Abstract: The disclosure relates to an audio processing device. This device comprises an audio processing component, e.g. DSP, a microprocessor, memory and a communication interface. Said microprocessor receives via said communication interface two or more listening profiles from personal devices of two or more persons. Said microprocessor comprises means for calculating a combined listening profile out of the two or more received listening profiles and means for calculating a compensation gain profile out of the combined listening profile. Said audio processing component makes use of the compensation gain profile to adapt the audio processing to the listening deficits of the two or more persons who are jointly consuming the audio presentation from the audio processing device.

Abstract: A challenge of audio watermarking systems in which an acoustic path is involved is the robustness against microphone pickup in case of surrounding noise. The strength of phase-based watermarking is increased by determining a masking threshold for a current frequency bin in a frequency/phase representation changing the phase based on that masking threshold and an allowed phase change value, calculating an allowed magnitude change value for the current frequency bin and calculating from an audio quality level value a magnitude change scaling factor for the magnitude change value, and increasing its magnitude accordingly.

Abstract: As a potential format for next-generation audio, techniques for embedding digital watermarks in the Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA) representation of a sound field have been proposed. The inventive embedding method is adapted for watermarking a two-dimensional or three-dimensional Ambisonics representation of a sound field, wherein the Ambisonics representation is decomposed into directional signals and ambient components and includes estimated dominant directions, and wherein the order of the ambient components can be reduced, and wherein watermark information data are embedded in the directional signals, and at receiver side are regained from the watermarked directional signals.

Abstract: The disclosure relates to the field of electrical connectors, in particular phone connectors. The proposal concerns a socket for an electrical plug which comprises two or more electrical contacts being positioned along a longitudinal axis. The socket includes two or more corresponding contact elements. The socket is constructed in such a way that the corresponding contact elements are mounted at the socket along a curved line such that the electrical plug when inserted into the socket will be bent in the form of the curved line. The proposal further concerns a flexible electrical plug having two or more electrical contact elements positioned along a longitudinal axis wherein the contact elements are constructed in a flexible material.

Abstract: Following transmission of a watermarked audio signal over an acoustic path causing echoes, reverberation and/or noise, watermark detection correlation result peak values are concentrated within a limited temporal range around main correlation result peaks, which limited temporal range is much smaller than the total correlation length. The watermark detection is based on the following: given np correlation result peak values v=(v1, v2, . . . , vnp) in an average or expected probability distribution for correlation result values for unmarked content, the probability is calculated that within windows covering the limited temporal range there are np or more values from a correlation result value set greater than or equal to these peaks v.

Abstract: For determining in a 2nd screen whether or not watermarked audio content received from a 1st screen has been stopped, a watermark symbol detection in the received audio content and a related detection strength value determination is carried out. In case no watermark symbol has been detected, a received expected detection strength value is compared with a detection strength threshold value. If the expected detection strength value is greater than the detection strength threshold value, it is decided that content has been stopped in the 1st screen device. If not, it is decided that content has not been stopped in the 1st screen device. In case a watermark symbol has been detected, the detection strength value is compared with the expected detection strength value, a correspondingly updated detection strength threshold value is calculated, and it is decided that the content has not been stopped in the 1st screen device.

Abstract: Audio watermarking is the process of embedding watermark information items into an audio signal in an in-audible manner. In a first embodiment, in case the original audio signal has parts of low signal energy, an alternative signal having a level or strength given by the psycho-acoustic model is combined with the original audio signal. The combined signal is watermarked with watermark data to be embedded. In a second embodiment, in case the original audio signal has parts of low signal energy, an alternative signal having a level or strength given by the psycho-acoustic model is watermarked with watermark data to be embedded, and the audio signal is watermarked with the watermark data to be embedded. The watermarked alternative signal is combined with the watermarked audio signal.

Abstract: A challenge of audio watermarking systems in which an acoustic path is involved is the robustness against microphone pickup in case of surrounding noise. The strength of phase-based watermarking is increased by determining a masking threshold for a current frequency bin in a frequency/phase representation changing the phase based on that masking threshold and an allowed phase change value, calculating an allowed magnitude change value for the current frequency bin and calculating from an audio quality level value a magnitude change scaling factor for the magnitude change value, and increasing its magnitude accordingly.

Abstract: Improvement of water-mark detection in watermarked microphone audio signals picked up in the presence of surrounding noise is achieved by using at encoder side not only the originally received signal for the calculation of the masking threshold and the watermarking strength, but by also taking into account the level of the surrounding noise. This enables an adaptation of the watermarking strength to the current sound pressure level SPL of the surrounding noise. If the SPL of the surrounding noise is increased, the watermarking strength will be increased accordingly. The resulting advantage is a significantly improved audio watermark detection in the presence of surrounding noise.

Abstract: In watermark symbol detection for watermarked audio signals a correlation and statistical detection is used, which is computationally complex. Therefore a downsampling can be used prior to the correlation. However, if the watermarked audio signals are transmitted over an acoustic path, without downsampling the detection rate is considerably higher than the detection rate when including downsampling of the correlation input signals. There is a trade-off between calculation complexity and detection robustness. According to the invention, an interpolation of the correlation result values is carried out for input to the statistical detector, in order to approximate the detection robustness of correlation without downsampling.

Abstract: Following transmission of a watermarked audio signal over an acoustic path causing echoes, reverberation and/or noise, watermark detection correlation result peak values are concentrated within a limited temporal range around main correlation result peaks, which limited temporal range is much smaller than the total correlation length. The watermark detection is based on the following: given np correlation result peak values v=(v1, v2, . . . , vnp) in an average or expected probability distribution for correlation result values for unmarked content, the probability is calculated that within windows covering the limited temporal range there are np or more values from a correlation result value set greater than or equal to these peaks v.

Abstract: For watermark embedding, without full Dolby AC-3 decoding, mantissa bits in the AC-3 bit stream are changed by exploiting the fact that during AC-3 encoding more bits than required by the perceptual masking curve are used for the quantization of the MDCT coefficient mantissa values. In addition to the bap values, truly required bap values are determined and the mantissa values are changed accordingly, controlled by the watermark information. The advantages are efficient watermark embedding, other bit stream parameters and values remain unchanged except for CRC checks, and the audio quality of the watermarked signal remains perceptually unchanged.

Abstract: Digital audio signal watermarking in real-time is difficult in an environment that has limited processing power. According to the invention, the channels in a data block-based audio multi-channel signal are prioritized with respect to watermarking importance, whereby the channel priority can change for different input signal data blocks. For a current input signal block, the most important channel is watermarked and the required processing time is determined. If this required processing time is shorter than a predefined application-dependent threshold, the next most important channel is marked and the additionally required processing time is determined, and so on. Due to the block-based nature of the audio watermarking including block overlap/add and due to the sensitivity of the resulting audio quality against blocking artifacts, several problems are solved in order to lead to acceptable performance and quality.

Abstract: Watermark symbol detection requires a detection metric for deciding at decoder side which candidate symbol is embedded inside the audio or video signal content. The invention provides an improved detection metric processing that achieves a reliable detection of watermarks in the presence of additional noise and echoes, and that is adaptive to signal reception conditions and requires a decreased computational power. This is performed by taking into account the information contained in the echoes of the received audio signal in the decision metric and comparing it with the corresponding metric obtained from decoding a non-marked audio signal, based on recursive calculation of false positive detection rates of peaks in correlation result values. The watermark symbol corresponding to the reference sequence having the lowest false positive error is selected as the embedded one.

Abstract: Many watermarking detection algorithms are correlation based, whereby an input signal is correlated with reference signals. The correlation with the best match determines the bit value of the watermark information. Usually a watermarked signal undergoes distortion before being fed to a watermark detector. However, the modification is stronger in some frequency ranges than in others. According to the invention, the correlation result for a current input signal section is in addition used for estimating the optimal frequency range or ranges for the following section's correlation, using a cumulative correlation value curve.

Abstract: Audio watermarking is the process of embedding watermark information items into an audio signal in an in-audible manner. In a first embodiment, in case the original audio signal has parts of low signal energy, an alternative signal having a level or strength given by the psycho-acoustic model is combined with the original audio signal. The combined signal is watermarked with watermark data to be embedded. In a second embodiment, in case the original audio signal has parts of low signal energy, an alternative signal having a level or strength given by the psycho-acoustic model is watermarked with watermark data to be embedded, and the audio signal is watermarked with the watermark data to be embedded. The watermarked alternative signal is combined with the watermarked audio signal.

Abstract: In watermarked signal decoding, the embedded message is decoded by correlating the reference patterns with the watermarked signal. The watermark detector decides, depending on the size of the correlation result values, whether or not a given reference pattern was embedded. However, decoding watermarked audio or video signals is difficult if the link between the watermark encoder and the watermark decoder is not a digital one, for example an acoustic path. A re-sampler control unit controls the sampling frequency of a re-sampler, in connection with a watermark decoder that outputs, in addition to the watermark information bits, a corresponding confidence value that is derived from the correlation result and that is used for synchronizing the re-sampler sampling frequency with the original sampling frequency of the watermarked signal. The synchronization processing includes a search mode and a synchronized mode.

Abstract: For watermark embedding, without full Dolby AC-3 decoding, mantissa bits in the AC-3 bit stream are changed by exploiting the fact that during AC-3 encoding more bits than required by the perceptual masking curve are used for the quantization of the MDCT coefficient mantissa values. In addition to the bap values, truly required bap values are determined and the mantissa values are changed accordingly, controlled by the watermark information. The advantages are efficient watermark embedding, other bit stream parameters and values remain unchanged except for CRC checks, and the audio quality of the watermarked signal remains perceptually unchanged.

Abstract: For protecting by watermarking against non-authorised use, e.g. non-authorised recording or copying, original audio or video data which are to be presented in a digital cinema, a sender site generates from the original signal at least two differently pre-watermarked versions for successive blocks or frames of the signal, wherein these versions are derived by applying a repeated watermark symbol value to a version and different watermark symbol values to the different versions. The pre-watermarked signal versions are encrypted and transferred e.g. as data files to a digital cinema unit in which they are decrypted. According to the values of a desired watermark information word, corresponding frames or blocks from said decrypted and pre-watermarked versions are assembled in a successive manner, so as to provide and present a watermarked version of said original audio or video signal that carries said watermark information word.

Abstract: Various audio signal watermarking systems are known, which are also applied to digitally encoded audio signals. However, in current audio signal watermarking systems the watermark signal and its watermark payload do not survive very low bit rate audio coding, in particular parametric coding. According to the invention, a watermarked uncompressed audio signal bit-stream is low-bit rate compressed, but the water-marking is removed and the watermark's payload only is transmitted together with the compressed audio signal bit-stream. At decoder side, the received audio signal bit stream is de-compressed and water-marked again using the transmitted watermark payload. Advantageously, it does not matter that the compressed bitstream is not watermarked because the compressed bitstream can be encrypted prior to transmission.