Dolby Volume for Xtensa HiFi Audio DSPs

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Tensilica’s Dolby Volume Decoder Application Package

Tensilica offers the Dolby® Volume decoder for its HiFi Audio DSPs. The implementation is based on software developed by Dolby and has passed Dolby's certification. Dolby Volume enables designers of SOCs for home entertainment systems and digital televisions, and for handsets with mobile DTV, to provide viewers with a consistent playback volume level across all sources and content.

The technologies behind Dolby Volume, such as loudness-domain signal processing and auditory scene analysis, use advanced models of human hearing based on psychoacoustics, the science of human hearing. This makes it possible to correct source and content level differences without undesirable artifacts, such as pumping and breathing, introduced by previous compression and expansion techniques.

Dolby Volume also actively balances low, middle and high frequencies in each channel to compensate for the ear's changing sensitivity as the playback level is raised or lowered. As a result, the nuances and impact of the original mix are maintained even at low playback levels.

The decoder is a fixed-point implementation written in C and available in object code. Included documentation describes how to incorporate the decoder into a system. System developers can integrate a Dolby Volume decoder into an SOC without the need for additional optimizations or software development. The same Xtensa HiFi Audio DSPs are used for other Tensilica audio codecs, enabling the development of highly optimized multi-standard audio SOC designs.

Feature Summary

• Provides consistent playback volume
• Supports up to 5.1-channel audio playback
• Fully compliant with Dolby Laboratories compliance testing

Specifications

Decoder Clock Rate* Code Size (ROM) Table Size (ROM) RAM** I/O Buffer RAM 2 channel, 48 KHz 11 MHz 50 Kbytes 17 Kbytes 39 Kbytes 36 Kbytes 5.1-channel, 48 KHz 25 MHz 50 Kbytes 17 Kbytes 39 Kbytes 36 Kbytes

* Average MHz required for single-cycle memory.
** RAM includes persistent, stack and scratch.