Patents by Inventor Christian Helmrich

Christian Helmrich has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20230328242
    Abstract: A picture in a data stream is subdivided into different size transform bocks. For a transform block, a transformation is selected by checking whether the block's size exceeds a threshold. If it does, a default technique is used to select the transformation. If it does not, a transformation is used from a list of transformations as identified by an index, the list including an identity transformation and non-identity transformations. A coefficients block in the data stream is decoded, and if the selected transformation is the identity transformation, then the coefficients block is used as a residual sample array, and if the selected transformation is not the identity transformation, the coefficients block is subjected to an inverse transformation corresponding to the selected transformation to obtain a residual sample array used to correct a prediction for the transform block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2023
    Publication date: October 12, 2023
    Inventors: Benjamin BROSS, Phan Hoang Tung NGUYEN, Paul KEYDEL, Heiko SCHWARZ, Detlev MARPE, Thomas WIEGAND, Christian HELMRICH
  • Publication number: 20230319301
    Abstract: An encoder/decoder is based on a combination of two audio or video channels to obtain a first combination signal as a mid-signal and a residual signal derivable using a predicted side signal derived from the mid-signal. A decoder uses the prediction residual signal, the first combination signal, a prediction direction indicator and prediction information to derive decoded first channel and second channel signals. A real-to-imaginary transform can be applied for estimating the imaginary part of the spectrum of the first combination signal. The prediction signal used in the derivation of the prediction residual signal, the real-valued first combination signal is multiplied by a real portion of the complex prediction information and the estimated imaginary part of the first combination signal is multiplied by an imaginary portion of the complex prediction information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 25, 2023
    Publication date: October 5, 2023
    Inventors: Julien ROBILLIARD, Matthias NEUSINGER, Christian HELMRICH, Johannes HILPERT, Nikolaus RETTELBACH, Sascha DISCH, Bernd EDLER
  • Patent number: 11776551
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an audio signal is provided, having a receiving interface, configured to receive a first frame having a first audio signal portion of the audio signal, and configured to receive a second frame having a second audio signal portion of the audio signal; a noise level tracing unit, wherein the noise level tracing unit is configured to determine noise level information depending on at least one of the first audio signal portion and the second audio signal portion; a first reconstruction unit for reconstructing, in a first reconstruction domain, a third audio signal portion of the audio signal depending on the noise level information; a transform unit for transforming the noise level information to a second reconstruction domain; and a second reconstruction unit for reconstructing, in the second reconstruction domain, a fourth audio signal portion of the audio signal depending on the noise level information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Michael Schnabel, Markovic Goran, Ralph Sperschneider, Jérémie Lecomte, Christian Helmrich
  • Patent number: 11769513
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal having an encoded representation of a first set of first spectral portions and an encoded representation of parametric data indicating spectral energies for a second set of second spectral portions, has: an audio decoder for decoding the encoded representation of the first set of the first spectral portions to obtain a first set of first spectral portions and for decoding the encoded representation of the parametric data to obtain a decoded parametric data for the second set of second spectral portions indicating, for individual reconstruction bands, individual energies; a frequency regenerator for reconstructing spectral values in a reconstruction band having a second spectral portion using a first spectral portion of the first set of the first spectral portions and an individual energy for the reconstruction band, the reconstruction band having a first spectral portion and the second spectral portion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Andreas Niedermeier, Christian Ertel, Ralf Geiger, Florin Ghido, Christian Helmrich
  • Publication number: 20230282223
    Abstract: An apparatus for processing an audio signal having associated therewith a pitch lag information and a gain information, includes a domain converter for converting a first domain representation of the audio signal into a second domain representation of the audio signal; and a harmonic post-filter for filtering the second domain representation of the audio signal, wherein the post-filter is based on a transfer function including a numerator and a denominator, wherein the numerator includes a gain value indicated by the gain information, and wherein the denominator includes an integer part of a pitch lag indicated by the pitch lag information and a multi-tap filter depending on a fractional part of the pitch lag.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2023
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Emmanuel RAVELLI, Christian HELMRICH, Goran MARKOVIC, Matthias NEUSINGER, Sascha DISCH, Manuel JANDER, Martin DIETZ
  • Publication number: 20230282221
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating an encoded signal includes: a window sequence controller for generating a window sequence information for windowing an audio or image signal, the window sequence information indicating a first window for generating a first frame of spectral values, a second window function and at least one third window function for generating a second frame of spectral values, wherein the first window function, the second window function and the one or more third window functions overlap within a multi-overlap region; a preprocessor for windowing a second block of samples corresponding to the second window function and the at least one third window functions using an auxiliary window function to acquire a second block of windowed samples, a spectrum converter for applying an aliasing-introducing transform; and a processor for processing the first frame and the second frame to acquire encoded frames of the audio or image signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2023
    Publication date: September 7, 2023
    Inventors: Christian HELMRICH, Jérémie LECOMTE, Goran MARKOVIC, Markus SCHNELL, Bernd EDLER, Stefan REUSCHL
  • Patent number: 11735192
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating a decoded two-channel signal, comprising: a parametric decoder for providing parametric data for a second set of second spectral portions and a two-channel identification identifying for a second spectral portion of the second set of second spectral portions either a first two-channel representation for the second spectral portion of the second set of second spectral portions or a second two-channel representation for the second spectral portion of the second set of second spectral portions, the second two-channel representation being different from the first two-channel representation; and a frequency regenerator for regenerating the second spectral portion of the second set of second spectral portions depending on a first spectral portion of a first set of first spectral portions, the parametric data for the second spectral portion of the second set of second spectral portions and the two-channel identification for the second spectral portion of the second set of second spectral
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 22, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Disch, Frederik Nagel, Ralf Geiger, Balaji Nagendran Thoshkahna, Konstantin Schmidt, Stefan Bayer, Christian Neukam, Bernd Edler, Christian Helmrich
  • Patent number: 11727944
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded multichannel signal of a current frame to obtain three or more current audio output channels is provided. A multichannel processor is adapted to select two decoded channels from three or more decoded channels depending on first multichannel parameters. Moreover, the multichannel processor is adapted to generate a first group of two or more processed channels based on the selected channels. A noise filling module is adapted to identify for at least one of the selected channels, one or more frequency bands, within which all spectral lines are quantized to zero, and to generate a mixing channel using, depending on side information, a proper subset of three or more previous audio output channels that have been decoded, and to fill the spectral lines of frequency bands, within which all spectral lines are quantized to zero, with noise generated using spectral lines of the mixing channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 1, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 15, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Dick, Christian Helmrich, Nikolaus Rettelbach, Florian Schuh, Richard Fueg, Frederik Nagel
  • Patent number: 11706413
    Abstract: A picture in a data stream is subdivided into different size transform blocks. For a transform block, a transformation is selected by checking whether the block's size exceeds a threshold. If it does, a default technique is used to select the transformation. If it does not, a transformation is used from a list of transformations as identified by an index, the list including an identity transformation and non-identity transformations. A coefficients block in the data stream is decoded, and if the selected transformation is the identity transformation, then the coefficients block is used as a residual sample array, and if the selected transformation is not the identity transformation, the coefficients block is subjected to an inverse transformation corresponding to the selected transformation to obtain a residual sample array used to correct a prediction for the transform block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 18, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Benjamin Bross, Phan Hoang Tung Nguyen, Paul Keydel, Heiko Schwarz, Detlev Marpe, Thomas Wiegand, Christian Helmrich
  • Patent number: 11694701
    Abstract: The invention provides an audio encoder for encoding an audio signal so as to produce therefrom an encoded signal, the audio encoder including: a framing device configured to extract frames from the audio signal; a quantizer configured to map spectral lines of a spectrum signal derived from the frame of the audio signal to quantization indices, wherein the quantizer has a dead-zone, in which the input spectral lines are mapped to quantization index zero; and a control device configured to modify the dead-zone; wherein the control device includes a tonality calculating device configured to calculate at least one tonality indicating value for at least one spectrum line or for at least one group of spectral lines, wherein the control device is configured to modify the dead-zone for the at least one spectrum line or the at least one group of spectrum lines depending on the respective tonality indicating value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Martin Dietz, Guillaume Fuchs, Christian Helmrich, Goran Markovic
  • Patent number: 11694704
    Abstract: An apparatus for processing an audio signal having associated therewith a pitch lag information and a gain information, includes a domain converter for converting a first domain representation of the audio signal into a second domain representation of the audio signal; and a harmonic post-filter for filtering the second domain representation of the audio signal, wherein the post-filter is based on a transfer function including a numerator and a denominator, wherein the numerator includes a gain value indicated by the gain information, and wherein the denominator includes an integer part of a pitch lag indicated by the pitch lag information and a multi-tap filter depending on a fractional part of the pitch lag.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 8, 2021
    Date of Patent: July 4, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Emmanuel Ravelli, Christian Helmrich, Goran Markovic, Matthias Neusinger, Sascha Disch, Manuel Jander, Martin Dietz
  • Patent number: 11682408
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating an encoded signal includes: a window sequence controller for generating a window sequence information for windowing an audio or image signal, the window sequence information indicating a first window for generating a first frame of spectral values, a second window function and at least one third window function for generating a second frame of spectral values, wherein the first window function, the second window function and the one or more third window functions overlap within a multi-overlap region; a preprocessor for windowing a second block of samples corresponding to the second window function and the at least one third window functions using an auxiliary window function to acquire a second block of windowed samples, a spectrum converter for applying an aliasing-introducing transform; and a processor for processing the first frame and the second frame to acquire encoded frames of the audio or image signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 20, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Christian Helmrich, Jérémie Lecomte, Goran Markovic, Markus Schnell, Bernd Edler, Stefan Reuschl
  • Patent number: 11657826
    Abstract: An audio decoder for providing at least four audio channel signals on the basis of an encoded representation is configured to provide a first residual signal and a second residual signal on the basis of a jointly encoded representation of the first residual signal and of the second residual signal using a multi-channel decoding. The audio decoder is configured to provide a first audio channel signal and a second audio channel signal on the basis of a first downmix signal and the first residual signal using a residual-signal-assisted multi-channel decoding. The audio decoder is configured to provide a third audio channel signal and a fourth audio channel signal on the basis of a second downmix signal and the second residual signal using a residual-signal-assisted multi-channel decoding. An audio encoder is based on corresponding considerations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Dick, Christian Ertel, Christian Helmrich, Johannes Hilpert, Andreas Hoelzer, Achim Kuntz
  • Publication number: 20230132885
    Abstract: In multichannel audio coding, an improved coding efficiency is achieved by the following measure: the noise filling of zero-quantized scale factor bands is performed using noise filling sources other than artificially generated noise or spectral replica. In particular, the coding efficiency in multichannel audio coding may be rendered more efficient by performing the noise filling based on noise generated using spectral lines from a previous frame of, or a different channel of the current frame of, the multichannel audio signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 27, 2022
    Publication date: May 4, 2023
    Inventors: Maria Luis VALERO, Christian HELMRICH, Johannes HILPERT
  • Patent number: 11621008
    Abstract: An apparatus for encoding an audio or image signal, includes: a controllable windower for windowing the audio or image signal to provide the sequence of blocks of windowed samples; a converter for converting the sequence of blocks of windowed samples into a spectral representation including a sequence of frames of spectral values; a transient location detector for identifying a location of a transient within a transient look-ahead region of a frame; and a controller for controlling the controllable windower to apply a specific window having a specified overlap length to the audio or image signal in response to an identified location of the transient, wherein the controller is configured to select the specific window from a group of at least three windows, wherein the specific window is selected based on the transient location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Christian Helmrich, Jérémie Lecomte, Goran Markovic, Markus Schnell, Bernd Edler, Stefan Reuschl
  • Publication number: 20230087652
    Abstract: The invention provides an audio encoder including a combination of a linear predictive coding filter having a plurality of linear predictive coding coefficients and a time-frequency converter, wherein the combination is configured to filter and to convert a frame of the audio signal into a frequency domain in order to output a spectrum based on the frame and on the linear predictive coding coefficients; a low frequency emphasizer configured to calculate a processed spectrum based on the spectrum, wherein spectral lines of the processed spectrum representing a lower frequency than a reference spectral line are emphasized; and a control device configured to control the calculation of the processed spectrum by the low frequency emphasizer depending on the linear predictive coding coefficients of the linear predictive coding filter.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2022
    Publication date: March 23, 2023
    Inventors: Stefan DOEHLA, Bernhard GRILL, Christian HELMRICH, Nikolaus RETTELBACH
  • Patent number: RE49492
    Abstract: An encoder/decoder is based on a combination of two audio or video channels to obtain a first combination signal as a mid-signal and a residual signal derivable using a predicted side signal derived from the mid-signal. A decoder uses the prediction residual signal, the first combination signal, a prediction direction indicator and prediction information to derive decoded first channel and second channel signals. A real-to-imaginary transform can be applied for estimating the imaginary part of the spectrum of the first combination signal. The prediction signal used in the derivation of the prediction residual signal, the real-valued first combination signal is multiplied by a real portion of the complex prediction information and the estimated imaginary part of the first combination signal is multiplied by an imaginary portion of the complex prediction information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 11, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Julien Robilliard, Matthias Neusinger, Christian Helmrich, Johannes Hilpert, Nikolaus Rettelbach, Sascha Disch, Bernd Edler
  • Patent number: RE49511
    Abstract: An encoder/decoder is based on a combination of two audio or video channels to obtain a first combination signal as a mid-signal and a residual signal derivable using a predicted side signal derived from the mid-signal. A decoder uses the prediction residual signal, the first combination signal, a prediction direction indicator and prediction information to derive decoded first channel and second channel signals. A real-to-imaginary transform can be applied for estimating the imaginary part of the spectrum of the first combination signal. The prediction signal used in the derivation of the prediction residual signal, the real-valued first combination signal is multiplied by a real portion of the complex prediction information and the estimated imaginary part of the first combination signal is multiplied by an imaginary portion of the complex prediction information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 25, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Julien Robilliard, Matthias Neusinger, Christian Helmrich, Johannes Hilpert, Nikolaus Rettelbach, Sascha Disch, Bernd Edler
  • Patent number: RE49549
    Abstract: An encoder/decoder is based on a combination of two audio or video channels to obtain a first combination signal as a mid-signal and a residual signal derivable using a predicted side signal derived from the mid-signal. A decoder uses the prediction residual signal, the first combination signal, a prediction direction indicator and prediction information to derive decoded first channel and second channel signals. A real-to-imaginary transform can be applied for estimating the imaginary part of the spectrum of the first combination signal. The prediction signal used in the derivation of the prediction residual signal, the real-valued first combination signal is multiplied by a real portion of the complex prediction information and the estimated imaginary part of the first combination signal is multiplied by an imaginary portion of the complex prediction information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 6, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Julien Robilliard, Matthias Neusinger, Christian Helmrich, Johannes Hilpert, Nikolaus Rettelbach, Sascha Disch, Bernd Edler
  • Patent number: RE49717
    Abstract: An encoder/decoder is based on a combination of two audio or video channels to obtain a first combination signal as a mid-signal and a residual signal derivable using a predicted side signal derived from the mid-signal. A decoder uses the prediction residual signal, the first combination signal, a prediction direction indicator and prediction information to derive decoded first channel and second channel signals. A real-to-imaginary transform can be applied for estimating the imaginary part of the spectrum of the first combination signal. The prediction signal used in the derivation of the prediction residual signal, the real-valued first combination signal is multiplied by a real portion of the complex prediction information and the estimated imaginary part of the first combination signal is multiplied by an imaginary portion of the complex prediction information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Julien Robilliard, Matthias Neusinger, Christian Helmrich, Johannes Hilpert, Nikolaus Rettelbach, Sascha Disch, Bernd Edler