Audio Quantizer and Audio Dequantizer and Related Methods

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This invention describes an advanced audio quantizer and dequantizer system, primarily for digital audio codecs. It introduces a two-stage vector quantization (VQ) process for efficiently compressing and reconstructing audio information, such as spectral scale parameters used in noise shaping. The method adaptively selects between joint or independent coding of parameters in multi-channel (e.g., stereo) audio, depending on channel similarity, and combines fixed and variable rate quantization stages to maximize quality at low bitrates. The result is improved audio quality and reduced bitrate for storage or transmission, especially in environments where bandwidth is limited.

Use CasesContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Music streaming services that need to minimize audio bitrate while maximizing perceived quality.
• Voice and video communication systems (VoIP, conferencing, telephony) where low delay and efficient compression are critical.
• Audio archiving and broadcasting where storage and transmission efficiency is important.
• Embedded and portable devices (e.g., smartphones, hearing aids, IoT devices) requiring efficient codec implementations due to hardware constraints.
• Gaming and virtual/augmented reality experiences requiring high-quality multi-channel audio at low data rates.

BenefitsContent extracted from patent full text and abstract with AI.

• Reduces bitrate without sacrificing perceptual audio quality, making efficiency possible even at low bitrates.
• Maintains high audio fidelity through advanced noise shaping and adaptive parameter quantization based on channel correlation.
• Lowers computational complexity compared to previous approaches, enabling real-time usage in resource-constrained environments.
• Minimizes side information overhead through joint encoding when channels are similar.
• Enables flexible codec design: adaptively switches between joint and independent coding to always choose the most efficient method.
• Can be seamlessly implemented in existing audio encoding and decoding workflows.

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Patent Abstract

An audio quantizer for quantizing a plurality of audio information items, comprises: a first stage vector quantizer (141, 143) for quantizing the plurality of audio information items to determine a first stage vector quantization result and a plurality of intermediate quantized items corresponding to the first stage vector quantization result; a residual item determiner (142) for calculating a plurality of residual items from the plurality of intermediate quantized items and the plurality of audio information items; and a second stage vector quantizer (145) for quantizing the plurality of residual items to obtain a second stage vector quantization result, wherein the first stage vector quantization result and the second stage vector quantization result are a quantized representation of the plurality of audio information items.