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).

  • Patent number: 10468043
    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: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Martin Dietz, Guillaume Fuchs, Christian Helmrich, Goran Markovic
  • Patent number: 10438596
    Abstract: An audio encoder for providing an encoded audio information on the basis of an input audio information has a bandwidth extension information provider configured to provide bandwidth extension information using a variable temporal resolution and a detector configured to detect an onset of a fricative or affricate. The audio encoder is configured to adjust a temporal resolution used by the bandwidth extension information provider such that bandwidth extension information is provided with an increased temporal resolution at least for a predetermined period of time before a time at which an onset of a fricative or affricate is detected and for a predetermined period of time following the time at which the onset of the fricative or affricate is detected. Alternatively or in addition, the bandwidth extension information is provided with an increased temporal resolution in response to a detection of an offset of a fricative or affricate. Audio encoders and methods use a corresponding concept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 29, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 8, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Disch, Christian Helmrich, Markus Multrus, Markus Schnell, Arthur Tritthart
  • Patent number: 10410642
    Abstract: Noise filling of a spectrum of an audio signal is improved in quality with respect to the noise filled spectrum so that the reproduction of the noise filled audio signal is less annoying, by performing the noise filling in a manner dependent on a tonality of the audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Disch, Marc Gayer, Christian Helmrich, Goran Markovic, Maria Luis Valero
  • Publication number: 20190251986
    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: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2019
    Publication date: August 15, 2019
    Inventors: Andreas NIEDERMEIER, Christian ERTEL, Ralf GEIGER, Florin GHIDO, Christian HELMRICH
  • Patent number: 10354661
    Abstract: A multi-channel audio decoder for providing at least two output audio signals on the basis of an encoded representation is configured to perform a weighted combination of a downmix signal, a decorrelated signal and a residual signal, to obtain one of the output audio signals. The multi-channel audio decoder is configured to determine a weight describing a contribution of the decorrelated signal in the weighted combination in dependence on the residual signal. A multi-channel audio encoder for providing an encoded representation of a multi-channel audio signal is configured to obtain a downmix signal on the basis of the multi-channel audio signal, to provide parameters describing dependencies between the channels of the multi-channel audio signal, and to provide a residual signal. The multi-channel audio encoder is configured to vary an amount of residual signal included into the encoded representation in dependence on the multi-channel audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Dick, Christian Helmrich, Johannes Hilpert, Andreas Hoelzer
  • Patent number: 10354662
    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 19, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Christian Helmrich, Jeremie Lecomte, Goran Markovic, Markus Schnell, Bernd Edler, Stefan Reuschl
  • Patent number: 10354665
    Abstract: An apparatus for generating a frequency enhancement signal has: a signal generator for generating an enhancement signal from a core signal, the enhancement signal having an enhancement frequency range not included in the core signal, wherein a current time portion of the enhancement signal or the core signal has subband signals for a plurality of subbands; a controller for calculating the same smoothing information for the plurality of subband signals of the enhancement frequency range or the core signal, and wherein the signal generator is configured for smoothing the plurality of subband signals of the enhancement frequency range or the core signal using the same smoothing information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 16, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Disch, Ralf Geiger, Christian Helmrich, Markus Multrus, Konstantin Schmidt
  • Patent number: 10347274
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal, includes: a spectral domain audio decoder for generating a first decoded representation of a first set of first spectral portions being spectral prediction residual values; a frequency regenerator for generating a reconstructed second spectral portion using a first spectral portion of the first set of first spectral portions, wherein the reconstructed second spectral portion additionally includes spectral prediction residual values; and an inverse prediction filter for performing an inverse prediction over frequency using the spectral residual values for the first set of first spectral portions and the reconstructed second spectral portion using prediction filter information included in the encoded audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2019
    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
  • Publication number: 20190198031
    Abstract: An audio decoder provides a decoded audio information on the basis of an encoded audio information including linear prediction coefficients (LPC) and includes a tilt adjuster to adjust a tilt of a noise using linear prediction coefficients of a current frame to acquire a tilt information and a noise inserter configured to add the noise to the current frame in dependence on the tilt information. Another audio decoder includes a noise level estimator to estimate a noise level for a current frame using a linear prediction coefficient of at least one previous frame to acquire a noise level information; and a noise inserter to add a noise to the current frame in dependence on the noise level information provided by the noise level estimator. Thus, side information about a background noise in the bit-stream may be omitted. Methods and computer programs serve a similar purpose.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Guillaume FUCHS, Christian HELMRICH, Manuel JANDER, Benjamin SCHUBERT, Yoshikazu YOKOTANI
  • Publication number: 20190198034
    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: February 27, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Emmanuel RAVELLI, Christian HELMRICH, Goran MARKOVIC, Matthias NEUSINGER, Sascha DISCH, Manuel JANDER, Martin DIETZ
  • Publication number: 20190198029
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal, includes a spectral domain audio decoder for generating a first decoded representation of a first set of first spectral portions, the decoded representation having a first spectral resolution; a parametric decoder for generating a second decoded representation of a second set of second spectral portions having a second spectral resolution being lower than the first spectral resolution; a frequency regenerator for regenerating every constructed second spectral portion having the first spectral resolution using a first spectral portion and spectral envelope information for the second spectral portion; and a spectrum time converter for converting the first decoded representation and the reconstructed second spectral portion into a time representation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Publication date: June 27, 2019
    Inventors: Sascha DISCH, Frederik NAGEL, Ralf GEIGER, Balaji Nagendran THOSHKAHNA, Konstantin SCHMIDT, Stefan BAYER, Christian NEUKAM, Bernd EDLER, Christian HELMRICH
  • Patent number: 10332531
    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 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Andreas Niedermeier, Christian Ertel, Ralf Geiger, Florin Ghido, Christian Helmrich
  • Patent number: 10332539
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal, includes: a spectral domain audio decoder for generating a first decoded representation of a first set of first spectral portions being spectral prediction residual values; a frequency regenerator for generating a reconstructed second spectral portion using a first spectral portion of the first set of first spectral portions, wherein the reconstructed second spectral portion additionally includes spectral prediction residual values; and an inverse prediction filter for performing an inverse prediction over frequency using the spectral residual values for the first set of first spectral portions and the reconstructed second spectral portion using prediction filter information included in the encoded audio signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 7, 2015
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellscheaft zur Foerderung der angewanften Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Sascha Disch, Frederik Nagel, Ralf Geiger, Balaji Nagendran Thoshkahna, Konstantin Schmidt, Stefan Bayer, Christian Neukam, Bernd Edler, Christian Helmrich
  • Publication number: 20190189138
    Abstract: A frequency-domain audio codec is provided with the ability to additionally support a certain transform length in a backward-compatible manner, by the following: the frequency-domain coefficients of a respective frame are transmitted in an interleaved manner irrespective of the signalization signaling for the frames as to which transform length actually applies, and additionally the frequency-domain coefficient extraction and the scale factor extraction operate independent from the signalization. By this measure, old-fashioned frequency-domain audio coders/decoders, insensitive for the signalization, would be able to nevertheless operate without faults and with reproducing a reasonable quality. Concurrently, frequency-domain audio coders/decoders able to support the additional transform length would offer even better quality despite the backward compatibility.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 25, 2019
    Publication date: June 20, 2019
    Inventors: Sascha DICK, Christian HELMRICH, Andreas HOELZER
  • Publication number: 20190180762
    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: February 15, 2019
    Publication date: June 13, 2019
    Inventors: Maria Luis VALERO, Christian HELMRICH, Johannes HILPERT
  • Publication number: 20190172473
    Abstract: A schematic block diagram of a decoder for decoding an encoded audio signal is shown. The decoder includes an adaptive spectrum-time converter and an overlap-add-processor. The adaptive spectrum-time converter converts successive blocks of spectral values into successive blocks of time values, e.g. via a frequency-to-time transform. Furthermore, the adaptive spectrum-time converter receives a control information and switches, in response to the control information, between transform kernels of a first group of transform kernels including one or more transform kernels having different symmetries at sides of a kernel, and a second group of transform kernels including one or more transform kernels having the same symmetries at sides of a transform kernel. Moreover, the overlap-add-processor overlaps and adds the successive blocks of time values to obtain decoded audio values, which may be a decoded audio signal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 8, 2019
    Publication date: June 6, 2019
    Inventors: Christian HELMRICH, Bernd EDLER
  • Patent number: 10311892
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal, includes a spectral domain audio decoder for generating a first decoded representation of a first set of first spectral portions, the decoded representation having a first spectral resolution; a parametric decoder for generating a second decoded representation of a second set of second spectral portions having a second spectral resolution being lower than the first spectral resolution; a frequency regenerator for regenerating every constructed second spectral portion having the first spectral resolution using a first spectral portion and spectral envelope information for the second spectral portion; and a spectrum time converter for converting the first decoded representation and the reconstructed second spectral portion into a time representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 4, 2019
    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: 10276183
    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 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Andreas Niedermeier, Christian Ertel, Ralf Geiger, Florin Ghido, Christian Helmrich
  • Patent number: 10276184
    Abstract: An apparatus for decoding an encoded audio signal, includes a spectral domain audio decoder for generating a first decoded representation of a first set of first spectral portions, the decoded representation having a first spectral resolution; a parametric decoder for generating a second decoded representation of a second set of second spectral portions having a second spectral resolution being lower than the first spectral resolution; a frequency regenerator for regenerating every constructed second spectral portion having the first spectral resolution using a first spectral portion and spectral envelope information for the second spectral portion; and a spectrum time converter for converting the first decoded representation and the reconstructed second spectral portion into a time representation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2019
    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: 10269365
    Abstract: An audio decoder provides a decoded audio information on the basis of an encoded audio information including linear prediction coefficients (LPC) and includes a tilt adjuster to adjust a tilt of a noise using linear prediction coefficients of a current frame to acquire a tilt information and a noise inserter configured to add the noise to the current frame in dependence on the tilt information. Another audio decoder includes a noise level estimator to estimate a noise level for a current frame using a linear prediction coefficient of at least one previous frame to acquire a noise level information; and a noise inserter to add a noise to the current frame in dependence on the noise level information provided by the noise level estimator. Thus, side information about a background noise in the bit-stream may be omitted. Methods and computer programs serve a similar purpose.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2019
    Assignee: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
    Inventors: Guillaume Fuchs, Christian Helmrich, Manuel Jander, Benjamin Schubert, Yoshikazu Yokotani