PatentBrief

Digital encoding process

A digital encoding process for transmitting and/or storing acoustical signals and, in particular, music signals, in which scanned values of the acoustical signal are transformed by means of a transformation or a filter b…

Granted 1996activeExpired 2015Owned by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung eVInvented by Bernhard Grill, Karl-Heinz Brandenburg, Thomas Sporer + 2 more

Original patent title: “Digital encoding process

What this patent covers

The actual claim

A digital encoding process for transmitting and/or storing acoustical signals and, in particular, music signals, in which scanned values of the acoustical signal are transformed by means of a transformation or a filter bank into a sequence of second scanned values, which reproduce the spectral composition of the acoustical signal, and the sequence of second scanned values is quantized in accordance with the requirements with varying precision and is partially or entirely encoded by an optimum encoder, and in which a corresponding decoding and inverse transformation takes place during the reproduction. An encoder is utilized in a manner in which the occurrence probability of the quantized spectral coefficient is correlated to the length of the code in such a way that the more frequently the spectral coefficient occurs, the shorter the code word. A code word and, if needed, a supplementary code is allocated to several elements of the sequence or to a value range in order to reduce the size of the table of the encoder. A portion of the code words of variable length are arranged in a raster, and the remaining code words are distributed in the gaps still left so that the beginning of a code word can be more easily found without completely decoding or in the event of faulty transmission.

What this patent does NOT cover

The boundaries

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    Digital encoding process(Primary claim)

    Schematic visualization of the patent's claim structure. Hand-drawn diagrams in progress for each landmark patent.

    Patent Abstract

    Patent abstract

    A digital encoding process for transmitting and/or storing acoustical signals and, in particular, music signals, in which scanned values of the acoustical signal are transformed by means of a transformation or a filter bank into a sequence of second scanned values, which reproduce the spectral composition of the acoustical signal, and the sequence of second scanned values is quantized in accordance with the requirements with varying precision and is partially or entirely encoded by an optimum encoder, and in which a corresponding decoding and inverse transformation takes place during the reproduction. An encoder is utilized in a manner in which the occurrence probability of the quantized spectral coefficient is correlated to the length of the code in such a way that the more frequently the spectral coefficient occurs, the shorter the code word. A code word and, if needed, a supplementary code is allocated to several elements of the sequence or to a value range in order to reduce the size of the table of the encoder. A portion of the code words of variable length are arranged in a raster, and the remaining code words are distributed in the gaps still left so that the beginning of a code word can be more easily found without completely decoding or in the event of faulty transmission.

    Patent Journey

    From filing to expiry

    Patent Filed

    1995

    Patent Granted

    1996 · 2yr after filing

    Highly Cited

    108 patents cite this

    Patent Expired

    2015

    PatentBrief Score

    Impact Score

    80/ 100

    High impact

    Citation count

    40/40

    Highly cited

    Claim breadth

    20/20

    Very broad protection

    Recency

    0/20

    Older than 20 years

    Assignee scale

    20/20

    Major technology company

    PatentBrief Impact Score — based on citation count, claim breadth, recency, and assignee scale. Not a legal assessment.

    The original legal language

    Original claims

    36 claims as filed with the patent office.

    Citations

    Patent lineage

    Cites earlier patents

    9

    earlier patents this invention cites as foundations

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    Cited by later patents

    108

    later patents that build on this invention

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