Inter prediction in multi-channel signal coding

Abstract

An embodiment is related to a decoder / encoder for decoding / encoding a multi-channel digital signal from / into a data stream configured to decode / encode coded channels representing the multi-channel digital signal from / into the data stream in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding / encoding from / into the data stream a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels by determining one or more prediction parameters and predicting a current temporal block of a predetermined coded channel from a reference block portion of one or more reference channels using the one or more prediction parameters. The one or more prediction parameters are determined based on a preceding temporal segment of the predetermined coded channel and a preceding temporal reference segment of the one or more reference channels.

Description

Inter prediction in multi-channel signal coding Description Embodiments according to the invention are related to apparatuses and methods for encoding or decoding a multi-channel digital signal using an efficient implementation of inter channel prediction, e.g., of inter prediction in multi-channel signal coding. Introductory remarks: In the following, different inventive embodiments and aspects will be described in a chapter “Setup and Summary”, in a chapter “Affine linear inter-channel prediction with signal adaptive input channel selection, flexible number of input channels and signal adaptive temporal alignment”, in a chapter “Derivation of the regression parameters at the decoder “, in a chapter “Random access capabilities”, in a chapter “Inter Channel sample prediction having multiple input samples per channel for each output sample” and in a chapter “Further embodiments”. Also, further embodiments will be defined by the enclosed claims. It should be noted that any embodiments as defined by the claims can be supplemented by any of the details (features and functionalities) described in the above mentioned chapters. Also, the embodiments described in the above mentioned chapters can be used individually, and can also be supplemented by any of the features in another chapter, or by any feature included in the claims. Also, it should be noted that individual aspects described herein can be used individually or in combination. Thus, details can be added to each of said individual aspects without adding details to another one of said aspects. It should also be noted that the present disclosure describes, explicitly or implicitly, features usable in encoder (apparatus for providing an encoded representation of an input signal). Thus, any of the features described herein can be used in the context of an encoder. Further, it should also be noted that the present disclosure describes, explicitly or implicitly, features usable in decoder (apparatus for decoding an encoded signal). Thus, any of the features FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhdescribed herein can be used in the context of a decoder. Moreover, features and functionalities disclosed herein relating to a method can also be used in an apparatus (configured to perform such functionality). Furthermore, any features and functionalities disclosed herein with respect to an apparatus can also be used in a corresponding method. In other words, the methods disclosed herein can be supplemented by any of the features and functionalities described with respect to the apparatuses. Also, any of the features and functionalities described herein can be implemented in hardware or in software, or using a combination of hardware and software, as will be described in the section “implementation alternatives”. In general, inter prediction involves estimating or predicting signal information at one channel or frame based on its correlation with other channels or frames. Inter prediction in multi-channel signal coding introduces several challenges and problems, including computational complexity, noise propagation, accuracy of correlation models, and compatibility with various signal types. Therefore, it is desired to provide concepts for rendering multi-channel signal coding more efficient to support inter-prediction. It is desired to reduce a computational complexity and a bit stream and thus a signalization cost. Additionally, it is desired to provide a coding concept using inter prediction, which is compatible with various signal types. This is achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims of the present application. Further embodiments according to the invention are defined by the subject matter of the dependent claims of the present application. Summary of the Invention In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, the inventors of the present application realized that one problem encountered when trying to use inter prediction for predicting samples of a predetermined block of a multi-channel digital signal stems from the fact that such a signal might have a very large number of channels, wherein some of these channels may be locally highly correlated while others might be completely uncorrelated or even independent and the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhsignals in the different channels may not be temporally aligned with each other. According to the first aspect of the present application, this difficulty is overcome by considering information provided by a segment temporally preceding a current temporal block of a coded channel and a segment temporally preceding a reference block portion of reference channel, wherein the reference block portion is used to inter predict the current temporal block. The inventors found, that it is advantageous to consider this information for determining one or more prediction parameters for the inter prediction. This is based on the idea that a relationship of the current temporal block to the reference block portion is the same, or is at least pretty close to, the relationship of the segment temporally preceding the current temporal block relative to the segment temporally preceding the reference block portion. Thus, if the one or more prediction parameters are determined so that their application onto the segment temporally preceding the reference block portion results into a “prediction” for the segment temporally preceding the current temporal block, which minimizes the prediction residual towards the the segment temporally preceding the current temporal block, this one or more prediction parameter should, if the assumption holds true, also minimize the deviation of the prediction signal obtained by applying the one or more prediction parameters thus determined onto the reference block portion from the current temporal block. As a result, a prediction residual associated with the current temporal block may be coded with fewer bits due to the preciseness in having derived the prediction signal associated with the current temporal block. Additionally, this determination of the one or more prediction parameters has the advantage that same can be done inherently by a decoder without any explicit signaling in a data stream, thereby reducing the side information signaling overhead. Accordingly, in accordance with a first aspect of the present application, a decoder / encoder for decoding / encoding a multi-channel digital signal from / into a data stream is configured to decode / encode coded channels representing the multi-channel digital signal from / into the data stream in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding / encoding from / into the data stream a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels before decoding / encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels by determining one or more prediction parameters and predicting a current temporal block of a predetermined coded channel from a reference block portion of one or more reference channels using the one or more prediction parameters. The reference block portion, e.g., may be denoted as ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^+^^^^with ^^^^ indexing the one or more reference channels, ^^^^0indicating a sample position right before the current temporalblock, ^^^^^^^^ indicating a temporal offset and ^^^^ indexing the samples within the reference blockportion. The one or more prediction parameters are determined based on a preceding (e.g., previously decoded / encoded; e.g., one temporally preceding the current temporal block) temporal FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhsegment of the predetermined coded channel and a preceding (e.g., previously decoded / encoded; e.g., one temporally preceding the reference block portion) temporal reference segment of the one or more reference channels. An embodiment is related to a method for decoding / encoding a multi-channel digital signal from / into a data stream comprising decoding / encoding coded channels representing the multi- channel digital signal from / into the data stream in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding / encoding from / into the data stream a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels before decoding / encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels by determining one or more prediction parameters and predicting a current temporal block of a predetermined coded channel from a reference block portion of one or more reference channels using the one or more prediction parameters. The determining of the one or more prediction parameters is performed based on a preceding temporal segment of the predetermined coded channel and based on a preceding temporal reference segment of the one or more reference channels. The method as described above is based on the same considerations as the above-described decoder / encoder. The method can, by the way, be completed with all features and functionalities, which are also described herein with regard to the decoder / encoder. In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, the inventors of the present application realized that one problem encountered when trying to use inter prediction for predicting samples of a predetermined block of a multi-channel digital signal stems from the fact that in multi- channel scenarios a handling of inter prediction for diverse input signals with varying dynamics, noise levels, and channel characteristics is challenging, especially in terms of balancing between computational efficiency and prediction accuracy. According to the second aspect of the present application, this difficulty is overcome by using multiple reference samples per reference channel for predicting a sample value for a sample of a current temporal block of a currently coded channel. The inventors found, that the usage of more than one reference sample as input for inter prediction significantly increases a prediction quality. This reduces the needed bits for encoding a residual (the difference between actual and predicted values) and increases thus a compression efficiency. This is based on the finding that even though the multi-channel digital signals under consideration might be highly oscillatory within very short time intervals, it is advantageous to not only consider one reference sample but two or more, e.g., consecutive, reference samples of a reference channel exploiting correlations effectively. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhAccordingly, in accordance with a second aspect of the present application, a decoder / encoder for decoding / encoding a multi-channel digital signal from / into a data stream is configured to decode / encode coded channels representing the multi-channel digital signal from / into the data stream in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding / encoding from / into the data stream a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels before decoding / encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels by predicting a current temporal block of a predetermined coded channel based on one or more reference block portions of a set of one or more reference channels of the coded channels (e.g., one reference block portion per reference channel; e.g., each reference block portion of the one or more reference block portions may be associated with a reference channel of the set of one or more reference channels, wherein no more than one reference block portion is associated with the same reference channel) using one or more prediction parameters, e.g., signalled in the data stream or obtained based on preceding temporal segments as described above, so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the current temporal block in a manner so that, for each sample of the current temporal block, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion. A reference block portion, e.g., may be denoted as ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^+^^^^with ^^^^ indexing a channel of the one or more reference channels, ^^^^0indicating a sample position right before the current temporal block, ^^^^^^^^indicating a temporal offset and ^^^^ indexing the samples within the reference block portion. An embodiment is related to a method for decoding / encoding a multi-channel digital signal from / into a data stream comprising decoding / encoding coded channels representing the multi- channel digital signal from / into the data stream in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding / encoding from / into the data stream a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels before decoding / encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels by predicting a current temporal block of a predetermined coded channel based on one or more reference block portions of a set of one or more reference channels of the coded channels using one or more prediction parameters, e.g., signalled in the data stream or obtained based on preceding temporal segments as described above, so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the current temporal block in a manner so that, for each sample of the current temporal block, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhThe method as described above is based on the same considerations as the above-described decoder / encoder. The method can, by the way, be completed with all features and functionalities, which are also described herein with regard to the decoder / encoder. An embodiment is related to a data stream having a multi-channel digital signal encoded thereinto using a herein described method for encoding or encoder. An embodiment is related to a computer program having a program code for performing, when running on a computer, a herein described method, when being executed on the computer. Brief Description of the Drawings The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. In the following description, various embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the following drawings, in which: Fig.1 shows an embodiment of an encoder and decoder with inherent prediction parameter derivation; Fig.2 shows an encoder for encoding a multi-channel digital signal into a data stream as well as decoder for decoding the multi-channel digital signal from the data stream; Fig.3a shows a decoder for decoding a multi-channel digital signal using an inter-channel prediction mode; and Fig.3b shows a decoder for decoding a multi-channel digital signal using an intra-channel prediction mode. Detailed Description of the Embodiments Equal or equivalent elements or elements with equal or equivalent functionality are denoted in the following description by equal or equivalent reference numerals even if occurring in different figures. In the following description, a plurality of details is set forth to provide a more throughout explanation of embodiments of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhin the art that embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form rather than in detail in order to avoid obscuring embodiments of the present invention. In addition, features of the different embodiments described herein after may be combined with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise. 1 Setup and Summary The present application deals with the coding of multi-channel waveform-signals, which might for example be given by seismic data or biomedical data such as Electroencephalography, Electromyography or Electrocardiography signals. Its subject is the coding of such waveform data by means of methods which exploit that the signals in the various channels of the waveforms under consideration are not statistically independent. Thus, the methods presented in this application aim to exploit these dependencies by invoking predictive or conditional coding between the channels. The following peculiarities are particularly important for the present application scenario. First, the underlying waveforms might have a very large number of channels. Some of these channels may be locally highly correlated while others might be completely uncorrelated or even independent. Also, the signals in the different channels may not be temporally aligned with each other. Dedicated methods to deal with this complicated multi-channel coding scenario are presented in this invention. Second, the signals under consideration might be highly oscillatory which means that they fully exploit the allowed sample-value range, which might for example be given by the integers within[−2^^^^, 2^^^^ − 1] with ^^^^ = 15 or ^^^^ = 31, within very short time intervals. Consequently, estimationsof regression parameters that define signal adaptive prediction methods between the channels can a priori be very unstable when implemented in fixed point arithmetic. A special method is presented to deal with this problem by keeping high precision when inverting the involved covariance matrices in integer arithmetic. Third, for applications, random access capabilities might be desirable that allow to at least partially code channels or subsets of channels independently. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh2 Affine linear inter-channel prediction with signal adaptive input channel selection, flexible number of input channels and signal adaptive temporal alignment Fig.1 shows a schematic embodiment of an encoder 10 and a decoder 12. The encoder 10 is configured to encode a multi-channel digital signal 14 into a data stream 16 and the decoder 12 is configured to decode the multi-channel digital signal 14 from the data stream 16. The encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to encode / decode coded channels 200 representing the multi- channel digital signal 14 into / from the data stream 16 in temporal blocks 30, see 30a to 30f, with sequentially, see the encoding / decoding order 60, encoding / decoding into / from the data stream 16 a predetermined temporal block, see exemplarily 140a, of each of the coded channels 200 before encoding / decoding a subsequent temporal block, see exemplarily 140b, of any of the coded channels 200. In other words, for each of the coded channels 200, a respective temporal block associated with a first time segment, or time period, e.g., see 30a, is encoded / decoded, e.g., in ascending coded channels order 32, before, for each of the coded channels 200, a respective subsequent temporal block associated with a second, e.g., subsequent (e.g., directly following the first time segment), time segment, or time period, e.g., see 30b, is encoded / decoded, e.g., in ascending coded channels order 32. Thus, all blocks associated with a first time segment, e.g., see 30a, are coded in ascending coded channels order 32 before all blocks associated with a subsequent time segment, e.g., see 30b, are coded in ascending coded channels order 32. The temporal blocks, for example, are temporally aligned among the coded channels 200, so that mutually co-located temporal blocks (e.g., blocks associated with the same time segment 30) of the coded channels 200 commonly start at a predetermined time instant and end at a further predetermined time instant at which the subsequent temporal segment of the coded channels 200 start. The decoding / encoding order 60, for example, traverses the temporal blocks across all coded channels 200 within a certain time segment first before proceeding with the temporal blocks of a subsequent time segment. Note that the “reference block portions” are temporal / blockal portions of the same length as the “temporal blocks” in units of which the decoding / encoding is performed. Fig.1 shows an example, where all temporal blocks have the same length. However, the herein discussed encoder 10 / decoder 12 may alternatively be configured to support different lengths of the temporal blocks and set a length of the temporal blocks according to a length parameter in the data stream 16. The encoder 10 / decoder 12 may be configured to switch between the different lengths of the temporal blocks at predetermined borders between consecutive temporal blocks according to a length parameter in the data stream 16, e.g. at a border between two consecutive FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhtime segments 30, e.g., see the border between samples 40 at a time instant T0and samples at a time instant T0+1. Assume that the signal 14 has ^^^^ channels 200 with ^^^^ samples 40 per channel 200. For ^^^^ ∈{1, … ,^^^^} and ^^^^ ∈ {1, … ,^^^^} let ^^^^^^^^,^^^^ be the ^^^^-th sample 40 in the ^^^^-th channel 200. Fig. 1 shows14 along a time axis 22, e.g., a subset of the T samples 40,e.g., may one or more temporal blocks 30 before shwon temporal block 30a and / or one or more temporal blocks 30 after temporal block 30f. Assume that for a channel ^^^^, see 92, with 1≤ ^^^^ ≤ ^^^^, a temporal subblock, e.g. a current temporal block 140, of length ^^^^ is to be codedstarting at position ^^^^0 + 1. Thus, the sample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^ are to be coded. Assumethat ^^^^ > 1. Assume that for each channel 200 with index 1 ≤ ^^^^ < ^^^^, the sample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^, 1 ≤^^^^ ≤ ^^^^0 + ^^^^ have already been coded. Let ^^^^^^^^,^^^^ be the corresponding reconstructed sample values,which are available to the encoder and to the decoder. Fig.1 shows exemplarily the previously encoded / decoded temporal blocks and their samples by way of shading, see 210. The affine linear inter-channel prediction, e.g., used by a predictor 62 of the encoder 10 and by a predictor 86 of the decoder 12, which is the scope of the present invention uses ^^^^ input channels, e.g., reference channels 92a, 1 ≤ ^^^^ < ^^^^ to generate a linear prediction for the current samplevalues ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^. Fig. 1 shows exemplarily the usage of one reference channel 92a, i.e.K=1. Consequently, in this invention, it is suggested that, e.g., one or more of the following initial parameters are transmitted in the bit-stream 16. 1. The number ^^^^ ∈ {1, … , ^^^^ − 1} of input channels used for the prediction, e.g., seereference channel 92a as an example for an input channel. Additionally, or alternatively a number of reference block portions 142 of the one or more reference channels 92a (e.g., the number ^^^^ of reference channels together with a number of reference block portions 142 per reference channel or only the number of reference block portions 142, wherein it is inferred that each reference channel 92a of the set of one or more reference channels 92a comprises only one reference block portion 142). 2. The set ℐ^^^^ = {^^^^1, … , ^^^^^^^^} ⊆ {1, … , ^^^^ − 1} of input channels used for the prediction, e.g.,the reference channel 92a being one of the set ℐ^^^^of one or more reference channels. For each of the set of one or more reference channels 92a a channel index may identify the respective reference channel out of coded channels. The set ℐ^^^^of one or more reference channels 92a may comprise one or more channels 200, which are preceding the predetermined coded channel 92 in coded channel order 32 (e.g., which precede FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhthe predetermined coded channel 92 in a channel order 32 along which the predetermined temporal blocks of the coded channels 200 are sequentially decoded before decoding the subsequent temporal block of the coded channels 200). 3. For each ^^^^ ∈ ℐ^^^^, a temporal offset ^^^^^^^^ ∈ {0, … ,^^^^0 − 1}, which is denoted as 148 in Fig. 1.The coded channels 200 may represent channel predicted channels. Alternatively, the coded channels 200 may comprise a set of inter-channel predicted channels. The inter-channel predicted channels may be channels comprising temporal blocks, which are predicted using inter-prediction. Beside the set of inter-channel predicted channels, the coded channels 200 may additionally comprise a set of random access channels 88 (see section 4 below) and / or channels associated with other prediction modes, like a set of intra-channel predicted channels. The inter-channel predicted channels comprise a predetermined coded channel 92, herein also understood as current coded channel, which comprises a current temporal block 140, which is inter-predicted, i.e. inter-channel predicted. For each of the set of inter-channel predicted channels a respective set of one or more reference channels may be indicated in the data stream 16, wherein for each of the set of one or more reference channels, a channel index may identify the respective reference channel out of the coded channels 200. In case the coded channels 200 also comprise the set of random access channels 88, the channel indices may be encoded / decoded into / from the data stream 16 using the parametrized binarization described in section 4 below. According to an embodiment, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to encode / decode, for each of the set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels, a number of reference channels 92a based on which the current temporal block 140 of the respective inter-channel predicted channel is to be predicted. For example, for the predetermined coded channel 92, shown in Fig.1, which represent an inter-channel predicted channel, the number of reference channels 92a based on which the current temporal block 140 is to be predicted is one.If the initial parameters are specified, a second set {^^^^^^^^: ^^^^ ∈ ℐ^^^^} ⊔ {^^^^} of parameters may bespecified. The parameter ^^^^^^^^denoting a scale for the ith reference block portion 142 (e.g., a scale per reference channel ofthe set of the one or more reference channels 92a) and b denoting anoffset. The prediction of the current sample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^ may be given by the values^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1, … ,^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, where for ^^^^ ∈ {1, … ,^^^^} one has^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ = ∑^^^^∈ℐ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^+^^^^ + ^^^^. (1)FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhIn other words, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to predict the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92 from reference block portions, see 142, of the one or more reference channels, see 92a, using one or more prediction parameters 90, such as ^^^^^^^^and / or b. The one or more prediction parameters 90 may be signaled in the data stream or may bederivable as described below, e.g., see especially section 3 and section 6. 1 shows exemplarily a prediction of the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92 from the reference block portion 142 of the reference channel 92a. However, it is also possible that the prediction of the current temporal block 140 is based on, for each of a set of two or more reference channels (e.g., K≥2; e.g., 92a may be one of the two or more reference channels), a reference block portion of the respective reference channel (e.g., see 142 for reference channel 92a). That means that the respective reference block portion of the two or more reference channels are used to predict the current temporal block 140. According to an embodiment, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to encode / decode into / from the data stream 16, for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels 200, including the current coded channel, i.e. the predetermined coded channel 92, for each of one or more reference channels associated with the respective inter- channel predicted channel, a temporal offset 148 at which, respectively the reference block portion 142 of the respective reference channel 92a is temporally offset 148, e.g. delayed, relative to the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92, and the preceding temporal reference segment 146 of the respective reference channel 92a is temporally offset 148, e.g. delayed, relative to the preceding temporal segment 144 of the predetermined coded channel 92. Additionally, the decoder 12 / encoder 10 is configured to derive (e.g., determine), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels 200, for each of the one or more reference channels associated with the respective inter-channel predicted channel, the preceding temporal reference segment 146 and the reference block portion 142 of the respective reference channel 92a using the temporal offset 148 decoded from the data stream 16 for the respective reference channel 92a. The encoder 10 is configured to encode into the data stream 16, for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels 200, for each of the one or more reference channels associated with the respective inter- channel predicted channel, the temporal offset 148, so that the preceding temporal reference segment 146 and the reference block portion 142 of the respective reference channel 92a are derivable (e.g., from the data stream 16) using the temporal offset 148. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhThe transmission of the number ^^^^, of the set ℐ^^^^ and of the temporal offsets ^^^^^^^^ ∈ {0, … ,^^^^0 − 1}might invoke lossless methods to further decrease the bitrate. In one example, these numbers / indices might be transmitted predictively, based on their values of preceding blocks, e.g. previously encoded / decoded temporal blocks 210; then, only a residual to the respective values of preceding blocks needs to be transmitted. In another example, these numbers / indices might still be transmitted predictively, where a list of possible candidates is generated out of the respective values on preceding blocks and only a list index is transmitted. In another example, methods of context based adaptive binary arithmetic coding (CABAC) are invoked for the transmission of the numbers / indices: For example, a truncated unary binarization might be invoked where the bins are CABAC-coded or some specific flags appearing in the predictive coding might be invoked for the same purpose. In yet another example, a variable length code might be used where shorter codewords are assigned to e.g. smaller temporal offsets 148 or where the elements of the set ℐ^^^^are coded as the respective distance in channel direction, see 32, to the current channel ^^^^ and where shorter codewords are assigned to smaller values or where the number ^^^^ is coded such that shorter codewords are assigned to smaller values. In yet another example, it might be specified that only a maximal number ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^of input channels, e.g. comprising reference channel 92a, is allowed as prediction input in order to keep the complexity (i.g. memory access and number of operations to generate the prediction signal) limited. According to an embodiment, the one or more initial parameters (e.g., the number ^^^^, the set ℐ^^^^and / or the temporal offsets ^^^^^^^^) are encoded / decoded differentially, e.g., one or more initial parameters associated block 140b (associated with a predetermined temporalinterval indicated by numeral 30b) may be encoded / decoded differentially with respect to corresponding one or more initial parameters associated with the preceding temporal block 140a (associated with a preceding temporal interval indicated by reference numeral 30a). For example, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 may be configured to encode / decode into / from the data stream 16, for the temporal offsets 148, differential values (e.g., differential temporal offset values) for a FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhpredetermined temporal interval (e.g., for the current temporal block 140 the predetermined temporal interval may be indicated by the reference numeral 30d), and / or for the number of reference channels 92a, a differential value (e.g., a differential reference channel number) for the predetermined temporal interval, and / or for the one or more channel indices (i.e. the set ℐ^^^^of one or more reference channels 92a), one or more differential values (e.g., a differential channel index) for the predetermined temporal interval. The temporal offsets 148, the number of reference channels 92a and / or the one or more channel indices can be determined / reconstructed for the predetermined temporal interval by adding the respective differential value to a respective value of the temporal offsets 148, the number of reference channels 92a and / or the one or more channel indices, which is valid for a preceding temporal interval (e.g., for the current temporal block 140 the preceding temporal interval may be indicated by the reference numeral 30c). According to an embodiment, the one or more initial parameters (e.g., the number ^^^^, the set ℐ^^^^and / or the temporal offsets ^^^^^^^^) are encoded / decoded using a look-up table. For example, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 configured to encode / decode into / from the data stream 16, for aset of one or more of the temporal offsets 148, the number of reference channels 92a, and the one or more channel indices (i.e. the set ℐ^^^^of one or more reference channels 92a), a parameter index. The parameter index is usable to determine the set of one or more of the temporal offsets 148, the number of reference channels 92a, and the channel indices by a table look-up. All the aforementioned methods might also be mutually combined when transmitting the numbers / indices. The parameters in equation (1) might either be transmitted in the bitstream 16 or be determined at the decoder 12 based on already reconstructed sample values, see 210, of the current channel, see the predetermined coded channel 92, and of the input channels, e.g., comprising 92a. Such a prediction parameter 90 derivation is explained in more detail in the next section. 3 Derivation of the regression parameters at the decoder The description in this section focuses on a derivation of one or more prediction parameters 90 at FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mha decoder 12 side, e.g., performed by a prediction parameter derivator 87. This is due to the fact that the prediction parameter derivation as described in the following is especially advantageous for the decoder 12, since this concept allows to determin the one or more prediction parameters 90 inherently by the decoder without any explicit signaling in a data stream 16, thereby reducing the side information signaling overhead. However, this prediction parameter derivation can be done by both, the decoder 12 and the encoder 10 (e.g., by the prediction parameter derivator 63 of the encoder 10). For example, fix a number ^^^^ of already reconstructed samples before the point ^^^^0which are to be used for the parameter derivation. Then, for this part of the invention, the prediction parameters90, e.g., ^^^^1, … , ^^^^^^^^ ,^^^^ from equation (1), are determined based on the reconstruced sample values^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+1, … ,^^^^^^^^,^^^^0 (e.g., the sample vlaues of a preceding temporal segment 144 of thechannel 92; e.g., samples 40 temporally preceding the current temporalblock channel, see 92, that are directly adjacent to the current samples^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^ (e.g., the samples 40 of the current temporal block 140) and based on thereconstructed sample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^−^^^^+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^ (e.g., the sample vlaues of a precedingtemporal reference segment 146 of the reference channel 92a; e.g., samples 40 temporally preceding the reference block portion 142) of the input channels, see reference channel 92a, with^^^^ ∈ ℐ^^^^ as in the previous sections and with the temporal offsets ^^^^^^^^ 148 as in the previous sections.In other words, the determination of the one or more parameters 90 for predicting a current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92 based on the reference block portion 142 of a set of one or more reference channels 92a of the coded channels 200 is based on the preceding temporal segment 144 of the predetermined coded channel 92 and the preceding temporal reference segment 146 of the one or more reference channels 92a. Fig. 1 shows exemplarily the determination of the one or more prediction parameters 90 based on the preceding temporal segment 144 of the predetermined coded channel 92 preceding the current temporal block 140 and based on the preceding temporal reference segment 146 of the reference channel 92a preceding the reference block portion 142. However, it is also possible that the determination of the one or more prediction parameters 90 is performed based on the preceding temporal segment 144 and based on, for each of a set of two or more reference channels (e.g., K≥2; e.g., 92a may be one of the two or more reference channels), a preceding temporal reference segment preceding a reference block portion of the respective reference channel. That means that the preceding temporal segment 144 of the predetermined coded channel 92 and the respective FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhpreceding temporal reference segment 146 of the one or more reference channels 92a are used for determining the prediction parameters 90. The parameters 90 may be derived such that the expression ∑^^^^^^^^=1�^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^ − ∑^^^^∈ℐ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^2^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^−^^^^+^^^^ − ^^^^�(2) is^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+1, … ,^^^^^^^^,^^^^0 e.g., error on ofthe preceding temporal segment 144 is minimized.Assume that ^^^^ = 1 (e.g., as shown in Fig.1), i.e., the prediction is to be generated out of a singleinput channel, see 92a. Let the corresponding input channel be denoted by ^̂^^^. To simplify notation, assume that the temporal offset 148 in the input channel ^̂^^^ is zero. All aspects hold equally if this is not the case, i.e. a time-shifted input channel is taken.Then, the exact solution ^^^^, ^^^^ of equation (2) is given as^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ = ^^^^⋅∑^^^^^^^=1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^^^^^^�^^^ ,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^−(∑^^^^=1^^^^^�^^^ ,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^)⋅(∑^^^^=1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) ^^^^⋅∑^^^^^^^^=1^^^^^�2^^^−(∑^^^^^^^^=1^^^^^�^^^ 2(3) and^^^^ = =1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^−^^^^⋅∑^^^^=1^^^^^�^^^ ,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^^^^^ . (4)According to an one or more may a such as ^^^^, which may be computed / determined by the prediction parameter determiner, see 63 and 87. The scale may correspond to, or is linearly related to, a numerator term (e.g., see inequation (3) ^^^^ ⋅ ∑^^^^ ^ ∑^^^^∑^^^^ ^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^ − ( ^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) ⋅ ( ^^^^=1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^)) formed based on the preceding 92 and the precedingtemporal one or more 92a divided by adenominator term (e.g., see in equation (3) ^^^^ ⋅ ∑^^^^ 2^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^ − (∑^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^20−^^^^+^^^^)) depending on a variance of the previous temporal or more reference channels.Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more prediction parameters 90 may comprise an offset, such as b, which may be computed / determined by the prediction parameter determiner, see 63 and 87. The offset corresponds to, or is linearly related to, a difference between a mean of the preceding temporal segment 144 (e.g., see in equation (4)∑^^^^^^^^=1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^^^^^ ) of the predeterminedmhcoded channel 92 and a mean formed by the preceding temporal segment 146 of the one or more ∑^^^^^^^^ reference channels (e.g., see in equation (4)^^^^=1 ^�^^^ ,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^^^^^ ).However, for the use in a standard, i.e. an communication protocol, equations (3) and (4) cannot be used directly since they invoke a division. Thus, a platform-independent implementation / approximation of the division in these equations is needed and the present invention presents the following solution. Let ^^^^: =�^^^^ ⋅ ∑^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^ 2^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^ − (∑^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^20−^^^^+^^^^)�. (5)Then, an uses arithmetic is needed. It can be observed that ^^^^ corresponds to the variance of the signal ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^multiplied with ^^^^2 , e.g., ^^^^ corresponds to the variance of the preceding temporal referencesegment 146 multiplied with the number of samples 40 of the preceding temporal reference segment 146 to the power of two. However, for the present multi-channel digital signal 14, like biomedical waveform data, this variance might be extremely large due to the highly oscillatory nature of the signals. Thus, one is faced with the problem of implementing a division by a possibly very large number in fixed point arithmetic. According to an embodiment, the decoder 12 / encoder 10 is configured to determine the one or more prediction parameters 90 using a look-up table (e.g. LUT) for computing an approximationof a quotient (e.g., 2^^^^ / ^^^^ ) formed based on the preceding temporal segment 144 of thepredetermined coded channel 92 and / or the preceding temporal reference segment 146 of the one or more reference channels 92a. The look-up table may be used in a fixed-point arithmetic.For fixed ^^^^, ^^^^ ∈ ℕ, in the present invention, it is proposed to approximate 2^^^^ / ^^^^ by a lookup-tableLUT of size 2^^^^ − 1 as follows. Let^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) = ⌊log2(^^^^)⌋be the most significant bit (MSB) of ^^^^. Let ^^^^^^^^(^^^^) be the first ^^^^ bits of ^^^^, i.e. ^^^^ ^^) =� ^^^ S^^^^ (^^ ^, if m < 2(^^^^ << ^^^^) >> (^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) + 1), else.Then FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh^^^^ ≈ ^^^ max(0,^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^)+1−^^^^)^^^^^(^^^^) ⋅ 2and thus2 ^^^^ ^≈ −max(0,^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^)+1−^^^^)^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^^^^^(^^^^)) ⋅ 2 .Acording to an one or more parameters 90, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 may be configured to compute an integer look-up table input variable^^^^^^^^(^^^^) , e.g., as described above by computing a fixed-point representation value, e.g. m,depending on the variance of the preceding temporal reference segment 146 of the one or more reference channels and forming the integer look-up table input variable based on most significantdigits, e.g., bits, of the fixed-point representation value (e.g., see ^^^^^^^^(^^^^) = (^^^^ << ^^^^) >>(^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) + 1)). For example, if K=1, then this fixed-point representation value might be thevariance multiplied by the length of the preceding temporal reference segment 146 squared; and if K>1, then this fixed-point representation value might be the sum of variances multiplied by the length of segment 146 squared, e.g., for each of two or more reference channels 92a, a variance of the respective preceding temporal reference segment 146 (a segment predecing the reference block portion of the respective reference channel) may be determined and the fixed-point representation value may be determined by forming the sum of the determined variances multiplied by the length of a preceding temporal reference segment 146 squared (the length may be equal for all preceding temporal reference segments of all reference channels 92a, i.e. the length of a preceding temporal reference segment associated with a first reference channel may be equal to the length of a preceding temporal reference segment associated with a second reference channel). The integer look-up table input variable ^^^^^^^^(^^^^) may be used to determine a further fixed-point representation value, see ^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^^^^^(^^^^)), by table look-up. The further fixed-point representation value corresponds to, or is linearly related to, an inverse of the fixed-point representation value m (e.g., see2^^^^ ≈^^^^^^^^^^^^ −max(0,^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^)+1−^^^^)^^^^(^^^^^^^^(^^^^)) ⋅ 2 ).In the high-precision signal adaptive approximations of the parameters ^^^^ and / or ^^^^ and to perform a right-shift only after the final prediction signal isgenerated. For this purpose and assuming that ^^^^ = 2^^^^, it is proposed to define parameters ^̃^^^and / or ^�^^^ as^̃^^^ = 2^^^^ ⋅ 2max(0,^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^)+1−^^^^) ⋅ ^^^^FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh= ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) ⋅ ^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^^^^^(^^^^)) ⋅^^^^ ^^^^ and as=⋅ ⋅ 2max ⋅ ^^^^^^^^ ^̃^^^^^^^Then, for ^^^^: = ^^^^ + ^^^^ + max(0,^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^) + 1 − ^^^^),it is proposed to compute the prediction values ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ , ^^^^ ∈ {1, … ,^^^^} for the signal ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^as ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ = (2 ⋅ ^̃^^^ ⋅ ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0+^^^^ + ^�^^^ + (1 << (^^^^ − 1))) >> ^^^^,where << and >>According to an embodiment, the one or more prediction parameters 90 may comprise a scale, such as ^̃^^^, which may be computed / determined by the prediction parameter determiner, see 63 and 87. The encoder 10 / decoder 12 may be configured to, for each of the one or more reference channels 92a, determine a nominator value (e.g., see in equation (6) �^^^^ ⋅ ∑^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^ −(∑^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^ ̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) ⋅ (∑^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^=1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^)�) depending on a covariance and / or a correlation between the preceding temporal segment 144 (e.g., see ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) of the predetermined coded channel 92 and the preceding temporal reference segment 146 (e.g., see ^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) of the respective reference channel 92a (e.g. if K=1: then this nominator value might be the covariance between 144 and 146 or a multiple thereof such as the covariance multiplied by the length of segment 146 squared; if K>1, then this nominator value might be a scalar-multiple of a sum of correlations or covariance’s between 144 and each of 146 and between segments 146, respectively), compute a scale, e.g., ^̃^^^, by forming a product between the further fixed-point representation value, e.g., ^^^^^^^^^^^^(^^^^^^^^(^^^^)), and the nominator value, and in predicting the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92, scale the reference block portion 142 of the respective reference channel 92a using the scale. According to an embodiment, the one or more prediction parameters 90 may additionally comprise an offset, such as ^�^^^, which may be computed / determined by the prediction parameter determiner, FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhsee 63 and 87. The offset may be determined by determining a first mean value (e.g.,∑^^^^^^^^=1^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) from the preceding temporal segment 144 of the predetermined coded channel 92, determining, for each of the one or more reference channels 92a, a second mean value (e.g., ∑^^^^^^^^=1^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^) from the preceding temporal reference segment 146 of the respective reference channel 92a, determining a difference between the first mean value on the one hand and, for each of the one or more previous coded channels, the second mean value scaled by the scale, on the other hand, e.g., ∑^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^ − ^̃^^^ ⋅ ∑^^^^ ^^^^=1^^^^^^^^̂,^^^^0−^^^^+^^^^. The encoder the current temporal block 140 ofthe of the one or more reference channels 92a, the reference block portion 142 of the respective reference channel 92a using the scale to obtain a scaled predicted temporal block and forming a sum over the one or more scaled predicted temporal blocks obtained for the one or more reference channels 92a and the offset. 4 Random access capabilities For the present multi-channel digital signal 14, like biomedical waveform data, very high random- access capabilities may be desirable in some applications. However, for the previously proposed inter-channel coding methods, a given channel ^^^^, see 92, can only be decoded / encoded if all previous channels (e.g., channels preceding the predetermined coded channel 92 in coded channel order 32) have been decoded / encoded. If the number of coded channels 200 is very high, this might impede random access. Thus, the following method which consists of two parts is proposed. First, it is proposed to introduce (e.g., for random access channels 88; e.g., see 88aand 88b) specific channel indices {^̆^^^1, … , ^̆^^^^^^^} ⊂ {1, … ,^^^^} which may not use any inter-channelprediction. Second, it is proposed that any channelsee 92, with ^̆^^^^^^^ < ^^^^ < ^̆^^^^^^^+1 may only usechannels ^̂^^^ with ^̆^^^^^^^ ≤ ^̂^^^ < ^^^^ as input channels (i.e. as reference92a) for inter-channelpredictionFig.1 shows coded channels 200 exemplarily comprising two random access channels 88a and 88b, each of which is coded independent from preceding – in the channel order 32 - coded channels 200 (e.g., the random access channel 88a is coded independent of coded channels 1 to^̆^^^1 − 1 and the random access channel 88b is coded independent of coded channels 1 to ^̆^^^2 − 1).As already discussed above, the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh92 can be predicted based on one or more reference block portions 142 of a set of one or more reference channels 92a of the coded channels 200. For each of the set of one or more reference channels 92a a channel index may identify the respective reference channel 92a out of coded channels 200. The channel indices identifying the set of one or more reference channels 92a can be encoded / decoded, e.g., using a parametrized binarization. The parametrized binarization may be parametrized using a binarization parameter and setting the binarization parameter so that a number of binary strings formed by the parametrized binarization becomes closest to - with becoming equal or greater than - a number of coded channels 200 preceding the predetermined coded channel 92 in the channel order 32 up to a nearest – in the channel order 32 - preceding random access channel out of the one or more random access channels. This means, for example, that for identifying the set of one or more reference channels 92a for the predetermined coded channel 92, the binarization parameter should be set, so that the number of binary strings formed by the parametrized binarization becomes closest to seven, since seven coded channels 200, e.g., ^̆^^^1to (c-1), precede the predetermined coded channel 92 in the channel order 32 up to the random access channel 88a, which is the nearest – in the channel order 32 - preceding random access channel 88 out of the one or more random access channels 88. Thus, the number of binary strings is 8 (23), so that all possible reference channels could be indicated. 5 Inter Channel sample prediction having multiple input samples per channel for each output sample According to an embodiment, the inter-prediction of the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92 performed by a herein described encoder 10 / decoder 12 comprises obtaining a predicted sample value for each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140 in a manner so that, for each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions 142, on more than one sample 40 of the respective predetermined reference block portion 142. For this inter-prediction based on multiple reference samples per reference channel 92a for each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 may be configured to obtain the prediction parameters 90 as described above based on preceding temporal segments. Alternativel, the encoder 10 may be configured to determine the prediction parameters 90 differently and encode same into the data stream 16 and the decoder 12 is configured to decode the prediction parameters 90 from the data stream 16. In this alternative case, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 may not comprise the above discussed prediction parameter determiner 63 / 87 and / or features and / or functionalities described therewith. Alternatively, it possible in this alternative case that the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhswitch from an inter-prediction using parameters derived based on preceding temporal segments to a different typ of inter-prediction with prediction parameters, which are not derived based on preceding temporal segments (e.g., using prediction parameters dignaled in the data stream 16). Such a switching between inter-prediction modes may be triggered by a flag signaled in the data stream 16. As described above, the current temporal block 140 of Fig. 1 is predicted using prediction parameters 90 derived based on preceding temporal segments. Therefore, the flag signaled in the data stream 16 for the current temporal block 140 may be set to a first flag state. For a different current temporal block the flag may be set to a second flag state indicating that the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to predict the different current temporal block (e.g., also based on a reference block portion of a set of one or more reference channels of the coded channels 200) using one or more prediction parameters signaled in the data stream 16 (e.g., encoded into the data stream 16 by the encoder 10 and derived from the data stream 16 by the decoder 12) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the different current temporal block in a manner so that, for each sample of the different current temporal block, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion. Irrespective of whether the prediction parameters 90 are derived inherently by the decoder 12 or derived from the data stream 16 by the decoder 12, the predictor 86 (and the corresponding predictor 62 of the encoder 10) may be configured to perform a prediction having multiple input samples per channel for each output sample of a temporal block, as described in the following. According to an embodiment, it is proposed to extend equation (1) as follows: Assume that the signal has ^^^^ channels 200 with ^^^^ samples 40 per channel 200. For ^^^^ ∈{1, … ,^^^^} and ^^^^ ∈ {1, … ,^^^^} let ^^^^^^^^,^^^^ be the ^^^^-th sample 40 in the ^^^^-th channel 200. Assume that for1 ≤ ^^^^ ≤ ^^^^, a temporal subblock, e.g., see 140, of length ^^^^ is tobe coded starting at position ^^^^0 + 1. Thus, the sample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^ are to be coded.Assume that ^^^^ > 1. Assume that for each channel 200 with index 1 ≤ ^^^^ < ^^^^, the sample values^^^^^^^^,^^^^ , 1 ≤ ^^^^ ≤ ^^^^0 + ^^^^ have already been coded. Let ^^^^^^^^,^^^^ be the corresponding reconstructedsample values, which are available to the encoder 10 and to the decoder 12. The extended affine linear inter-channel prediction again uses ^^^^ input channels 200, 1 ≤ ^^^^ < ^^^^FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhto generate a linear prediction for the current sample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^. Moreover, one ormore of the following initial parameters are transmitted in the bit-stream as before: 1. The number ^^^^ ∈ {1, … , ^^^^ − 1} of input channels, i.e. reference channles 92a, used forthe prediction. 2. The set ℐ^^^^ = {^^^^1, … , ^^^^^^^^} ⊆ {1, … , ^^^^ − 1} of input channels used for the prediction.3. For each ^^^^ ∈ ℐ^^^^, a temporal offset ^^^^^^^^ ∈ {0, … ,^^^^0 − 1}, see 148.However, in the embodyment of the also the following needs to be transmitted inthe bit-stream, namely for each ^^^^ ∈ ℐ^^^^, a number ^^^^^^^^ that indicates how many input samples of thechannel ^^^^^^^^are used for each output sample. Alternatively, a single number ^^^^ can be transmittedin the bitstream and one can put ^^^^^^^^ = ^^^^ for all ^^^^.For each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions 142, on more than one sample 40 of the respective predetermined reference block portion. Therefore, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to encode / decode a number, see ^^^^^^^^, of the more than one sample 40 of the respective predetermined reference block portion 142 into / from the data stream 16, e.g., the encoder 10 / decoder 12 is configured to encode / decode, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions 142, a number / count, see ^^^^^^^^, of reference samples of the respective predetermined reference block portion to be used per sample of the current temporal block 140 for its prediction. For each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140, the respective predicted sample value depends on, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, the respective number ^^^^^^^^.If the initial parameters are specified, a second set {^^^^^^^^,^^^^: ^^^^ ∈ ℐ^^^^: 1 ≤ ^^^^ ≤ ^^^^^^^^} ⊔ {^^^^} of parameters,e.g., the prediction parameters 90, may be be determinedbased on preceding temporal segments as of the currentsample values ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+1, … , ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0+^^^^ is given by the values ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1, … ,^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, where for ^^^^ ∈ {1, … ,^^^^}one has ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ = ∑^^^^∈ℐ^^^^ ∑^^^^^^^^^^^^=1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^,^^^^ ⋅ ^^^^^^^^,^^^^0−^^^^^^^^+^^^^+^^^^ + ^^^^. (8)For each sample 40 of each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhportions 142, on more than one sample 40 of the respective predetermined reference block portion. In this case, the one or more prediction parameters 90 may comprise, for each of the more than one sample 40 of the respective predetermined reference block portion, for each of the one or more predetermined reference block portions, a summation weight, e.g., see ^^^^^^^^,^^^^(herein also understood as scale). The current temporal block 140 can be predicted by, for each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140, determining the predicted sample value for the respective sample, by forming a weighted sum over, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, each of the more than one samples of the respective predetermined reference block portion, weighted by its summation weight. Additionally, or Alternatively, the one or more prediction parameters 90 may comprise for each of the one or more reference block portions 142, a temporal offset 148 at which, respectively, the respective reference block portion 142 is temporally offset, e.g., delayed, relative to the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92. The temporal offset 148, for example, is a full-sample offset. According to an embodiment, there is exactly one reference block portion 142 for each reference channel 92a. 6 Further embodiments The encoder 10 / decoder 12 described with respect to Fig.1 may support more than one prediction mode, e.g. apart from inter-prediction also intra-prediction. The mode to be used for predicting the current temporal block 140 may be indicated in the data stream 16 by a mode indicator. If the mode indicator is indicative of the inter-prediction mode, the decoder 12 / encoder 10 may be configured to inter-predict the current temporal block 140 as described above, e.g., by performing the determining of the one or more prediction parameters 90 and the predicting of the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92 from the reference block portion 142 of the one or more reference channels 92a using the one or more prediction parameters 90 in order to reconstruct the current temporal block 140, or by predicting the current temporal block 140 using one or more prediction parameters 90 signaled in the data stream 16 so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140 in a manner so that, for each sample 40 of the current temporal block 140, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions 142, FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhon more than one sample 40 of the respective predetermined reference block portion. If the mode indicator is indicative of the intra prediction mode, the decoder 12 / encoder 10 may be configured to predict the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel 92 from one or more reference block portions of the predetermined coded channel 92. According to an embodiment, if the predetermined coded channel 92 is firstly traversed by the decoding / encoding order, see 32, using which the sequential decoding / encoding is performed, the decoder 12 / encoder 10 is configured to skip the decoding / encoding of the mode indicator and infer that the mode indicator does not indicate the inter prediction mode. According to an embodiment, the encoder 10 / decoder 12 described with respect to Fig.1 may be configured to encode / decode a prediction residual signal for the current temporal block 140 from the data stream 16 and reconstruct the current temporal block 140 by correcting, using the prediction residual signal 80, a prediction signal of the current temporal block 140 obtained by the predicting the current temporal block 140 from the reference block portion 142 of the one or more reference channels 92a using the one or more prediction parameters 90. The above description is extended in the following by the presentation of further embodiments. Before this, however, the description proceeds with a presentation of a possible framework or codec into which the embodiments described above as well as the embodiments described further below may be built into. Many details described in this framework are, however, optional when being combined with any of the above or subsequently described embodiments. To be more precise, the framework is described with respect to Fig.2 which shows an encoder 10 for encoding a multi-channel digital signal 14 into a data stream 16 as well as decoder 12 for decoding the multi-channel digital signal 14 from data stream 16. This description of Fig.2 shall be seen as a presentation of new embodiments of the present application which result when combining any of the embodiments described above or any of the embodiments described subsequently is combined with the decoder 12 or encoder 10 of Fig.2 either by adopting all details / functionalities described with respect to Fig.2 or with leaving-out some of the details / functionalities described with respect to Fig.2. Sometimes such “optional” features of Fig.2 are explicitly identified as being optional with respect to the combination of the previously and subsequently described embodiments, but the just-mentioned possible combinations of the previously / subsequently explained embodiments with the description of Fig. 2 shall not be restricted to these explicitly identified variations of Fig.2 in terms of leaving-out certain features. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhIn Fig.2, the multi-channel digital signal 14 is illustrated by way of an array of samples with the samples being illustrated as small squares 18. Each line / row corresponds to a certain channel of the multi-channel digital signal 14. Each channel of signal 14 may have associated therewith a respective channel ID and Fig. 2 shows these channels as being ordered according to their channel ID along vertical axis 20 which, thus, corresponds to a “source” channel axis 20. The horizontal axis 22 corresponds to time so that samples 18 forming one column, or being horizontally aligned, are samples belonging to one common time instant. Such set / column of temporally co-located samples 18 is illustrated in Fig.2 at 24. Each channel, thus, forms a digital time-varying signal or time / amplitude or time-to-amplitude signal. The multi-channel digital signal m might have been obtained by at least one of Electrocardiography, Electroencephalography, Electromyography or seismic measurement. Differently speaking, the multi-channel digital signal might be a bio-physiological waveform data such as an electroencephalography (EEG) signal, an electrocardiogram (ECG), or an electromyography (EMG) signal, or seismic waveform data. However, each channel / signal might alternatively be another sort of waveform signal data such as scalar media data such as an audio signal and the signal 14 might be a multi-channel audio signal. Fig.2 illustrates the option according to which signal 14 is not coded directly, i.e., in the original domain 26, but in a so-called “coded domain” 28 which might differ from the original domain 26 by one or more of 1) channel transformation, 2) channel permutation and 3) temporal mutual channel alignment. The channel transformation, if applied, transforms, per sample time instant, a set or column 24 of samples from domain 26 to domain 28. Thus, in domain 28, the sample pitch and the time axis is the same as in domain 26, but the meaning of the channels is different, i.e., the “source” channels of domain 26 become transformed channels in domain 28. Accordingly, the vertical axis in Fig.2 for domain 28 is denoted as 32. Note that the channel transformation might leave the number of channels unchanged so that there is the same number of channels in domain 26 as well as domain 28, but different approaches are also possible. Generally, the channel transformation would aim at reducing redundancy and trying to condense the channels’ energy onto a fewer number of channels in domain 28. As said, the channel transformation is optional. Accordingly, in general terms, the channels in domain 28 are called “coded channels” in order to distinguish them from the “original” or “source” channels of digital signal 14 in domain 26. The permutation is also optional and may be used in combination with, or without, the channel transformation. If used in combination with the channel transformation, the permutation may be performed prior to and / or or subsequent to the channel transformation in order to permute / sort the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhsource channels prior to transformation and the coded channels subsequent to the channel transformation. The channel transformation might be a DCT, DST, FFT or any other transformation. The temporal mutual alignment is also optional and might be seen as a constant temporal alignment between the source channels or the coded channels. The module in encoder 10 performing the one or more of channel transformation, channel permutation and temporal mutual alignment is indicated in Fig.2 as block 34. Side information 36 might be used in order to signal information on one or more of the following: 1) The channel transformation used, 2) information on the permutation(s) among the source channels and / or coded channels and 3) information on the mutual temporal alignment / delays between the source channels or coded channels wherein the temporal mutual alignment might be restricted to full sample precision. A corresponding block 38 in decoder 12 performs the reverse step, i.e., performs one or more of: 1) a channel retransformation, 2) a re-permutation of the source channels and / or coded channels and 3) a temporal re-alignment of the source channels or coded channels. Note, that if no channel transformation takes place, the coded channels are, in fact, equal to the source channels except for being temporally mutually aligned or being differently sorted due to permutation. Block 38 might be controlled by the before-mentioned side information 36. Thus, the “actual coding” relates to the coded channels in domain 28. In the coded domain 28, the coded channels are depicted in Fig.2 as lines or rows of samples 40, each extending along time axis 22, the coded channels being depicted one on top of the other along coded channel axis 32 – potentially ordered according to a coded channel ID they have associated therewith - so as to result into an array of samples 40. Again, although Fig. 2 depicts the case that the number of source channels equals the number of coded channels, the number might be different. Further, if channel transformation is used, while there is no longer a clear association between source channels on the one hand and coded channels on the other hand, the temporal association remains: For each temporally co-located samples 24, there is a corresponding temporally co- located set 42 of samples 40 of the coded channels, wherein the set 42 in domain 28 is a column and might be a set of horizontally mutually offset samples in case of, and according to, the mutual temporal alignment, if applied. In case of Fig. 2, it has been assumed that no such temporal alignment took place so that both sets 42 and 24 are pure columns in the time / channel representation. The actual coding is done in units of so-called temporal blocks 30. The term “temporal block” 30 is used so as to denote both a temporal portion of the multi-channel signal in domain 28, i.e., the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhset of coded channels, as well as a temporal portion of a certain coded channel. That is, for each temporal block 30, each coded channel has a temporal block such as block 140 depicted for some temporal block 30c and same are mutually co-located. The coding is done sequentially along these blocks 140, by following a coding / decoding order, which traverses the blocks 140 temporal block 30 by temporal block 30 with traversing temporally co-located blocks of the coded channels along a channel order corresponding to the order of the coded channels along axis 32. This coding / decoding order is illustrated in Fig.2 at 60. That is, in case of temporal block 140 being the block currently to be coded / decoded, the previously decoded / encoded temporal blocks include all preceding temporal blocks of all coded channels as well as the temporally co-located temporal blocks of coded channels preceding the coded channel 92 of temporal block 140 in channel order. These previously coded / decoded temporal blocks and their samples are illustrated in Fig. 2 by way of shading. In this regard, note that in Fig. 2, merely one temporal block 140 has been illustrated explicitly in order to reduce the complexity of Fig.2. Thus, in the specification herein, reference sign 140 is sometimes used to indicate the currently encoded / decoded temporal block or to stand representatively for all temporal blocks. Further, as depicted in Fig.2, the partitioning of signal 14 into temporal blocks 30 and 140, respectively, might be done in a manner so that these blocks 30 and 140, respectively, are non-overlapping. The actual coding in units of the temporal blocks 140 is performed predictively. That is, the encoder 10 comprises a block predictor 62 which predicts the samples of the currently coded temporal block 140, thereby yielding a prediction signal 64, and the prediction residual 66 formed by a subtraction between the actual sample values of temporal block 140 and the predicted samples of prediction signal 64 formed at a subtractor 68 is coded into the data stream 16 by residual coder 70. The residual coding in residual coder 70 may, or may not, involve a coding error by means of quantization. In any case, block predictor 62 uses the reconstructable version as being available by previously coded temporal blocks in order to obtain the prediction signal 64. This reconstructable version 72 might be derived at encoder 10 by means of a residual decoder 74 which reverses potential coding loss, such as quantization by means of dequantization, manifesting itself in the residual signal 76 coded into data stream 16, and an adder 78 which sums- up prediction signal 64 and the reconstructable residual signal 80 as obtained by residual decoder 74. The decoder 12 decodes the coded channels from data stream 16 in a corresponding manner, i.e., in units of the temporal blocks 30 or in temporal blocks 140, respectively, and using predictive decoding. To this end, the decoder 12 comprises a residual decoder 82, an adder 84 and a block FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhpredictor 86 which correspond to, and are mutually connected in the same manner as, elements 74, 78 and 62 of encoder 10. That is, the residual decoder 82 derives from the residual signal 76 in data stream 16 the reconstructable residual signal 80 for a currently decoded temporal block 140 which is then subject to addition with prediction signal 64 derived by block predictor 86 for temporal block 140 on the basis of the reconstructed version 72 of previously decoded temporal blocks at adder 84. The output of adder 84, thus, yields the reconstructed version 72 of the currently decoded temporal block 140 and becomes part of the pool of already decoded samples of previously decoded temporal blocks when the temporal blocks of the coded channels are, in this manner, traversed along coding / decoding order 60 so as to reconstruct the coded channels in the coded domain 28. In order to enable a high degree of random access capability, some of the temporal blocks 30 may be coded in a random access manner meaning that the coded channels therein are coded independent from previous temporal blocks 30. Imagine, for instance, that temporal blocks 30b and 30e are random access temporal blocks. Then, none of the temporal channel blocks 140 in temporal block 30b as well as 30e would depend on any preceding temporal block 140 such as none temporal block within temporal block 30a forming a coding dependency basis for any temporal channel block 140 in temporal block 30b and none of the temporal channel blocks 140 within temporal blocks 30a to 30d forming a coding dependency basis for any of the temporal channel blocks 140 within temporal block 30e. Thus, in other words, coding dependencies are restricted so as to not reach-out beyond the border of a random access temporal block 30b and 30e towards any preceding temporal block 30. Such restriction might also hold for intermediate temporal blocks 30c to 30d between random access temporal blocks 30b and 30e in that same may not depend on any temporal block preceding the leading one among the random access temporal blocks 30b and 30e, here block 30b. Accordingly, leading temporal borders of the random access temporal blocks 30b and 30e are indicated by bold lines in Fig.2. Further, it might be that the coding of the coded channels also interrupts or restricts inter-channel dependencies by coding one or more of the coded channels as random access coded channels so that coding dependencies of these random access coded channels, or even these random access coded channels and the intermediate coded channels there between, are restricted so as to not reach-out beyond such a random access coded channel toward any coded channel preceding that random access coded channel in channel order along axis 32. Two such random access coded channels 88a and 88b and their associated inter-channel dependency borders are illustrated in Fig.2. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhThe block predictor 62 and 86 of encoder 10 and decoder 12, respectively, operate synchronously, i.e., they generate the same prediction signal 64 based on the previously encoded / decoded samples of previously encoded / decoded temporal blocks 140. On encoder side 10, the prediction for a certain temporal block 140 may be accompanied or determined by one or more prediction parameters. Same might be determined on encoder side based on a rate / distortion optimization. These prediction parameters 90 are coded into data stream 16 and they are decoded from data stream 16 and used by block predictor 86 so as to perform the same prediction. It might be that encoder 10 and decoder 12 support more than one prediction mode. For instance, encoder 10 and decoder 12 may support an intra prediction mode (which mode may also be called block-copy mode) according to which the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 is predicted based on the reconstructable sample values of previously encoded / decoded temporal blocks of the same coded channel to which the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 belongs, which is coded channel 92 in the example of Fig.2. Additionally or alternatively, encoder 10 and decoder 12 may support an inter-prediction mode (which mode may also be called cross- channel prediction mode) according to which the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 is predicted based on the reconstructable sample values of previously encoded / decoded temporal blocks of coded channels preceding – in coding order 32 - the coded channel 92 to which the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 belongs. Additionally or alternatively, there may be a mixed prediction mode according to which the prediction signal 64 is obtained by both, reconstructed / reconstructable sample values of previously encoded / decoded temporal blocks of coded channel 92 itself as well as reconstructed / reconstructable sample values of coded channels preceding coded channel 92 in channel order along axis 32. Beyond this, there may be temporal blocks 140 which are coded without any prediction at encoder 10 and decoded without any prediction at decoder 12 such as the first temporal blocks in the tiles 94 resulting from mutually separating the temporal blocks by means of the random access borders 96 on the one hand and the random access channel borders 98 on the other hand. This corresponds to the prediction signal 64 being set to zero and this may form an additional mode which could be called bypass mode. Additionally, or alternatively, there may be other modes such as ones deriving a DC predictor or linear function predictor for block 64 based on immediately preceding samples of block 140. The prediction parameters 90 may, thus, contain for a currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 a prediction mode flag or prediction mode indicator indicating the prediction mode to be used for this currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 and, optionally, one or more parameters parameterizing the prediction mode to be used for this currently encoded / decoded FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhtemporal block 140. The aforementioned coding dependencies ought not to cross any of the borders 96 and 98 not only result from the just-described sample prediction capabilities of block predictor 62 and 86, respectively, but may optionally also result from other mechanisms such as parameter prediction according to which parameters such as the aforementioned prediction parameters 90 for a certain temporal block 140 are predicted based on coding parameters conveyed in the data stream 16 for any previous temporal block, or context derivation for context-adaptive entropy coding / decoding any coding parameter such as the prediction parameters 90 or any other side information such as side information 76 and 36 for temporal block 140 based on any coding parameter conveyed in the data stream 16 for any preceding temporal block. That is, summarizing, the encoder 10 encodes the multi-channel signal 14 by transferring it into the coded domain 28 and then coding the coded channels into data stream 16 in the just-described block-wise and predictive manner, wherein decoder 12 decodes the coded channels of coded domain 28 from data stream 16 and the corresponding block-wise and predictive manner with then gaining the multi-channel signal 14 in its original form 26 based on the coded channels in coded domain 28 by means of segment 38. As said, the channel transformation is optional and if not used, each sample 40 in the coded domain 28 really corresponds to one sample 18 in the original domain 26. If, further, the temporal mutual alignment is not used, each sample 40 exactly corresponds to a sample 18 in the original domain 26 at exactly the same time instant or, differently speaking, all temporally co-located samples 40 in coded domain 28 remain mutually temporally co-located in the original domain 26. As mentioned before, Fig. 2 only represents a possible “framework” into which the previously described embodiments and the embodiments described subsequently may be built into. Many modifications may be performed with respect to Fig.2, and some of these modifications might be mentioned in the subsequent description with respect to certain ones of the subsequently described embodiments, but these modifications shall then be treated as being also applicable with respect to other ones of the subsequently described embodiments. Further, as a final note, and without being treated as forming an exclusive list of further possible amendments of the description of Fig.2, it shall be noted that the temporal blocks 30 might, other than illustrated in Fig.2, vary in block length rather than being of a constant length as depicted in Fig.2. For instance, encoder 10 may decide on the length of blocks 30 and signal the block length of blocks 30 (and the corresponding temporal blocks 140 of the coded channels) within data stream 16. Further, FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhalthough not described before, it might be that residual coder and residual decoder 70 and 82 may use transform coding / decoding in order to convey the residual signal 76 in data stream 16. That is, the residual signal 80 may be conveyed in data stream 16 in transform domain by way of transform coefficients in residual signal 76. The transform domain might be a DCT, DST or an FFT. The transform may be non-overlapping, i.e. it may only transform residual signal 80 and its re-transform may only cover residual signal 76 within block 140, and / or may be non-windowed, i.e. the residual signal might be transformed without any transform window used to temporally shape the residual signal 80 before the transform. The transform domain, i.e. the transformation leading from time domain to transform domain which is used by the encoder to transform the prediction residual signal 80 to be coded und the corresponding re-transformation leading from transform domain to time domain which is used by the decoder to derive the prediction residual signal 80, or the transformation, might be selected from a set of available transforms including, for instance, one or more of 1) one or more DCTs, 2) one or more DSTs and 3) an identity transform according to which the prediction residual signal 80 is coded into the data stream 14 in time domain directly. Some deblocking processing might be used to avoid blocking artifacts. If, alternatively, an overlapped transform is used, an overlap-add processing with re-transforms of immediately preceding / succeeding temporal blocks of the same coded channel might be used in order to completely reconstruct the current temporal block’s 140 residual signal 76. Besides such transform-(residual)-coded blocks there might be temporal blocks 140 which, additionally or alternatively, are coded using, besides the block prediction by block predictor 62 / 86 – which could be called a primary prediction – a secondary sample-wise prediction of the residual samples in residual block 66 such as by predicting a current sample’s residual sample by means of already decoded values of preceding – in sample coding order – residual samples in block 66 or 80, with then correcting same by means of a secondary-prediction-residual sample decoded from the data stream 16. The secondary-prediction-residual samples for such a block may be coded into the data stream per block in a transform domain or sample-wise in time domain. The description is now resumed with respect to the announced subsequently described embodiments, here namely embodiments relating to inter-channel prediction. As described with respect to Fig.2, the embodiments with respect to decoder and encoder described in the following may relate to such decoders and encoders which comprise the inter-channel prediction as one mode among one or more others, but the inter-channel prediction mode may alternatively be the only available prediction mode. That is, generally, Fig.3a relates to a decoder for decoding a multi- channel digital signal 14 from a data stream 16, which is configured to decode coded channels representing the multi-channel digital signal 14, namely those in domain 28, from the data stream FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh16 in temporal blocks 140, namely temporal coded channel blocks, with sequentially decoding from the data stream 16 a predetermined temporal block 140 of each of the coded channels before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels, and to an encoder for encoding a multi-channel digital signal 14 into a data stream 16, which is configured to encode coded channels representing the multi-channel digital signal 14, namely those in domain 28, into the data stream 16 in temporal blocks 140, namely temporal coded channel blocks, with sequentially decoding from the data stream 16 a predetermined temporal block 140 of each of the coded channels before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels. In order to describe the inter-channel prediction mode, reference is made to Fig. 3a. In encoding / decoding a currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140, one or more prediction parameters for predicting the current temporal block 140 are determined first. The one or more prediction parameters are for, or control, the prediction of the current temporal block 140 of a predetermined coded channel 92 based on a reference block portion 142 of a set of one or more reference channels 92a. In Fig. 3a, merely one such reference channel 92a is illustrated to be used for the prediction of temporal block 140 for illustration purposes and ease of explanation, but the number may be larger than one. As became clear from the description above, reference channels such as reference channel 92a need to precede the predetermined coded channel 92 in channel coding order 32 and might have, for instance, a lower channel index associated therewith than compared to predetermined coded channel 92 comprising the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140. A further note shall be made with respect to the term “reference block portion”. Reference block portions such as reference block portion 142 are portions of immediately consecutive samples 40 of the reference channel 92a, with a number of comprised immediately consecutive samples 40 being equal to the number of samples within temporal block 140, but they are not necessarily restricted to be registered or to be temporally located to temporal block 140 or to any other temporal block 30, i.e. they might be placed freely expect for the fact that reference block portions need to comprise or cover previously decoded / encoded samples only, and except for an optional maximum temporal distance to block 140. That is, the reference block portions such as reference block portion 142 might be temporally shifted relative to temporal block 140 as described in more detail below. The one or more prediction parameters determined for temporal block 140 are for defining as to how, computationally, the prediction signal 64 for predicting temporal block 140 is derived from the reference block portion(s) 142 or to be more precise, the reconstructed / reconstructable samples in reference block portion(s) 142. As will be described in more detail below, the one or FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhmore prediction parameters may, for instance, define scale and offset such as a scale for each reference block portion 142 by means of which the reference block portion 142 is scaled (by multiplying it or, to be more precise, its reconstructed / reconstructable samples, by multiplication with the scale), with then adding the offset to the scaled reference block portion or, in case of more than one reference block portion 142, forming a sum over all scaled reference block portions and the offset. The determination of the one or more prediction parameters is done based on temporal segments 144 and 146 of channels 92 and 92a, each consisting of immediately consecutive samples 40 of the respective channel, and each of which temporally preceding the corresponding block, i.e. block 140 in coded channel 92, and reference block portion 142 in channel 92a, respectively. For instance, segments 144 and 146 might be defined to be located immediately preceding the corresponding block 140 and 142, respectively, as illustrated in Fig.3a, but it might alternatively be that the temporal positioning of segments 144 and 146 is defined in a different manner such as in a manner so that the segments 144 and 146 are mutually temporally co-located such that, for instance, all segments 144 and 146 contain the samples 40 immediately preceding, temporally, the block among block 140 and block 142 which is the earliest in time. As can be seen in Fig.3a, segments 144 and 146 mutually coincide in the number of samples 40 contained therein, wherein this number L may be equal to or different from the number N of samples in blocks 140 and 142, respectively. For instance, L might be chosen to be smaller than N as illustrated in Fig.3a. The advantage of determining the one or more prediction parameters using which temporal block 140 is predicted from the reference block portion 142 of the one or more reference channels 92a based on an evaluation of the temporal segments 144 and 146, is the fact that this determination may be done by both encoder 10 and decoder 12 because the temporal segments 144 and 146 are both comprised by the reservoir or pool of already encoded / decoded samples so that the determination of the one or more prediction parameters may be done inherently without any explicit signaling in data stream 16, thereby reducing the side information signaling overhead. The determination itself is done in the following manner: in particular, it is a pretty good assumption that a relationship of the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 to the reference block portion 142 of the one or more reference channels 92a is the same as, or is at least pretty close to, the relationship of temporal segment 144 of coded channel 92 relative to the temporal reference segment 146 in each reference channel 92a. Thus, if the one or more prediction parameters are determined so that their application onto the temporal reference segment 146 of the one or more FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhreference channels 92a results into a “prediction” for temporal segment 144 which minimizes the prediction residual towards the temporal segment 144, this one or more prediction parameter should, if the assumption holds true, also minimize the deviation of the prediction signal 64 obtained by applying the one or more prediction parameters thus determined onto the reference block portion 142 of the one or more reference channels 92a from the block 140 to be coded / decoded. As a result, the prediction residual 80 coded into data stream 16 may be coded with fewer bits due to the preciseness in having derived prediction signal 64. If the one or more prediction parameters consist of a scale for the, in case of only one reference block portion, reference block portion 142 or for each reference block portion 142 in case of having more than one reference block portion, and an offset, as just-described, then the determination of this scale and offset may be performed as follows with here assuming that x1, …, xLdenote the reconstructed / reconstructable samples in segment 144, while yi,j denotes the jthsample in segment 146 of the ithreference block portion with i ∈ {1, …, K}, and j ∈ {1, …, L} and λidenoting the scale for the ithreference block portion and b denoting the offset. Then, the of the deviationwhen applying the prediction parameters onto yi,jfrom samples xjin terms of sum of squares, i.e. ^^^^^^^^2� �^^^^^^^^ −� �^^^^^^^^ ∙ − ^^^^�� ^ minis achieved by the and encoder solve this linear equation and in doing so, decoder and encoder may use a lookup table in order to avoid the computation of the scale and offset involving a division. The equation is: ^^^^1^^^^⋮= ^^^^with^^^^ = �^^^^^^^^+1^^^^,^^^^�^^^^,^^^^=1∈ ℝ(^^^^+1) × (^^^^+1)FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh^^^^ ì� �^^^^^^^^,^^^^ ∙ ^^^^^^^^,^^^^�, if ^^^^, ^^^^ ≤ ^^^^^^^^Thus, as described, may one or more reference block portions 142 and the computation of the one or more prediction parameters may be performed in a manner avoiding a division which is approximated by way of a table lookup instead. It is further noted that, in case of more than one reference block portion 142 being used for the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140, each one of same is, according to an embodiment, contained in a separate one of the reference channels. That is, each reference channel would have exactly one reference block portion. However, as an alternative, it might be that the reference block portions partially, or all of same, belong to a common reference channel such as reference channel 92a. As already mentioned above, the reference block portion(s) 142 might be located temporally offset relative to temporal block 140. For instance, data stream 16 may have, for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels, for each of the one or more reference channels, a temporal offset 148 encoded thereinto at which 1) the reference block portion 142 of the respective reference channel 92a is temporally offset, such as delayed as depicted in Fig.3a, relative to the current temporal block 140 of the predetermined coded channel, and 2) the preceding temporal reference block portion 146 of the respective reference channel 92a is temporally offset, such as delayed as depicted in Fig.3a, relative to the preceding temporal block portion 144 of the predetermined coded channel 92. The decoder 12 decodes the temporal offset 48 from the data stream 16 accordingly. The granularity at which this temporal offset 48 is FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhcoded in the data stream 16 may be designed in one of the following options: for instance, the temporal offset 48 for each reference channel for a certain inter-channel predicted coded channel might be coded into data stream 16 at a scope valid for the whole data stream, or may be coded for each sequence of temporal blocks 30 from a random access temporal block such as 30b until the temporal block 30d immediately preceding the next random access temporal block 30e, or may be conveyed in data stream 16 temporal block individually, i.e. for each inter-predicted temporal block such as segment 140, individually. The set of one or more inter-channel predicted coded channels may include all channels except for the random access coded channels 88a and 88b (wherein in Fig.2 the coded channel corresponding to the uppermost sample line might also be a random access coded channel, as it might be the first channel in channel order 32). The number of reference channels might also be coded in the data stream 16 in any of the just- mentioned granularities and even at a granularity which differs from the granularity at which the temporal offset signaling is done. The number of reference channels might be chosen to be equal for all inter-channel predicted coded channels, or might be signaled in the data stream 16 in a manner so that the number of reference channels differs among the inter-channel predicted channels. In case of allowing two reference block portions to belong to the same reference channel, for each reference channel, it might additionally be signaled as to how many reference block portions are contained in the respective reference channel for a certain inter-channel predicted coded channel. In any case, the decoder uses the temporal offset 48 coded in the data stream in order to cut-out out of the respective reference channel, or derive, the reference block portion 142 and the preceding temporal reference block portion 146 from the respective reference channel 92a using the temporal offset 148 signaled for the respective reference channel. Further, the data stream 16 may have, for each of the set of one or more reference channels, a channel index coded thereinto, which identifies the respective reference channels out of the coded channels which precede the coded channel 92 in channel order 32. Alternatively, the set of one more reference channels of a certain inter-channel predicted coded channel might, by default, include all those coded channels preceding in channel order 32, which immediately precede the current channels 92 in channel order. As described before, for each inter-channel predicted coded channel, the number of coded channels which may form one of the set of one or more reference channels, is restricted as same are merely allowed to be recruited from the coded channels preceding the respective inter-channel predicted coded channel up to the nearest preceding random access channel such as channel 88a in case of channel 92 in Fig. 2. Accordingly, a channel index conveyed in the data stream 16 may be coded into data stream 16, and may be decoded therefrom, using a parametrized binarization, such as a truncated unary code, parametrized using a binarization parameter, such as the truncation parameter, which might be FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhset by encoder and decoder in such a manner so that the number of binary strings formed by the parametrized binarization becomes closest to - with becoming equal or greater than – this number of coded channels preceding the respective inter-channel predicted coded channel in channel order 32 up to the nearest – in channel order – preceding random access channel. With respect to the temporal offset 148 and the derivation of the temporal reference block portion 46 and the reference block portion 142 from the reference channel 92a, the following is noted. In particular, according to an embodiment, the temporal offset 148 is restricted to full-sample offsets, meaning that the temporal reference block portion 146 as well as the reference block portion are respectively formed by consecutive samples 40 of the corresponding reference channel, the consecutive samples being shifted relative to the samples of block portion 144 and segment 140, respectively, by a number of samples indicated by offset 148. The derivation of reference block portion 146 and reference block portion 142 is, thus, merely a cutting-out of the corresponding samples out of the samples of reference channel 92a. However, alternatively, the temporal offset 148 may also allow for sub-sample offsets so that the derivation might include a sub-sampling of the reference channel to result into reference block portion 146 and reference block portion 142, respectively. A further note shall be made with respect to the freedom for encoder 10 to choose the temporal offset 148, the number of reference channels and the selection of the number of reference channels out of the available preceding coded channels for a certain coded channel 92, or for a subset of these settings. For instance, the encoder 10 may determine these parameters or settings as optimization variables in a rate / distortion optimization scheme, or may select same in a different manner such as by inspecting certain similarity measures or the like. In the following, the announced subsequent embodiments dealing with intra prediction are presented. As outlined above, these details describe an encoder and a decoder for encoding / decoding a multi-channel digital signal 14, wherein these embodiments may be combined with a teaching of a possible framework presented above with respect to Fig.2, both with adopting all details presented with respect to Fig. 2 as well as combining subsequent embodiments merely with a subset of these details. Generally, Fig.3b presents embodiments for a decoder configured to decode coded channels representing a multi-channel digital signal 14 from the data stream 16 in temporal blocks 140, and an encoder configured to encoder coded channels representing a multi-channel digital signal 14 into the data stream 16 in temporal blocks 140. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhAccording to Fig.3b, a current temporal block 140 of a predetermined coded channel is predicted from one or more reference block portions 2421and 2422of the same channel, i.e. the predetermined coded channel 92. The “reference block portions” equal the currently encoded / decoded temporal block 140 in the number of samples, but same are not restricted to be registered to any of the temporal blocks 30 and beyond this, in accordance with the embodiments described herein below, they might be positioned at, and be derived from, sub-sample positions of channel 92. In Fig.3b, the number of reference block portions is two but this number may also be one or be larger than two. In particular, the number of reference block portions might be determined by the encoder 10 and signaled in the data stream. The number might be determined for each intra- predicted temporal block 140 individually and signaled in the data stream for that segment 140 individually. Alternatively, the number is signaled in the data stream 16 at a coarser time / channel grid. For instance, the number might be signaled in the data stream channel-globally, i.e. for all coded channels, with being updated intermittently such as for each temporal block 30 or for each sequence of temporal blocks 30 from a random access temporal block such as segment 30b up to the temporal block 30d immediately preceding the next random access temporal block 30e. Even alternatively, the number of reference block portions might be signaled in the data stream 16 channel-individually but for a period comprising more than just one temporal block 140 of that channel such as channel 92. The data stream 16 might have, for each of the one or more reference block portions 2421and 2422, a position 2441, 2442of the respective reference block portion coded thereinto. In particular, this position might be the starting position of the respective reference block portion as depicted in Fig.3b. As the starting position needs to be distanced from the beginning 250 of the intra-predicted temporal block 140 by at least a temporal distance 252 equaling the temporal length 254 of temporal block 140 itself, the starting position 2441 / 2might be coded into the data stream as a temporal offset 2481and 2482relative to a temporal reference position 246 lying at the temporal distance 252 ahead beginning 250. The position may be coded into the data stream 16 at sample accuracy or at sub-sample accuracy. According to an embodiment, it is signaled in the data stream whether the position is coded into the data stream at sample accuracy or sub-sample accuracy and, in case of more than one sub- sample accuracy being available, at which sub-sample accuracy. The signaling of this accuracy may, again, be done individually for the intra-predicted temporal block 140, or be done at a coarser FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhtemporal and / or channel grid. For instance, the accuracy may be signaled channel-globally, i.e. for all coded channels commonly, and in temporal terms, it may be signaled in the data stream for the whole data stream or for each sequence of temporal blocks 30 from a random access temporal block onwards up to the temporal block immediately preceding the next random access temporal block, or for each temporal block 30. Even alternatively, the accuracy may be signaled channel- individually but for periods encompassing more than just one temporal block 140. If the position of a predetermined reference block portion 2421 / 2falls onto a sub-sample position, the predetermined reference block portion 2421 / 2is derived from channel 92 by sampling this channel 92 using an interpolation filter at a grid of sub-sample positions which grid has a temporal length of temporal block 242, i.e. has the same number of samples, and is placed at the sub- sample position 2441 / 2. If the number of reference block portions 2421 / 2is larger than one, as it is the case in Fig.3b, the prediction signal 64 of temporal block 140 may be derived based on a sum 260 of the reference block portions 2421and 2422. The sum may be a weighted sum so that reference block portion 2421is weighted using a factor 2621before being subject to addition 260, while reference block portion 2422might be weighted by a factor 2622before being subject to addition 260. Again, the same statements on granularity of signalization as done above with respect to the position signaling holds true with respect to a signalization of one, a subset of, or all of the weights / factors 2621 / 2in data stream 16, wherein the granularity may be equal to the one of the signalization of the position or different thereto. However, the weights might be set by default and, optionally, they might be equal to each other, such as the inverse of the number of reference block partitions. Further, adaptive filtering with signaled filter coefficients might be used to filter either the weighted sum of individual weighted reference block portions, or one or more of the reference block portions before being used to form the prediction signal in combination with the other reference block portion(s). Generally, and using a pseudo-code like writing, the following options for transmitting the reference block portions’ offsets and the filter decision shall explicitly be mentioned (with steps in parenthesis being optional): A) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhindividually or at a larger temporal scope) For each reference block portion decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) decode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) if there is no reference block portion with sub-sample offset, (NOTE: that is, no reference block portion which requires interpolation filter) decode / encode filter flag if there is a reference block portion with sub-sample offset, infer that the filter flag indicates no filtering if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: this filter might be applied to weighted sum to yield final prediction signal 64) B) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block individually or at a larger temporal scope) decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) For each reference block portion decode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) if there is no reference block portion with sub-sample offset, (NOTE: that is, no reference block portion which requires interpolation filter) decode / encode filter flag (NOTE: otherwise it may deemed to be none- indicative of filtering) if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: this filter might be applied to weighted sum to yield final prediction signal 64) FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhC) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block individually or at a larger temporal scope) decode / encode filter flag if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: this filter might be applied to weighted sum to yield final prediction signal 64) infer that offset unit indicator of each temporal block portion indicates full-sample offset unit if filter flag not indicates filtering, For each reference block portion if filter flag not indicates filtering, decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) decode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) D) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block individually or at a larger temporal scope) For each reference block portion decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) decode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) if respective block portion has no sub-sample offset, (NOTE: that is, this reference block portion does not require interpolation filter) decode / encode filter flag if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: otherwise no filtering (except interpolation filtering) takes place) FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhE) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block individually or at a larger temporal scope) For each reference block portion decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) decode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) decode / encode filter flag if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: this filter might be applied to weighted sum to yield final prediction signal 64) F) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block individually or at a larger temporal scope) decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) For each reference block portion decode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) decode / encode filter flag if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: this filter might be applied to weighted sum to yield final prediction signal 64) G) (decode / encode number of reference block portions) (NOTE: for this temporal block individually or at a larger temporal scope) For each reference block portion decode / encode offset unit indicator (NOTE: one of full-sample, half-sample units or the like) FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhdecode / encode number of offset units (NOTE: so that offset is this number times offset unit) decode / encode filter flag if filter flag indicates filtering, decode / encode filter information (NOTE: otherwise no filtering (except, potentially, interpolation filtering) takes place) As described in Fig.2, the data stream 16 has a prediction residual 80 encoded thereinto which forms the prediction residual of prediction signal 64 and might be used to correct prediction signal 64, such as by addition, to yield the reconstruction of temporal block 140. Implementation alternatives: Although some aspects have been described in the context of an apparatus, it is clear that these aspects also represent a description of the corresponding method, where a block or device corresponds to a method step or a feature of a method step. Analogously, aspects described in the context of a method step also represent a description of a corresponding block or item or feature of a corresponding apparatus. Some or all of the method steps may be executed by (or using) a hardware apparatus, like for example, a microprocessor, a programmable computer or an electronic circuit. In some embodiments, one or more of the most important method steps may be executed by such an apparatus. Depending on certain implementation requirements, embodiments of the invention can be implemented in hardware or in software. The implementation can be performed using a digital storage medium, for example a floppy disk, a DVD, a Blu-Ray, a CD, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, an EEPROM or a FLASH memory, having electronically readable control signals stored thereon, which cooperate (or are capable of cooperating) with a programmable computer system such that the respective method is performed. Therefore, the digital storage medium may be computer readable. Some embodiments according to the invention comprise a data carrier having electronically readable control signals, which are capable of cooperating with a programmable computer system, such that one of the methods described herein is performed. Generally, embodiments of the present invention can be implemented as a computer program FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhproduct with a program code, the program code being operative for performing one of the methods when the computer program product runs on a computer. The program code may for example be stored on a machine readable carrier. Other embodiments comprise the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein, stored on a machine readable carrier. In other words, an embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, a computer program having a program code for performing one of the methods described herein, when the computer program runs on a computer. A further embodiment of the inventive methods is, therefore, a data carrier (or a digital storage medium, or a computer-readable medium) comprising, recorded thereon, the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein. The data carrier, the digital storage medium or the recorded medium are typically tangible and / or non–transitionary. A further embodiment of the inventive method is, therefore, a data stream or a sequence of signals representing the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein. The data stream or the sequence of signals may for example be configured to be transferred via a data communication connection, for example via the Internet. A further embodiment comprises a processing means, for example a computer, or a programmable logic device, configured to or adapted to perform one of the methods described herein. A further embodiment comprises a computer having installed thereon the computer program for performing one of the methods described herein. A further embodiment according to the invention comprises an apparatus or a system configured to transfer (for example, electronically or optically) a computer program for performing one of the methods described herein to a receiver. The receiver may, for example, be a computer, a mobile device, a memory device or the like. The apparatus or system may, for example, comprise a file server for transferring the computer program to the receiver. In some embodiments, a programmable logic device (for example a field programmable gate FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mharray) may be used to perform some or all of the functionalities of the methods described herein. In some embodiments, a field programmable gate array may cooperate with a microprocessor in order to perform one of the methods described herein. Generally, the methods are preferably performed by any hardware apparatus. The apparatus described herein may be implemented using a hardware apparatus, or using a computer, or using a combination of a hardware apparatus and a computer. The apparatus described herein, or any components of the apparatus described herein, may be implemented at least partially in hardware and / or in software. The methods described herein may be performed using a hardware apparatus, or using a computer, or using a combination of a hardware apparatus and a computer. The methods described herein, or any components of the apparatus described herein, may be performed at least partially by hardware and / or by software. The above described embodiments are merely illustrative for the principles of the present invention. It is understood that modifications and variations of the arrangements and the details described herein will be apparent to others skilled in the art. It is the intent, therefore, to be limited only by the scope of the impending patent claims and not by the specific details presented by way of description and explanation of the embodiments herein. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh

Claims

Claims 1. Decoder (10) for decoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) from a data stream (16), configured to decode coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) from the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding (60) from the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by determining one or more prediction parameters (90) for predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200) based on a preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and a preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a), and predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90).

2. Decoder (10) of claim 1, wherein the one or more prediction parameters (90) comprise a scale per reference channel (92a) of the set of the one or more reference channels (92a) and an offset.

3. Decoder (10) of claim 1 or 2, configured to, in determining the one or more prediction parameters (90), use a look-up table for computing an approximation of a quotient formed based on the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and / or the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

4. Decoder (10) of claim 3, configured to compute the one or more prediction parameters (90), perform the prediction of the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and obtain the quotient using the look-up table in a fixed-point arithmetic.

5. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the one or more prediction parameters (90) FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhcomprise a scale, and the decoder is configured to compute the scale so that the scale corresponds to, or is linearly related to, a numerator term formed based on the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a) divided by a denominator term depending on a variance of the previous temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

6. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 5, configured to Compute an integer look-up table input variable by computing a fixed-point representation value depending on the variance of the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a) and forming the integer look-up table input variable based on most significant digits of the fixed-point representation value, and Determine a further fixed-point representation value which corresponds to, or is linearly related to, an inverse of the fixed-point representation value by performing a table look-up using the integer look-up table input variable, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), determine a nominator value depending on a covariance and / or a correlation between the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a), compute a scale by forming a product between the further fixed-point representation value and the nominator value, and in predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92), scale the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the scale. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh7. Decoder (10) of claim 5 or 6, wherein the one or more prediction parameters (90) comprise an offset, and the decoder is configured to compute the offset so that the offset corresponds to, or is linearly related to, a difference between a mean of the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and a mean formed by the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

8. Decoder (10) of claim 5 or 6, configured to determine a first mean value from the previous temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92), determine, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), a second mean value from the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the respective reference channel, determine a difference between the first mean value on the one hand and, for each of the one or more previous coded channels (200), the second mean value scaled by the scale, on the other hand, to obtain an offset, and in predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92), scale, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), the reference block portion (142) of the respective reference channel (92a) using the scale to obtain a scaled predicted temporal block and forming a sum over the scaled predicted temporal block obtained for the one or more reference channels (92a) and the offset.

9. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 8, configured to decode from the data stream (16), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels (200), including the current coded channel, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), a temporal offset (148) at which, respectively, FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhthe reference block portion (142) of the respective reference channel (92a) is temporally offset relative to the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92), and the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the respective reference channel (92a) is temporally offset relative to the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92), and for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), derive the preceding temporal reference segment (146) and the reference block portion (142) of the respective reference channel (92a) using the temporal offset (148) decoded from the data stream (16) for the respective reference channel.

10. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 9, configured to decode, from the data stream (16), a number of reference channels (92a) in the set of reference channels (92a) and / or a number of reference block portions (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

11. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 10, configured to decode from the data stream (16), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels (200), including the current coded channel, a number of reference channels (92a) based on which a current temporal block (140) of the respective inter-channel predicted channel is to be predicted.

12. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 11, configured to decode, from the data stream (16), for each of the set of reference channels (92a), a channel index identifying the respective reference channel (92a) out of coded channels (200) which precede the current coded channel in a channel order (32) along which the predetermined temporal blocks of the coded channels (200) are sequentially decoded before decoding the subsequent temporal block of the coded channels (200).

13. Decoder (10) of claim 12, wherein the coded channels (200) comprise one or more random access channels (88) each of which is coded independent from preceding coded channels (200) and the decoder is configured to decode the channel index using a parametrized binarization parametrized using a binarization parameter and set the binarization FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhparameter so that a number of binary strings formed by the parametrized binarization becomes closest to a number of coded channels (200) preceding the current coded channel in the channel order (32) up to a nearest preceding random access channel (88) out of the one or more random access channels (88).

14. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 13, configured to decode from the data stream (16), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels (200), including the predetermined coded channel (92), for each of the set of reference channels (92a), a channel index identifying the respective reference channel (92a) out of coded channels (200) which precede the respective inter-channel predicted channel in a channel order (32) along which the predetermined temporal blocks of the coded channels (200) are sequentially decoded before decoding the subsequent temporal block of the coded channels (200).

15. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 14, configured to decode for a set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index, from the data stream (16), a differential value for a predetermined temporal interval and determine the set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index for the predetermined temporal interval by adding the differential value to a value of the set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index valid for a preceding temporal interval.

16. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 15, configured to decode for a set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index, from the data stream (16), an parameter index and using the parameter index to determine the set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index by a table look-up.

17. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 16, wherein the multi-channel digital signal (14) is obtained by at least one of FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhElectrocardiography, Electroencephalography, Electromyography or seismic measurement, and / or wherein the multi-channel digital signal (14) is a bio-physiological waveform data such as an electroencephalography (EEG) signal, an electrocardiogram (ECG), or an electromyography (EMG) signal, or seismic waveform data.

18. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 17, configured to support different block coding modes including an inter prediction coding mode and an intra prediction coding mode, decode a mode indicator for the current temporal block (140) from the data stream (16), and if the mode indicator is indicative of the inter prediction mode, perform the determining the one or more prediction parameters (90) and the predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90) in order to reconstruct the current temporal block (140), and if the mode indicator is indicative of the intra prediction mode, predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from one or more reference block portions of the predetermined coded channel (92).

19. Decoder (10) of claim 18, configured to, if the predetermined coded channel (92) is firstly traversed by a decoding order (32) using which the sequential decoding is performed, skip the decoding the mode indicator and infer that the mode indicator does not indicate the inter prediction mode.

20. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 19, wherein the temporal blocks are temporally aligned FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhamong the coded channels (200), so that mutually co-located temporal blocks of the coded channels (200) commonly start at a predetermined time instant and end at a further predetermined time instant at which the subsequent temporal segment of the coded channels (200) start.

21. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 20, configured to support different lengths of the temporal blocks and set a length of the temporal blocks according to a length parameter in the data stream (16).

22. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 21, configured to support different lengths of the temporal blocks and switch between the different lengths of the temporal blocks at predetermined borders between consecutive temporal blocks according to a length parameter in the data stream (16).

23. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 22, configured to decode a prediction residual signal (80) for the current temporal block (140) from the data stream (16) and reconstruct the current temporal block (140) by correcting, using the prediction residual signal (80), a prediction signal (64) of the current temporal block (140) obtained by the predicting the current temporal block (140) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90).

24. Decoder (10) of any of claims 1 to 23, configured to decode a flag from the data stream (16) for the current temporal block (140), wherein the flag is set to a first flag state for the current temporal block (140), and decode a different current temporal block of the predetermined coded channel (92) by decoding the flag from the data stream (16) for the different current temporal block, wherein the flag is set to a second flag state for the different current temporal block, and predicting the different current temporal block based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200), using one or more prediction parameters (90) signalled in the data stream (16) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the different current temporal block in a manner so that, for each sample of the different current FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhtemporal block, the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion.

25. Decoder (10) of claim 24, configured to decode a number of the more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion on which, for each sample of the different current temporal block, the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends.

26. Decoder (10) of claim 25, configured to decode the one or more prediction parameters (90) from the data stream (16), which comprise for each of the number of the more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion on which, for each sample of the different current temporal block, the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends, for each of the one or more predetermined reference block portions, a summation weight, and predicting the different current temporal block by, for each sample of the different current temporal block, determining the predicted sample value for the respective sample, by forming a weighted sum over, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, each of the more than one samples of the respective predetermined reference block portion, weighted by its summation weight.

27. Decoder (10) of any of claims 24 to 26, wherein there is exactly one reference block portion (142) for each reference channel.

28. Decoder (10) of claim 27, configured to decode from the data stream (16), for each of the one or more reference block portions, a temporal offset (148) at which, respectively, the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhrespective reference block portion (142) is temporally offset relative to the different current temporal block of the predetermined coded channel (92).

29. Decoder (10) of claim 28, wherein the temporal offset (148) is a full-sample offset.

30. Encoder for encoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) into a data stream (16), configured to encode coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) into the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially encoding into the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by determining one or more prediction parameters (90) for predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200) based on a preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and a preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a), and predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90).

31. Encoder of claim 30, wherein the one or more prediction parameters (90) comprise a scale per reference channel (92a) of the set of the one or more reference channels (92a) and an offset.

32. Encoder of claim 30 or 31, configured to, in determining the one or more prediction parameters (90), use a look-up table for computing an approximation of a quotient formed based on the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and / or the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

33. Encoder of claim 32, configured to compute the one or more prediction parameters (90), perform the prediction of the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhchannel (92) and obtain the quotient using the look-up table in a fixed-point arithmetic.

34. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 33, wherein the one or more prediction parameters (90) comprise a scale, and the encoder is configured to compute the scale so that the scale corresponds to, or is linearly related to, a numerator term formed based on the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a) divided by a denominator term depending on a variance of the previous temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

35. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 34, configured to Compute an integer look-up table input variable by computing a fixed-point representation value depending on the variance of the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a) and forming the integer look-up table input variable based on most significant digits of the fixed-point representation value, and Determine a further fixed-point representation value which corresponds to, or is linearly related to, an inverse of the fixed-point representation value by performing a table look-up using the integer look-up table input variable, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), determine a nominator value depending on a covariance and / or a correlation between the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a), compute a scale by forming a product between the further fixed-point representation value and the nominator value, and FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhin predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92), scale the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the scale.

36. Encoder of claim 34 or 35, wherein the one or more prediction parameters (90) comprise an offset, and the decoder is configured to compute the offset so that the offset corresponds to, or is linearly related to, a difference between a mean of the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and a mean formed by the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

37. Encoder of claim 34 or 35, configured to determine a first mean value from the previous temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92), determine, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), a second mean value from the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the respective reference channel, determine a difference between the first mean value on the one hand and, for each of the one or more previous coded channels (200), the second mean value scaled by the scale, on the other hand, to obtain an offset, and in predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92), scale, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), the reference block portion (142) of the respective reference channel (92a) using the scale to obtain a scaled predicted temporal block and forming a sum over the scaled predicted temporal block obtained for the one or more reference channels (92a) and the offset.

38. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 37, configured to Encode into the data stream (16), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels (200), including the current coded channel, for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mha temporal offset (148) at which, respectively, the reference block portion (142) of the respective reference channel (92a) is temporally offset relative to the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92), and the preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the respective reference channel (92a) is temporally offset relative to the preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92), and for each of the one or more reference channels (92a), derive the preceding temporal reference segment (146) and the reference block portion (142) of the respective reference channel (92a) using the temporal offset (148) encoded into the data stream (16) for the respective reference channel.

39. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 38, configured to encode, into the data stream (16), a number of reference channels (92a) in the set of reference channels (92a) and / or a number of reference block portions (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a).

40. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 39, configured to encode into the data stream (16), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels (200), including the current coded channel, a number of reference channels (92a) based on which a current temporal block (140) of the respective inter-channel predicted channel is to be predicted.

41. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 40, configured to encode, into the data stream (16), for each of the set of reference channels (92a), a channel index identifying the respective reference channel (92a) out of coded channels (200) which precede the current coded channel in a channel order (32) along which the predetermined temporal blocks of the coded channels (200) are sequentially decoded before encoding the subsequent temporal block of the coded channels (200).

42. Encoder of claim 41, wherein the coded channels (200) comprise one or more random FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhaccess channels (88) each of which is coded independent from preceding coded channels (200) and the encoder is configured to encode the channel index using a parametrized binarization parametrized using a binarization parameter and set the binarization parameter so that a number of binary strings formed by the parametrized binarization becomes closest to a number of coded channels (200) preceding the current coded channel in the channel order (32) up to a nearest preceding random access channel (88) out of the one or more random access channels (88).

43. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 42, configured to encode into the data stream (16), for each of a set of one or more inter-channel predicted channels out of the coded channels (200), including the predetermined coded channel (92), for each of the set of reference channels (92a), a channel index identifying the respective reference channel (92a) out of coded channels (200) which precede the respective inter-channel predicted channel in a channel order (32) along which the predetermined temporal blocks of the coded channels (200) are sequentially decoded before encoding the subsequent temporal block of the coded channels (200).

44. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 43, configured to encode for a set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index, into the data stream (16), a differential value for a predetermined temporal interval and determine the set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index for the predetermined temporal interval by adding the differential value to a value of the set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index valid for a preceding temporal interval.

45. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 44, configured to encode for a set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index, into the data stream (16), an parameter index and using the parameter index to determine the set of one or more of the temporal offset (148), the number of reference channels (92a), and the channel index by a table look-up. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh46. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 45, wherein the multi-channel digital signal (14) is obtained by at least one of Electrocardiography, Electroencephalography, Electromyography or seismic measurement, and / or wherein the multi-channel digital signal (14) is a bio-physiological waveform data such as an electroencephalography (EEG) signal, an electrocardiogram (ECG), or an electromyography (EMG) signal, or seismic waveform data.

47. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 46, configured to support different block coding modes including an inter prediction coding mode and an intra prediction coding mode, encode a mode indicator for the current temporal block (140) into the data stream (16) and wherein the mode indicator indicates whether, a) the determining the one or more prediction parameters (90) and the predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) is to be performed using the one or more prediction parameters (90) in order to reconstruct the current temporal block (140), or b) the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) is to be predicted from one or more reference block portions of the predetermined coded channel (92).

48. Encoder of claim 47, configured to, if the predetermined coded channel (92) is firstly traversed by an encoding order (32) using which the sequential encoding is performed, skip the encoding the mode indicator and infer that the mode indicator does not indicate the inter prediction mode.

49. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 48, wherein the temporal blocks are temporally aligned FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhamong the coded channels (200) so that mutually co-located temporal blocks of the coded channels (200) commonly start at a predetermined time instant and end at a further predetermined time instant at which the subsequent temporal segment of the coded channels (200) start.

50. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 49, configured to support different lengths of the temporal blocks and set a length of the temporal blocks and encode the length of the temporal blocks into the data stream (16) using a length parameter.

51. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 50, configured to support different lengths of the temporal blocks and switch between the different lengths of the temporal blocks at predetermined borders between consecutive temporal blocks and encode a length parameter in the data stream (16).

52. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 51, configured to encode a prediction residual signal (80) for the current temporal block (140) into the data stream (16) so that the current temporal block (140) is reconstructable by correcting, using the prediction residual signal (80), a prediction signal (64) of the current temporal block (140) obtained by the predicting the current temporal block (140) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90).

53. Encoder of any of claims 30 to 52, configured to encode a flag into the data stream (16) for the current temporal block (140), wherein the flag is set to a first flag state for the current temporal block (140), and encode a different current temporal block of the predetermined coded channel (92) by encoding the flag into the data stream (16) for the different current temporal block, wherein the flag is set to a second flag state for the different current temporal block, predicting the different current temporal block based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200), using one or more prediction parameters (90) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the different current temporal block in a manner so that, for each sample of the different current temporal block, the predicted sample value FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhdepends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion, and signalling the one or more prediction parameters (90) in the data stream (16).

54. Encoder of claim 53, configured to encode a number of the more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion on which, for each sample of the different current temporal block, the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends.

55. Encoder of claim 54, configured to encode the one or more prediction parameters (90) into the data stream (16), which comprise for each of the number of the more than one sample of the respective predetermined reference block portion on which, for each sample of the different current temporal block, the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends, for each of the one or more predetermined reference block portions, a summation weight, and predicting the different current temporal block by, for each sample of the different current temporal block, determining the predicted sample value for the respective sample, by forming a weighted sum over, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, each of the more than one samples of the respective predetermined reference block portion, weighted by its summation weight.

56. Encoder of any of claims 53 to 55, wherein there is exactly one reference block portion (142) for each reference channel.

57. Encoder of claim 56, configured to encode into the data stream (16), for each of the one or more reference block portions, a temporal offset (148) at which, respectively, the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhrespective reference block portion (142) is temporally offset relative to the different current temporal block of the predetermined coded channel (92).

58. Encoder of claim 57, wherein the temporal offset (148) is a full-sample offset.

59. Decoder for decoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) from a data stream (16), configured to decode coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) from the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding (60) from the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200), using one or more prediction parameters (90) signalled in the data stream (16) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the current temporal block (140) in a manner so that, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142).

60. Decoder (10) of claim 59, configured to decode a number of the more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142) on which, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends.

61. Decoder (10) of claim 60, configured to decode the one or more prediction parameters (90) from the data stream (16), which comprise for each of the number of the more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142) on which, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends, for each of the one or more predetermined reference block portions, FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mha summation weight, and predicting the current temporal block (140) by, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), determining the predicted sample value for the respective sample, by forming a weighted sum over, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, each of the more than one samples of the respective reference block portion (142), weighted by its summation weight.

62. Decoder (10) of any of claims 59 to 61, wherein there is exactly one reference block portion (142) for each reference channel.

63. Decoder (10) of claim 62, configured to decode from the data stream (16), for each of the one or more reference block portions, a temporal offset (148) at which, respectively, the respective reference block portion (142) is temporally offset relative to the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92).

64. Decoder of claim 63, wherein the temporal offset (148) is a full-sample offset.

65. Encoder for encoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) into a data stream (16), configured to encode coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) into the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially encoding into the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200), using one or more prediction parameters (90) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the current temporal block (140) in a manner so that, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142), and signalling the one or more prediction parameters (90) in the data stream (16).

66. Encoder of claim 65, configured to encode a number of the more than one sample of the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhrespective reference block portion (142) on which, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends.

67. Encoder of claim 66, configured to encode the one or more prediction parameters (90) into the data stream (16), which comprise for each of the number of the more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142) on which, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, depends, for each of the one or more predetermined reference block portions, a summation weight, and predicting the current temporal block (140) by, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), determining the predicted sample value for the respective sample, by forming a weighted sum over, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, each of the more than one samples of the respective reference block portion (142), weighted by its summation weight.

68. Encoder of any of claims 65 to 67, wherein there is exactly one reference block portion (142) for each reference channel.

69. Encoder of claim 68, configured to encode into the data stream (16), for each of the one or more reference block portions, a temporal offset (148) at which, respectively, the respective reference block portion (142) is temporally offset relative to the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92).

70. Encoder of claim 69, wherein the temporal offset (148) is a full-sample offset.

71. Method for decoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) from a data stream (16), comprising decoding coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) from the FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mhdata stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding (60) from the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by determining one or more prediction parameters (90) for predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200) based on a preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and a preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a), and predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90).

72. Method for encoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) into a data stream (16), comprising encoding coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) into the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially encoding into the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by determining one or more prediction parameters (90) for predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200) based on a preceding temporal segment (144) of the predetermined coded channel (92) and a preceding temporal reference segment (146) of the one or more reference channels (92a), and predicting the current temporal block (140) of the predetermined coded channel (92) from the reference block portion (142) of the one or more reference channels (92a) using the one or more prediction parameters (90).

73. Method for decoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) from a data stream (16), comprising decoding coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) from the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially decoding (60) from the data stream FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh(16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before decoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200), using one or more prediction parameters (90) signalled in the data stream (16) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the current temporal block (140) in a manner so that, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142).

74. Method for encoding a multi-channel digital signal (14) into a data stream (16), comprising encoding coded channels (200) representing the multi-channel digital signal (14) into the data stream (16) in temporal blocks with sequentially encoding into the data stream (16) a predetermined temporal block of each of the coded channels (200) before encoding a subsequent temporal block of any of the coded channels (200) by predicting a current temporal block (140) of a predetermined coded channel (92) based on a reference block portion (142) of a set of one or more reference channels (92a) of the coded channels (200), using one or more prediction parameters (90) so as to obtain a predicted sample value for each sample of the current temporal block (140) in a manner so that, for each sample of the current temporal block (140), the predicted sample value depends, for each of one or more predetermined reference block portions of the one or more reference block portions, on more than one sample of the respective reference block portion (142), and signalling the one or more prediction parameters (90) in the data stream (16).

75. Data stream (16) generted by an encoder according to one of claims 30 to 58 and 65 to 70.

76. A computer program for implementing the method of claims 71 to 74 when being executed on a computer or signal processor. FH240106PEP-2025009682.DOCX mh