream comprising: receiving a bitstream, the bitstream comprising audio information and side information relating to the audio information and useful in decoding the bitstream, the encoding including processing that divides each of the one or more input audio signals into time blocks and updates at least some of the side information no more frequently than the block rate, such that the audio information, when decoded using the side information, has a resolution limited by the block rate, the encoding further including comparing an envelope of at least one input audio signal and an envelope of a signal based on the at least one input audio signal as encoded, the comparing providing a representation of the results of comparing, such representation being useful for improving the resolution of at least some of the audio information when decoded, and the encoding further including outputting at least some of the representations, and decoding the bitstream, the decoding employing the audio information, the side information, and the outputted representations.