Conversion device and conversion method

Abstract

This conversion device (1) comprises: an acquisition unit (11) that acquires data which indicates the magnitude of a signal and in which additional information is embedded by a predetermined method; a saving unit (12) that saves the additional information embedded in the acquired data; a conversion unit (13) that performs a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data; and an embedding unit (14) that embeds the saved additional information in the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

Description

Conversion Device and Conversion Method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a conversion device and a conversion method for performing a predetermined conversion process on data.

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses a technique related to a sampling rate converter (SRC) that changes the sampling rate.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2018-173442

[0004] However, there is a problem that additional information embedded in the data before conversion is destroyed by conversion using an SRC or the like, and the data with the additional information embedded cannot be output to the subsequent stage.

[0005] Therefore, the present disclosure provides a conversion device or the like that can output data with additional information embedded to the subsequent stage even after conversion of the data.

[0006] The conversion device according to the present disclosure includes an acquisition unit that acquires data indicating the magnitude of a signal and in which additional information is embedded in a predetermined manner, a storage unit that stores the additional information embedded in the acquired data, a conversion unit that performs a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data, and an embedding unit that embeds the stored additional information in the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

[0007] The conversion method according to the present disclosure is a conversion method executed by a conversion device, and includes an acquisition step of acquiring data indicating the magnitude of a signal and in which additional information is embedded in a predetermined manner, a storage step of storing the additional information embedded in the acquired data, a conversion step of performing a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data, and an embedding step of embedding the stored additional information in the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

[0008] These general or specific aspects may be implemented in a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, or a recording medium such as a computer-readable CD-ROM, or may be implemented in any combination of a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, and a recording medium.

[0009] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a conversion device can output data with embedded additional information even after data conversion to a subsequent stage.

[0010] This is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device according to Embodiment 1. This is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device according to a modified version of Embodiment 1. This is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device according to Embodiment 2. This is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device according to a modified version of Embodiment 2. This is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device according to Embodiment 3. This is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion method according to another embodiment.

[0011] The embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0012] The embodiments described below are all general or specific examples. The numerical values, shapes, materials, components, arrangement and connection configurations of components, steps, and the order of steps shown in the following embodiments are examples only and are not intended to limit this disclosure.

[0013] (Embodiment 1) The conversion device according to Embodiment 1 will be described below.

[0014] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device 1 according to Embodiment 1.

[0015] The conversion device 1 is a device that performs a predetermined conversion process on data indicating the magnitude of a signal. For example, the data indicating the magnitude of a signal may be audio data, video data, or sensor data. Specifically, audio data is data indicating the magnitude of sound as the magnitude of the signal, video data is data indicating the magnitude of pixel values ​​as the magnitude of the signal, and sensor data is data indicating the magnitude of values ​​acquired by a sensor as the magnitude of the signal. For example, the predetermined conversion process may be a process to convert the sampling rate, a process to reduce the number of bits in the data, a process to increase the number of bits in the data, an equalization process, or a brightness correction process. For example, if the conversion device 1 is an SRC, the conversion device 1 performs a process to convert the sampling rate on audio data.

[0016] Furthermore, the data indicating the signal magnitude is data with additional information embedded in a predetermined manner. For example, the additional information may include time information such as a timestamp, location information indicating the location where the data was acquired, or delay time information indicating the delay time caused by processing performed on the data up to that point, but is not limited to these. For example, predetermined manners include embedding in the lower bits of linear PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), audio watermarks, or HDCD (High Definition Compatible Digital), but is not limited to these manners as long as it is a manner that can embed additional information in the data.

[0017] The conversion device 1 comprises an acquisition unit 11, a storage unit 12, a conversion unit 13, and an embedding unit 14. The conversion device 1 is a computer including a processor and memory. The memory is ROM (Read Only Memory) and RAM (Random Access Memory), and can store programs executed by the processor. The acquisition unit 11, storage unit 12, conversion unit 13, and embedding unit 14 are implemented by a processor that executes programs stored in memory.

[0018] The acquisition unit 11 acquires data indicating the magnitude of a signal, with additional information embedded in a predetermined format. The data acquired by the acquisition unit 11 is also referred to as the pre-conversion data, as shown in Figure 1.

[0019] The backup unit 12 backs up additional information embedded in the data acquired by the acquisition unit 11. For example, the backup unit 12 temporarily stores the additional information embedded in the pre-conversion data in memory.

[0020] The conversion unit 13 performs a predetermined conversion process on the data acquired by the acquisition unit 11. Additional information embedded in the pre-conversion data is destroyed during the predetermined conversion process performed when the pre-conversion data passes through the conversion unit 13, but the additional information before destruction is saved by the saving unit 12.

[0021] The embedding unit 14 embeds the additional information saved by the saving unit 12 into the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process by the conversion unit 13. The data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process by the conversion unit 13 is also referred to as the converted data, as shown in Figure 1. For example, the embedding unit 14 embeds the additional information temporarily stored in memory into the converted data. The conversion device 1 then outputs the converted data with the embedded additional information to the next stage.

[0022] In this way, additional information embedded in the data is saved before the predetermined conversion process is performed, and the saved additional information is embedded in the data after the predetermined conversion process has been performed. Therefore, data with the saved additional information embedded can be output to the next stage even after the data conversion. Furthermore, since the saved additional information is embedded in the converted data within the conversion device 1, there is no need for a separate path or mechanism to transmit the saved additional information. In addition, since the additional information is embedded in the data, the data size can be reduced.

[0023] For example, the embedding unit 14 may embed the saved additional information into the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process in a predetermined manner. For example, if the predetermined manner is to embed the information in the lower bits, as shown in the pre-conversion data in Figure 1, the embedding unit 14 will embed the saved additional information in the lower bits of the post-conversion data. This makes it possible to maintain the same data structure as before the data conversion even after the data conversion.

[0024] (Modified Version of Embodiment 1) Next, a conversion device according to a modified version of Embodiment 1 will be described.

[0025] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device 1a according to a modified example of Embodiment 1.

[0026] The conversion device 1a differs from the conversion device 1 according to Embodiment 1 in that it has an embedded portion 14a instead of the embedded portion 14. Other aspects are the same as those in Embodiment 1, so their explanation will be omitted.

[0027] The embedding unit 14a embeds the saved additional information into the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process using a method different from the predetermined method. If the predetermined method is to embed the information in the lower bits, as shown in the pre-conversion data in Figure 2, the embedding unit 14a does not embed the saved additional information in the lower bits of the post-conversion data, but instead embeds the saved additional information into the post-conversion data using a method different from the predetermined method, for example, by an audio watermark. In this way, the data structure after data conversion may be changed to one that is different from the data before conversion.

[0028] In the following embodiments, the conversion devices 2, 2a, 3, 3a, and 3b will be described as having an embedded portion 14, but the conversion devices 2, 2a, 3, 3a, and 3b may also have an embedded portion 14a. In other words, in the conversion devices 2, 2a, 3, 3a, and 3b, the saved additional information may be embedded in the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process in a predetermined manner, or in a manner different from the predetermined manner.

[0029] (Embodiment 2) Next, the conversion device according to Embodiment 2 will be described.

[0030] Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device 2 according to Embodiment 2.

[0031] The conversion device 2 differs from the conversion device 1 according to Embodiment 1 in that it further includes an interpolation unit 21. In Embodiment 2, the additional information is time information, and the predetermined conversion process is a process that converts the sampling rate of the data. Other points are the same as in Embodiment 1, so the explanation is omitted.

[0032] The interpolation unit 21 interpolates time information corresponding to the increased data when the data sampling rate is converted by the conversion unit 13 by a factor of n (where n is a real number greater than 1). For example, when the data sampling rate is converted by a factor of 2 (for example, from 48 kHz to 96 kHz), as shown in Figure 3, the pre-conversion data 1 increases to two converted data 1.1 and converted data 1.2, and the pre-conversion data 2 increases to two converted data 2.1 and converted data 2.2. At this time, the interpolation unit 21 interpolates time information corresponding to the doubled data. Specifically, the interpolation unit 21 interpolates time 1.5, which is the time information embedded in the pre-conversion data 1 and time 2, which is the time information embedded in the pre-conversion data 2, as time information corresponding to converted data 1.2. Furthermore, the interpolation unit 21 interpolates time 2.5 between time 2, which is time information embedded in the pre-conversion data 2, and time 3 (not shown), which is time information embedded in the pre-conversion data 3 (not shown), as time information corresponding to the converted data 2.2. The interpolation method is linear interpolation or polynomial interpolation, but is not particularly limited. Note that in cases where the sampling rate is not an integer multiple, such as when the sampling rate is converted from 44.1 kHz to 48 kHz, n is set to a real number greater than 1.

[0033] The embedding unit 14 then embeds additional information, in which time information is interpolated, into the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process. For example, as shown in Figure 3, the embedding unit 14 embeds time 1 as time information into the converted data 1.1, time 1.5 as time information into the converted data 1.2, time 2 as time information into the converted data 2.1, and time 2.5 as time information into the converted data 2.2.

[0034] In this way, when data is transformed to increase its sampling rate, time information corresponding to the increased data can be interpolated.

[0035] (Modified Version of Embodiment 2) Next, a conversion device according to a modified version of Embodiment 2 will be described.

[0036] Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device 2a according to a modified example of Embodiment 2.

[0037] The conversion device 2a differs from the conversion device 1 according to Embodiment 1 in that it further includes a thinning unit 22. In addition, in the modified version of Embodiment 2, the additional information is time information, and the predetermined conversion process is a process that converts the sampling rate of the data. Other points are the same as in Embodiment 1, so the explanation is omitted.

[0038] The decimation unit 22 decimates time information corresponding to the reduced data when the data sampling rate is converted by the conversion unit 13 by a factor of 1 / m (where m is a real number greater than 1). For example, when the data sampling rate is converted by a factor of 1 / 2 (for example, from 96 kHz to 48 kHz), as shown in Figure 4, pre-conversion data 1 and pre-conversion data 2 are reduced to one post-conversion data 1.1, and pre-conversion data 3 and pre-conversion data 4 are reduced to one post-conversion data 3.1. At this time, the decimation unit 22 decimates time information corresponding to the data that has been reduced by a factor of 1 / 2. Specifically, the decimation unit 22 decimates time 2, which is time information embedded in pre-conversion data 2, and time 4, which is time information embedded in pre-conversion data 4. Note that there are cases where the sampling rate is not converted by a factor of 1, such as when the sampling rate is converted from 48 kHz to 32 kHz, so m is set to a real number greater than 1.

[0039] The embedding unit 14 then embeds additional information, from which time information has been omitted, into the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process. For example, as shown in Figure 4, the embedding unit 14 embeds time 1 as time information into the converted data 1.1 and embeds time 3 as time information into the converted data 3.1.

[0040] In this way, when data is converted to a lower sampling rate, time information corresponding to the reduced data can be decimated.

[0041] The conversion device 2a may also include an interpolation unit 21. In other words, the conversion device 2a may have both a function to interpolate time information corresponding to the increased data when the data sampling rate increases, and a function to decimate time information corresponding to the decreased data when the data sampling rate decreases.

[0042] (Embodiment 3) Next, the conversion device according to Embodiment 3 will be described.

[0043] Figure 5 is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device 3 according to Embodiment 3.

[0044] The conversion device 3 further includes a processing unit 31, which is different from the conversion device 1 according to the first embodiment. Since other aspects are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted.

[0045] The processing unit 31 processes the stored additional information. For example, the processing unit 31 processes the additional information by adding information δ to the stored additional information. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when additional information A is embedded in the pre-conversion data 1 and additional information B is embedded in the pre-conversion data 2, the processing unit 31 adds information δ to each of the stored additional information A and additional information B. Then, the embedding unit 14 embeds the processed additional information into the data after a predetermined conversion process is performed. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the embedding unit 14 embeds additional information A and information δ into the post-conversion data 1.1 obtained by performing a predetermined conversion process on the pre-conversion data 1, and embeds additional information B and information δ into the post-conversion data 2.1 obtained by performing a predetermined conversion process on the pre-conversion data 2.

[0046] For example, the processing unit 31 may add information δ indicating that a predetermined conversion process has been performed on the stored additional information. For example, when the conversion unit 13 is SRC, information indicating that a process of converting the sampling rate has been performed on the additional information is added. Thereby, it can be conveyed to the subsequent stage that the data has passed through SRC, that is, the audio data has been changed.

[0047] For example, the processing unit 31 may add the unique identification information δ of the conversion unit 13 to the stored additional information. Thereby, it can be conveyed to the subsequent stage which conversion unit 13 has performed a predetermined conversion process.

[0048] For example, the processing unit 31 may add information δ regarding the data before and after conversion by a predetermined conversion process to the stored additional information. Thereby, as information δ regarding the data before and after conversion, for example, the sampling rate before conversion and the sampling rate after conversion can be conveyed to the subsequent stage. For example, it can be conveyed to the subsequent stage that the sampling rate of the data has been converted from 48 kHz to 96 kHz.

[0049] For example, the processing unit 31 may add other arbitrary information (such as a fixed value or today's date) as information δ.

[0050] The conversion device 3 may also include an interpolation unit 21 or a thinning unit 22.

[0051] (Modified Version of Embodiment 3) Next, a conversion device according to a modified version of Embodiment 3 will be described.

[0052] Figure 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a conversion device 3a according to a modified example of Embodiment 3.

[0053] The conversion device 3a differs from the conversion device 3 according to Embodiment 3 in that it includes a processing unit 31a instead of the processing unit 31. Other aspects are the same as those in Embodiment 3, so their explanation will be omitted.

[0054] The processing unit 31a processes the saved additional information. For example, the processing unit 31a processes the additional information by changing the saved additional information. For example, as shown in Figure 6, if additional information A is embedded in the pre-conversion data 1 and additional information B is embedded in the pre-conversion data 2, the processing unit 31a changes the saved additional information A to additional information A' and changes the saved additional information B to additional information B'. Then, the embedding unit 14 embeds the processed additional information into the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process. For example, as shown in Figure 6, the embedding unit 14 embeds additional information A' into the converted data 1.1 obtained by performing a predetermined conversion process on the pre-conversion data 1, and embeds additional information B' into the converted data 2.1 obtained by performing a predetermined conversion process on the pre-conversion data 2.

[0055] For example, if the additional information is delay time information, the processing unit 31a may add the delay time caused by a predetermined conversion process by the conversion unit 13 to the saved additional information. Since the delay time increases due to the predetermined conversion process, by adding the delay time caused by the predetermined conversion process to the additional information, delay time information that also takes into account the delay time caused by the predetermined conversion process can be embedded in the data. For example, if additional information A is delay time A, additional information B is delay time B, and a delay time α is caused by a predetermined conversion process by the conversion unit 13, the processing unit 31a processes delay time A to delay time A + α and delay time B to delay time B + α.

[0056] For example, the processing unit 31a may process the saved additional information into information corresponding to the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process. If the additional information does not correspond to the converted data and the additional information is embedded directly into the converted data, there is a risk that the quality of the data may deteriorate. Therefore, processing the additional information into information corresponding to the data that has undergone a predetermined conversion process can suppress the deterioration of the data quality. For example, if the predetermined conversion process is a process that reduces the number of bits in the data, the processing unit 31a may reduce the number of bits in the saved additional information.

[0057] When a conversion process is performed to reduce the number of bits in the data, if the same number of bits of additional information as before the conversion is embedded in the converted data with reduced bit count, the quality of the converted data may deteriorate. For example, if the number of bits in the original data is 24 bits, the number of bits in the converted data is 16 bits, and the number of bits of additional information embedded in the original data is 4 bits, then if the 4 bits of additional information are embedded in the 16-bit converted data, the quality of the converted data may deteriorate. Therefore, by reducing the number of bits of the additional information to match the number of bits in the converted data after the predetermined conversion process has been performed, the deterioration of data quality can be suppressed.

[0058] For example, if a predetermined conversion process is a process that increases the number of bits in the data, the processing unit 31a may increase the number of bits in the saved additional information.

[0059] For example, if the data before conversion has 16 bits, the data after conversion has 24 bits, and the additional information embedded in the data before conversion has 4 bits, the number of bits of the additional information may be increased to 6 bits so that the number of bits of the additional information after conversion remains 1 / 4 of the total. The additional 2 bits may be filled with zeros or with other information. Alternatively, 6 bits of data may be generated from 4 bits of data using a specific algorithm such as dithering. Furthermore, when the data is converted from 16 bits to 24 bits, if, for example, audio data can maintain 12 bits of precision after conversion, the number of bits of the additional information may be increased from 4 bits to 12 bits.

[0060] The conversion device 3a may also include an interpolation unit 21 or a thinning unit 22.

[0061] (Other Embodiments) Embodiments have been described above as examples of the technology relating to this disclosure. However, the technology relating to this disclosure is not limited thereto and can be applied to embodiments that are modified, replaced, added to, or omitted as appropriate. For example, the following modified examples are also included in one embodiment of this disclosure.

[0062] For example, this disclosure can be implemented not only as a conversion device, but also as a conversion method that includes steps (processes) performed by the components constituting the conversion device.

[0063] Figure 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a conversion method according to another embodiment.

[0064] The conversion method is a conversion method performed by a conversion device and includes, as shown in Figure 7, an acquisition step (step S11) of acquiring data that indicates the magnitude of a signal and has additional information embedded in it in a predetermined manner; a saving step (step S12) of saving the additional information embedded in the acquired data; a conversion step (step S13) of performing a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data; and an embedding step (step S14) of embedding the saved additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process.

[0065] For example, this disclosure can be implemented as a program that causes a computer (processor) to execute the steps included in the conversion method. Furthermore, this disclosure can be implemented as a non-temporary computer-readable recording medium, such as a CD-ROM, on which the program is recorded.

[0066] For example, if this disclosure is implemented in a program (software), each step is executed by the program using hardware resources such as the computer's CPU, memory, and input / output circuits. In other words, each step is executed by the CPU obtaining data from memory or input / output circuits, performing calculations, and outputting the calculation results to memory or input / output circuits.

[0067] In the above embodiment, each component included in the conversion device may be implemented by dedicated hardware or by executing a software program suitable for each component. Each component may also be implemented by a program execution unit such as a CPU or processor reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or semiconductor memory.

[0068] Some or all of the functions of the conversion device according to the above embodiment are typically implemented as an LSI, which is an integrated circuit. These may be individually integrated onto a single chip, or some or all of them may be integrated onto a single chip. Furthermore, the implementation is not limited to an LSI, but may also be implemented using dedicated circuits or general-purpose processors. An FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) that can be programmed after LSI manufacturing, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells inside the LSI may also be used.

[0069] Furthermore, if advances in semiconductor technology or other derived technologies lead to the emergence of integrated circuit technologies that can replace LSIs, then naturally, those technologies may be used to integrate each component included in the conversion device into an integrated circuit.

[0070] Furthermore, this disclosure also includes forms obtained by applying various modifications to the embodiments that a person skilled in the art could conceive, and forms realized by arbitrarily combining the components and functions of each embodiment without departing from the spirit of this disclosure.

[0071] (Note) The above description of embodiments discloses the following technology.

[0072] (Technical 1) A conversion device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires data indicating the magnitude of a signal, in which additional information is embedded in a predetermined manner; a storage unit that stores the additional information embedded in the acquired data; a conversion unit that performs a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data; and an embedding unit that embeds the stored additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process.

[0073] According to this method, additional information embedded in the data is saved before the predetermined conversion process is performed, and the saved additional information is embedded in the data after the predetermined conversion process has been performed. Therefore, data with the saved additional information embedded can be output to subsequent stages even after the data conversion. Furthermore, since the saved additional information is embedded in the converted data within the conversion device, there is no need for a separate path or mechanism to transmit the saved additional information. In addition, since the additional information is embedded in the data, the data size can be reduced.

[0074] (Technology 2) The conversion device according to Technology 1, wherein the embedding portion embeds the saved additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process in the predetermined manner.

[0075] According to this, the same data structure can be maintained after data transformation as before the transformation.

[0076] (Technology 3) The conversion device according to Technology 1, wherein the embedding portion embeds the saved additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process in a manner different from the predetermined method.

[0077] Thus, the data structure after data transformation may be changed to one that is different from the data before transformation.

[0078] (Technical 4) The conversion device according to any one of Technical 1 to 3, wherein the additional information is time information, the predetermined conversion process is a process for converting the sampling rate of the data, the conversion device further includes an interpolation unit that interpolates time information corresponding to the increased data when the sampling rate of the data is converted to n times by the conversion unit, and the embedding unit embeds the additional information with interpolated time information into the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

[0079] According to this, when data is converted to have a higher sampling rate, time information corresponding to the increased data can be interpolated.

[0080] (Technical 5) The conversion device according to any one of Technical 1 to 4, wherein the additional information is time information, the predetermined conversion process is a sampling rate conversion process, the conversion device further includes a decimation unit that decimates time information corresponding to the reduced data when the sampling rate of the data is converted to 1 / m times by the conversion unit, and the embedding unit embeds the additional information from which the time information has been decimated into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process.

[0081] According to this method, when data is converted to a lower sampling rate, time information corresponding to the reduced data can be decimated.

[0082] (Technical 6) The conversion device further comprises a processing unit for processing the saved additional information, and the embedding unit embeds the processed additional information into the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed, according to any one of Technical 1 to 5.

[0083] According to this method, processed additional information can be embedded into the converted data.

[0084] (Technical 7) The conversion device according to Technical 6, wherein the processing unit adds information indicating that the predetermined conversion process has been performed to the retracted additional information.

[0085] This allows us to inform subsequent stages that a predetermined conversion process has been performed.

[0086] (Technical 8) The conversion device according to Technical 6 or 7, wherein the processing unit adds the unique identification information of the conversion unit to the retracted additional information.

[0087] This allows us to communicate to a subsequent stage which conversion unit performed the predetermined conversion process.

[0088] (Technical 9) The processing unit adds information about the data before and after conversion by the predetermined conversion process to the saved additional information, the conversion device according to any one of Technical 6 to 8.

[0089] According to this, information about the data before and after conversion, such as the sampling rate before conversion and the sampling rate after conversion, can be transmitted to the subsequent stage.

[0090] (Technical 10) The conversion device according to any one of Technical 6 to 9, wherein the additional information is delay time information, and the processing unit adds the delay time generated by the predetermined conversion process by the conversion unit to the retracted additional information.

[0091] According to this method, since the delay time increases due to a predetermined conversion process, by adding the delay time caused by the predetermined conversion process to the additional information, delay time information that takes into account the delay time caused by the predetermined conversion process can be embedded in the data.

[0092] (Technical 11) The processing unit processes the saved additional information into information corresponding to the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed, as described in any of Technical 6 to 10.

[0093] According to this, if the additional information does not correspond to the converted data and is embedded directly into the converted data, there is a risk of data quality degradation. Therefore, by processing the additional information to correspond to the data that has undergone the prescribed conversion process, it is possible to suppress the degradation of data quality.

[0094] (Technical 12) The conversion device according to Technical 11, wherein the predetermined conversion process is a process that reduces the number of bits of the data, and the processing unit reduces the number of bits of the saved additional information.

[0095] According to this, if a conversion process is performed to reduce the number of bits in the data, and the same number of bits of additional information as before the conversion is embedded in the converted data with reduced bits, the quality of the converted data may deteriorate. For example, if the number of bits in the original data is 24 bits, the number of bits in the converted data is 16 bits, and the number of bits of additional information embedded in the original data is 4 bits, then if the 4 bits of additional information are embedded in the 16-bit converted data, the quality of the converted data may deteriorate. Therefore, by reducing the number of bits of the additional information to match the number of bits in the converted data after the predetermined conversion process has been performed, the deterioration of data quality can be suppressed.

[0096] (Technical 13) The conversion device according to Technical 11, wherein the predetermined conversion process is a process that increases the number of bits of the data, and the processing unit increases the number of bits of the saved additional information.

[0097] For example, if the data before conversion has 16 bits, the data after conversion has 24 bits, and the additional information embedded in the data before conversion has 4 bits, the number of bits of the additional information may be increased to 6 bits so that the number of bits of the additional information after conversion remains 1 / 4 of the total. The additional 2 bits may be filled with zeros or with other information. Alternatively, 6 bits of data may be generated from 4 bits of data using a specific algorithm such as dithering. Furthermore, when the data is converted from 16 bits to 24 bits, if, for example, audio data can maintain 12 bits of precision after conversion, the number of bits of the additional information may be increased from 4 bits to 12 bits.

[0098] (Technical 14) The conversion device according to any one of Technical 1 to 13, wherein the data is audio data, video data, or sensor data.

[0099] According to this, with respect to audio data, video data, or sensor data, data with embedded additional information can be output to a subsequent stage even after data conversion.

[0100] (Technical 15) A conversion method performed by a conversion device, comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring data that indicates the magnitude of a signal and has additional information embedded in it in a predetermined manner; a saving step of saving the additional information embedded in the acquired data; a conversion step of performing a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data; and an embedding step of embedding the saved additional information into the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

[0101] This method provides a conversion method that allows data with embedded additional information to be output to a subsequent stage even after the data conversion.

[0102] This disclosure is applicable to SRCs and the like.

[0103] 1, 1a, 2, 2a, 3, 3a Conversion device 11 Acquisition unit 12 Retraction unit 13 Conversion unit 14, 14a Embedding unit 21 Interpolation unit 22 Thinning unit 31, 31a Processing unit

Claims

1. A conversion device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires data indicating the magnitude of a signal, in which additional information is embedded in a predetermined manner; a storage unit that stores the additional information embedded in the acquired data; a conversion unit that performs a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data; and an embedding unit that embeds the stored additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process.

2. The conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the embedding portion embeds the saved additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process in the predetermined manner.

3. The conversion device according to claim 1, wherein the embedding portion embeds the saved additional information into the data that has undergone the predetermined conversion process in a manner different from the predetermined method.

4. The conversion device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the additional information is time information, the predetermined conversion process is a process for converting the sampling rate of the data, the conversion device further includes an interpolation unit that interpolates time information corresponding to the increased data when the sampling rate of the data is converted by the conversion unit by a factor of n (where n is a real number greater than 1), and the embedding unit embeds the additional information, with the time information interpolated, into the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

5. The conversion device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the additional information is time information, the predetermined conversion process is a sampling rate conversion process, the conversion device further includes a decimation unit that decimates time information corresponding to the reduced data when the sampling rate of the data is converted by the conversion unit by a factor of 1 / m (where m is a real number greater than 1), and the embedding unit embeds the additional information from which the time information has been decimated into the data from which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

6. The conversion device further comprises a processing unit for processing the saved additional information, and the embedding unit embeds the processed additional information into the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed, according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The conversion device according to claim 6, wherein the processing unit adds information indicating that the predetermined conversion process has been performed to the retracted additional information.

8. The conversion device according to claim 6 or 7, wherein the processing unit adds the unique identification information of the conversion unit to the retracted additional information.

9. The conversion device according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein the processing unit adds information about the data before and after conversion by the predetermined conversion process to the saved additional information.

10. The conversion device according to any one of claims 6 to 9, wherein the additional information is delay time information, and the processing unit adds the delay time generated by the predetermined conversion process by the conversion unit to the retracted additional information.

11. The conversion device according to any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein the processing unit processes the saved additional information into information corresponding to the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

12. The conversion device according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined conversion process is a process that reduces the number of bits of the data, and the processing unit reduces the number of bits of the saved additional information.

13. The conversion device according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined conversion process is a process that increases the number of bits of the data, and the processing unit increases the number of bits of the saved additional information.

14. The conversion device according to any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the data is audio data, video data, or sensor data.

15. A conversion method performed by a conversion device, comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring data indicating the magnitude of a signal, in which additional information is embedded in a predetermined manner; a saving step of saving the additional information embedded in the acquired data; a conversion step of performing a predetermined conversion process on the acquired data; and an embedding step of embedding the saved additional information into the data on which the predetermined conversion process has been performed.

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