High-quality multichannel audio over the Internet

Multichannel audio is one of the most demanding media types and a stringent test of temporal precision on the communications medium. We present a robust, scalable architecture for delivering uncompressed multichannel audio over high-bandwidth ATM networks. The proposed architecture does not impose a significant overhead to the host CPU and allows multicasting to multiple participants, as well as quality of service support. Performance results from our implementation on a high-speed local area ATM network are presented that identify the effects of audio packet size buffering and network latency on the quality of multichannel program material. Furthermore, we present a novel method for synthesizing multichannel audio channels from a set of microphone signals recorded in a particular venue. Our method uses linear prediction to generate a set of IIR filters that can be used to synthesize microphone signals at various locations within the hall, while preserving the correct acoustical characteristics of the venue. Applications of this method include transmission of multichannel audio, as well as remastering of existing monophonic and stereophonic recordings for multichannel rendering.