• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.714-721
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• 2011

MPEG audio uses the masking effect, high frequency component synthesis based on spectral band replication, and channel expansion based on parametric stereo for efficient compression of audio signals. In this paper, we present an overview of the state-of-the-art channel expansion technology in MPEG audio. We also present technical overviews and application examples to broadcasting services for HE-AAC v.2, MPEG Surround, spatial audio object coding (SAOC), and unified speech and audio coding (USAC) which are MPEG audio codecs based on the channel expansion technology.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SP
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.74-80
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• 2010

Speech and audio codecs have been developed based on different type of coding technologies since they have different characteristics of signal and applications. In harmony with a convergence between broadcasting and telecommunication system, international organizations for standardization such as 3GPP and ISO/IEC MPEG have tried to compress and transmit multimedia signals using unified codecs. MPEG recently initiated an activity to standardize the USAC (Unified speech and audio coding). However, USAC RM (Reference model) software has been problematic since it has a complex hierarchy, many useless source codes and poor quality of the encoder. To solve these problems, this paper introduces a new RM software designed with an open source paradigm. It was presented at the MPEG meeting in April, 2010 and the source code was released in June.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.310-318
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• 2017

Unified speech and audio coding (USAC) is one of the latest coding technologies. It is based on a switchable coding structure, and has demonstrated the highest levels of performance for both speech and music contents. In this paper, we propose an extended version of USAC with a single-mode of operation-which does not require a switching system-by extending the linear prediction-coding mode. The main concept of this extension is the adoption of the advantages of frequency-domain coding schemes, such as windowing and transition control. Subjective test results indicate that the proposed scheme covers speech, music, and mixed streams with adequate levels of performance. The obtained quality levels are comparable with those of USAC.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.86-96
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• 2013

Unified Speech and Audio Coding (USAC) is the speech/audio codec with the best quality, approved on Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) at MPEG meeting in 2011. Since MPEG conventionally standardizes only the decoder, it is not easy to study on the encoder technologies. Furthermore, Reference Model(RM) shows extremely poor performance. To solve these problems, the open source project(JAME) proposes the methods to make the improved performance of main encoder technologies in USAC. Especially, this paper introduces the encoder modules: the signal classifier for selective operation between two coders, the psychoacoustic model in frequency domain, and window transition technology. Finally, the results of verification test for FDIS and the performance of Common Encoder are appended.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.49-52
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• 2008

This paper briefly introduces the current status of MPEG Audio Subgroup activities for standardizing a new audio coding technologies. Currently MPEG Audio Subgroup focused on spatial audio coding tools for compressing multiple audio objects and unified coding tools for presenting the consistence performance on speech and audio signal at the same time. Also a new MAF (MPEG Application Format) for interactive music was introduced at the 84th MPEG meeting.

• Journal of Broadcast Engineering
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.369-379
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• 2016

This paper deals with an efficient method for skipping inter-channel phase differences (IPD) in the MPEG surround of the unified speech and audio coding (USAC). Based on the psycho-acoustic sensitivity on the IPD, we estimate a threshold on IPD, below which we can not notice degradation in spatial cue. We propose an IPD skip method, in which any IPDs within the threshold are set to zero and are not transmitted. The proposed IPD skip method gives about 38% savings in terms of bit amount for IPD. Nevertheless, in the MUSHRA test, the proposed method does not show any noticeable degradation in the decoded audio quality.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Broadcast Engineers Conference
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• 2012.07a
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• pp.260-261
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• 2012

본 논문에서는 Unified Speech and Audio Coding (USAC)에 적용된 Noise Filling의 부호화 과정에서 음질 왜곡 정도에 따라 Noise level을 설정하는 방법을 제안한다. USAC는 Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)에서 표준화한 최신의 음성/오디오 통합 코덱으로 현존하는 코덱 중에 최고의 성능을 가지고 있다. 하지만, 복호화기 기술만 표준화하여, 인코더를 설계하는 방법에 따라 음질의 차이가 존재한다 현재 오픈 소스 기반으로 진행되고 있는 프로젝트 JAME에서는 이러한 음질 차이를 극복하고, USAC에 적용된 핵섬 인코더 기술의 성능을 최대화 할 수 있는 여러 가지 방법을 포함하고 있다. 그 중 Noise Filling은 저 전송률 부호화 과정에서 양자화 되지 않는 스펙트럼에 대하여 일정한 noise level을 넣어 인지적으로 음질을 향상시키는 방법이다. 제안된 Noise Filling 부호화 방법은 현재 프레임의 음질 왜곡 정도를 반영하여, noise-like 신호 성분을 더욱 정교하게 부호화 할 수 있게 하였다.

• The Journal of Korea Institute of Information, Electronics, and Communication Technology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.239-246
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• 2023

In this paper, we propose an open-loop algorithm to classify speech and music signals using the spectral flux parameters and Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients(MFCC) parameters for the audio coder. To increase responsiveness, the MFCC was used as a short-term feature parameter and spectral fluxes were used as a long-term feature parameters to improve accuracy. The overall voice/music signal classification decision is made by combining the short-term classification method and the long-term classification method. The Gaussian Mixed Model (GMM) was used for pattern recognition and the optimal GMM parameters were extracted using the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. The proposed long-term and short-term combined speech/music signal classification method showed an average classification error rate of 1.5% on various audio sound sources, and improved the classification error rate by 0.9% compared to the short-term single classification method and 0.6% compared to the long-term single classification method. The proposed speech/music signal classification method was able to improve the classification error rate performance by 9.1% in percussion music signals with attacks and 5.8% in voice signals compared to the Unified Speech Audio Coding (USAC) audio classification method.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.474-477
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• 2012

The MPEG-D unified speech and audio coding (USAC) standardization process was initiated by MPEG to develop an audio codec that is able to provide consistent quality for mixed speech and music contents. The current USAC reference model structure consists of frequency domain (FD) and linear prediction domain (LPD) core modules and is controlled using a signal classifier tool. In this letter, we propose an LPD single-mode USAC structure using an adaptive widowing-based transform-coded excitation module. We tested our system using official test items for all mono-evaluation modes. The results of the experiment show that the objective and subjective performances of the proposed single-mode USAC system are better than those of the FD/LPD dual-mode USAC system.

• Broadcasting and Media Magazine
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.59-71
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• 2011

오디오와 음성 압축 기술적 근간은 서로 다르지만, 최근의 모바일 멀티미디어 기기 시장의 컨버전스 현상에 따라 압축하고자 하는 신호가 혼용되고 있으며, 비슷한 목표 전송률과 음질로 수렴하고 있다. 현재는 동일 기기에서 서로 다른 압축 기술을 적용하고 있으나, 음성과 음악이 동시에 서비스 되는 멀티미디어 기기에서는 단일 압축 방식으로 처리하고자 하는 이슈가 부각되고 있다. 특히, 스마트 폰 및 음악 콘텐츠 포탈 서비스의 대중화를 고려할 때, 음성 및 음악 신호 모두를 효율적으로 압축하는 음악 및 음성 신호의 융합 압축 기술이 더욱 필요해 보인다. 본 고에서는 MPEG 오디오 그룹에서 가장 최근 진행한 Unified Speech and Audio Coding(USAC)의 탄생 배경 및 표준화 현황을 소개한다. USAC는 64kbps 이하에서 기술적으로 최고 성능을 지닌 AMR-WB+ 및 HE-AAC v2보다도 우월한 음질을 보이며, 높은 비트율에서도 동등한 음질을 보장한다. 이런 우수한 음질에 기여한 USAC의 스위칭 구조와 더불어 기술적으로 향상된 주요 모듈인 파라미터 기반 스테레오 및 고주파 압축, 그리고 엔트로피 코딩 방식에 대해서 살펴 본다. 향후, 다양한 오디오 신호를 효율적으로 압축하는 USAC는 디지털 라디오, 모바일 TV, 그리고 오디오 북과 같은 사용자 시나리오에서 사용될 확률이 높아 보인다. 또한, USAC는 배경 잡음이나 배경 음악이 있는 경우에도 성능이 우수하기 때문에 YouTube 및 podcast 등과 같이 사용자가 콘텐츠를 생성할 때도 유용하게 사용 될 수 있다.