Audio Stream Combining Using Overlap Transform Joint Stitching
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Joining different audio streams compressed using overlap transform results in incomplete decoding and artifacts due to the lack of shared information at the joint, requiring re-encoding of all streams, which is inefficient and costly.
Innovation Solution
An audio stream combining apparatus and method that decodes and selectively mixes frames from adjacent access units to generate mixed frames, encoding them into group 3 access units that serve as a joint, ensuring smooth joining without re-encoding all data, while maintaining buffer utilization continuity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If audio streams are simply joined together, then the joining process is fast and simple, but decoding artifacts occur at the joints due to incomplete decoding
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the audio stream into access units with overlapping blocks, where each block contains audio samples that are partially overlapped with adjacent blocks. This segmentation allows the joining apparatus to process and join streams by manipulating these segmented blocks, enabling efficient joining without requiring complete decoding of entire streams while maintaining decoding quality at joints.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary overlap transform during the encoding stage, where adjacent audio blocks are partially overlapped before compression. This preliminary action ensures that when streams are joined, the overlapping blocks contain sufficient shared information to enable proper decoding at the joint, eliminating artifacts without requiring re-encoding of the entire stream.
2Reliability
If all audio streams are decoded and re-encoded, then decoding quality is maintained, but the process becomes inefficient and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary overlapping blocks from the audio streams for joining, rather than processing entire streams. The joining apparatus identifies and processes only the overlapping blocks at the joint boundaries, extracting the minimal required data to maintain decoding quality while avoiding the inefficient re-encoding of complete streams.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by processing only the overlapping portions of audio blocks at the joints rather than the entire streams. This partial processing approach maintains sufficient decoding quality at critical joint regions while significantly improving joining efficiency by avoiding unnecessary processing of non-overlapping portions.
3Ease of manufacture
If audio streams are joined without considering buffer management, then the joining process is simple, but buffer overflow or underflow may occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the joining apparatus to perform multiple functions: it processes the overlapping blocks for joining while simultaneously managing buffer utilization. The apparatus integrates buffer management capabilities directly into the joining process, allowing it to control buffer overflow and underflow conditions while maintaining joining simplicity through unified processing of the overlapping blocks.
Data Source
AI summary
A stream combining apparatus is provided, comprising an input unit that receives the input of first group access units and second group access units from two streams that are generated by overlap transform; a decoder that generates group frames by decoding the group access units and that generates group frames by decoding the group access units; and a combining unit that uses first group frames and second group frames as a frame of reference for the access units, that decodes the frames, that performs selective mixing to generate mixed frames, that encodes said mixed frames, that generates a prescribed number of group access units, and that joins two streams, using a prescribed number of group access units as a joint such that the access units adjacent to each other on the boundary between the two streams and a prescribed number of group access units are stitched so that the information for decoding the same common frames is distributed.