Abstract: An audio depth dynamic range enhancement system and method for enhancing the dynamic range of depth in audio sound systems as perceived by a human listener. Embodiments of the system and method process an input audio signal by applying a gain function to at least one of a plurality of sub-signals of the audio signal having different values of a spatial depth parameter. The sub-signals are combined to produce a reconstructed audio signal carrying modified audio information. The reconstructed audio signal is output from the system and method for reproduction by the audio sound system. The gain function alters the gain of the at least one of the plurality of sub-signals such that the reconstructed audio signal, when reproduced by the audio sound system, results in modified depth dynamic range of the audio sound system with respect to the spatial depth parameter.

Abstract: An audio depth dynamic range enhancement system and method for enhancing the dynamic range of depth in audio sound systems as perceived by a human listener. Embodiments of the system and method process an input audio signal by applying a gain function to at least one of a plurality of sub-signals of the audio signal having different values of a spatial depth parameter. The sub-signals are combined to produce a reconstructed audio signal carrying modified audio information. The reconstructed audio signal is output from the system and method for reproduction by the audio sound system. The gain function alters the gain of the at least one of the plurality of sub-signals such that the reconstructed audio signal, when reproduced by the audio sound system, results in modified depth dynamic range of the audio sound system with respect to the spatial depth parameter.

Abstract: A method for compressing audio input signals to form a master bit stream that can be scaled to form a scaled bit stream having an arbitrarily prescribed data rate. A hierarchical filterbank decomposes the input signal into a multi-resolution time/frequency representation from which the encoder can efficiently extract both tonal and residual components. The components are ranked and then quantized with reference to the same masking function or different psychoacoustic criteria. The selected tonal components are suitably encoded using differential coding extended to multichannel audio. The time-sample and scale factor components that make up the residual components are encoded using joint channel coding (JCC) extended to multichannel audio. A decoder uses an inverse hierarchical filterbank to reconstruct the audio signals from the tonal and residual components in the scaled bit stream.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for the creation and utilization of unique compressed data stream compositions, structures and formats which allow for the alteration of the data stream's data rate without first decoding the data stream back to its uncompressed form and then re-encoding the resulting uncompressed data at a different data rate. Such methods and apparatus perform this data rate alteration, known as scaling, such that optimal quality is maintained at each scaled data rate, while performing said scaling with low computational complexity. In addition, the present invention provides for data rate alteration in small increments. A unique application for the disclosed bit rate scaling method and apparatus is also described.

Abstract: An impairment signal is introduced into an original visual signal, either electronically or optically, that is not noticeable in a display of the original visual signal but is noticeable in a copy made of the display by a camcorder or other camera, thereby discouraging the unauthorized recording of such displays. One application is to protect commercial movies against being copied in a theatre by a camcorder and distributed. In one form, the added impairment signal includes alternate transparent and dark regions moving across the screen or other display device. The degree of opacity of the dark regions and their speed of movement across the display are selected to make them unnoticeable in the theatre but highly noticeable in a camcorder copy of the movie that is made at a lower frame rate than that at which the movie is displayed.

Abstract: In order to discourage compression of video and other visual image signal data that accompanies unauthorized reproduction, distribution and storage of such data, the signal data is modified in a manner to be essentially imperceptible but which, when compressed and then decompressed, causes the signal quality to be unacceptable. In one approach, the visual signal is modified directly. In another approach, the signal is first transformed into the same domain where a compression-decompression algorithm encodes and decodes the data, and then the transformed signal is modified so that the quality of the visual signal when decompressed and displayed is unacceptably degraded.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for adding watermark data to an input signal is provided. For this method watermark data is embedded into the input signal by modulating elements of the input signal to predefined relationships in reference to other elements of the input signal. By using referential relationships and by using patterned sequences, one or more bits of data can robustly be embedded. Further, a method and apparatus for recovering data embedded by the method and apparatus of the present invention, are also provided. To recover the embedded data, differences between elements of the input signal to reference elements of the signal are calculated and checked against predefined relationships. Predefined relationships thus found are used to recover pieces of the embedded information.

Abstract: An impairment signal is introduced into an original visual signal, either electronically or optically, that is not noticeable in a display of the original visual signal but is noticeable in a copy made of the display by a camcorder or other camera, thereby discouraging the unauthorized recording of such displays. One application is to protect commercial movies against being copied in a theatre by a camcorder and distributed. In one form, the added impairment signal includes alternate transparent and dark regions moving across the screen or other display device. The degree of opacity of the dark regions and their speed of movement across the display are selected to make them unnoticeable in the theatre but highly noticeable in a camcorder copy of the movie that is made at a lower frame rate than that at which the movie is displayed.

Abstract: In order to discourage compression of video and other visual image signal data that accompanies unauthorized reproduction, distribution and storage of such data, the signal data is modified in a manner to be essentially imperceptible but which, when compressed and then decompressed, causes the signal quality to be unacceptable. In one approach, the visual signal is modified directly. In another approach, the signal is first transformed into the same domain where a compression-decompression algorithm encodes and decodes the data, and then the transformed signal is modified so that the quality of the visual signal when decompressed and displayed is unacceptably degraded.