SIST EN 61937-1:2007

Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 -- Part 1: General

This part of IEC 61937 applies to the digital audio interface using the IEC 60958 series for the conveying of non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams. It describes the way in which this digital interface can be used in consumer applications. The professional mode (AES/EBU) is not considered within the scope of this standard.

Digitalton - Schnittstelle für nichtlinear-PCM-codierte Audio-Bitströme unter Verwendung von IEC 60958 -- Teil 1: Allgemeines

Audionumérique - Interface pour les flux de bits audio à codage MIC non linéaire conformément à la CEI 60958 -- Partie 1: Généralités

La CEI 61937-1:2007 s'applique à l'interface audionumérique conforme à la série CEI 60958, pour l'acheminement des flux de bits audio à codage MIC non linéaire. Elle décrit la manière d'utiliser cette interface dans les applications grand public. Le domaine d'application de la présente norme ne couvre pas le domaine professionnel (AES/EBU). Cette seconde édition annule et remplace la première édition publiée en 2000. Elle contient les modifications techniques majeures suivantes par rapport à l'édition précédente:
- Le champ type-de-données dans Pc est étendu des bits 0 à 4 aux bits 0 à 6.
- Une nouvelle définition de Pd est spécifiée.
- Les coefficients de multiplication pour la fréquence des symboles sont changés pour faire référence à chaque partie de la CEI 61937.
- L'exigence sur l'espacement entre les salves est changée.
La présente version bilingue, publiée en 2011-04, correspond à la version anglaise. La version française de cette norme n'a pas été soumise au vote.

Digitalni avdio-vmesnik za nelinearne PCM-kodirane avdio bitne tokove po IEC 60958 – 1. del: Splošno (IEC 61937-1:2007)

Ta del standarda IEC 61937 se uporablja za digitalni avdio vmesnik, pri katerem se nelinearni PCM-kodirani avdio bitni tokovi prenašajo v skladu s serijo standardov IEC 60958. Opisuje način uporabe tega digitalnega vmesnika v zabavni elektroniki. Profesionalni način (AES/EBU) ni del področja uporabe tega standarda.

General Information

• Status: Published
• Publication Date: 30-Sep-2007
• ICS: 33.160.30 - Audio systems
• ICS: 35.200 - Interface and interconnection equipment
• Technical Committee: AVM - Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment
• Current Stage: 6060 - National Implementation/Publication (Adopted Project)
• Start Date: 19-Sep-2007
• Due Date: 24-Nov-2007
• Completion Date: 01-Oct-2007
• Ref Project: EN 61937-1:2007 - Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 - Part 1: General

Relations

• Amended By: SIST EN 61937-1:2007/A1:2012 - Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 - Part 1: General (IEC 61937-1:2007/A1:2011)
• Effective Date: 07-Jun-2022
• Revised: SIST EN 61937-1:2004 - Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 -- Part 1: General
• Effective Date: 13-May-2010
• Amended By: SIST EN 61937-1:2007/A1:2012 - Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 - Part 1: General (IEC 61937-1:2007/A1:2011)
• Effective Date: 01-Jul-2012
• Amended By: SIST EN 61937-1:2007/A1:2012 - Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 - Part 1: General (IEC 61937-1:2007/A1:2011)
• Effective Date: 28-Jan-2023
• Replaces: SIST EN 61937-1:2004 - Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 -- Part 1: General
• Effective Date: 28-Jan-2023

Standards Content (Sample)

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
SIST EN 61937-1:2007
01-november-2007
1DGRPHãþD
SIST EN 61937-1:2004
Digitalni avdio-vmesnik za nelinearne PCM-kodirane avdio bitne tokove po IEC
60958 – 1. del: Splošno (IEC 61937-1:2007)
Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC
60958 -- Part 1: General
Digitalton - Schnittstelle für nichtlinear-PCM-codierte Audio-Bitströme unter Verwendung
von IEC 60958 -- Teil 1: Allgemeines
Audionumérique - Interface pour les flux de bits audio à codage MIC non linéaire
conformément à la CEI 60958 -- Partie 1: Généralités
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 61937-1:2007
ICS:
33.160.30 Avdio sistemi Audio systems
35.200 Vmesniška in povezovalna Interface and interconnection
oprema equipment
SIST EN 61937-1:2007 en,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007


EUROPEAN STANDARD
EN 61937-1

NORME EUROPÉENNE
March 2007
EUROPÄISCHE NORM

ICS 33.160.30 Supersedes EN 61937-1:2003


English version


Digital audio -
Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams
applying IEC 60958 -
Part 1: General
(IEC 61937-1:2007)


Audionumérique -  Digitalton -
Interface pour les flux de bits audio Schnittstelle für nichtlinear-PCM-codierte
à codage MIC non linéaire Audio-Bitströme unter Verwendung
conformément à la CEI 60958 - von IEC 60958 -
Partie 1: Généralités Teil 1: Allgemeines
(CEI 61937-1:2007) (IEC 61937-1:2007)




This European Standard was approved by CENELEC on 2007-02-01. CENELEC members are bound to comply
with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard
the status of a national standard without any alteration.

Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on
application to the Central Secretariat or to any CENELEC member.

This European Standard exists in two official versions (English and German). A version in any other language
made by translation under the responsibility of a CENELEC member into its own language and notified to the
Central Secretariat has the same status as the official versions.

CENELEC members are the national electrotechnical committees of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the
Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

CENELEC
European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization
Comité Européen de Normalisation Electrotechnique
Europäisches Komitee für Elektrotechnische Normung

Central Secretariat: rue de Stassart 35, B - 1050 Brussels


© 2007 CENELEC - All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CENELEC members.
Ref. No. EN 61937-1:2007 E

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
EN 61937-1:2007 - 2 -
Foreword
The text of document 100/1101/CDV, future edition 2 of IEC 61937-1, prepared by Technical Area 4,
Digital system interfaces and protocols, of IEC TC 100, Audio, video and multimedia systems and
equipment, was submitted to the IEC-CENELEC parallel Unique Acceptance Procedure and was
approved by CENELEC as EN 61937-1 on 2007-02-01.
This European Standard supersedes EN 61937-1:2003.
This edition contains the following significant technical changes with respect to EN 61937-1:2003.
– The data-type field in Pc is expanded from bit 0-4 to bit 0-6.
– A new additional definition of Pd is specified.
– The numbers of times for symbol frequency are changed to refer to each part of EN 61937.
– The requirement for burst spacing is changed.
The following dates were fixed:
– latest date by which the EN has to be implemented
at national level by publication of an identical
(dop) 2007-11-01
national standard or by endorsement
– latest date by which the national standards conflicting
(dow) 2010-02-01
with the EN have to be withdrawn
Annex ZA has been added by CENELEC.
__________
Endorsement notice
The text of the International Standard IEC 61937-1:2007 was approved by CENELEC as a European
Standard without any modification.
In the official version, for Bibliography, the following notes have to be added for the standards indicated:
IEC 61603 NOTE  Harmonized in EN 61603 series (not modified).
IEC 61883-6 NOTE  Harmonized as EN 61883-6:2005 (not modified).
IEC 62105 NOTE  Harmonized as EN 62105:2002 (not modified).
__________

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
- 3 - EN 61937-1:2007

Annex ZA
(normative)

Normative references to international publications
with their corresponding European publications

The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document. For dated
references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced
document (including any amendments) applies.

NOTE  When an international publication has been modified by common modifications, indicated by (mod), the relevant EN/HD
applies.

Publication Year Title EN/HD Year
IEC 60958 Series Digital audio interface EN 60958 Series


IEC 61937 Series Digital audio - Interface for non-linear PCM EN 61937 Series
encoded audio bitstreams applying
IEC 60958

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007


INTERNATIONAL IEC


STANDARD 61937-1





Second edition
2007-01


Digital audio –
Interface for non-linear PCM encoded
audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958
Part 1: General
© IEC 2007 ⎯ Copyright - all rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and microfilm, without permission in writing from the publisher.
International Electrotechnical Commission, 3, rue de Varembé, PO Box 131, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
Telephone: [phone] Telefax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail] Web: www.iec.ch
PRICE CODE
Commission Electrotechnique Internationale S
International Electrotechnical Commission
МеждународнаяЭлектротехническаяКомиссия
For price, see current catalogue

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
– 2 – 61937-1 © IEC:2007(E)
CONTENTS
FOREWORD.4

1 Scope.6
2 Normative references .6
3 Terms, definitions, abbreviations and presentation .6
3.1 Definitions .6
3.2 Abbreviations .8
3.3 Presentation convention .8
4 General description .8
5 Interface format .9
6 Mapping of the audio bitstream on to IEC 60958 .9
6.1 Coding of the bitstream .9
6.2 Burst-payload.14
6.3 Stuffing .15
7 Format of data-bursts .15
7.1 Pause data-burst.16
7.2 Audio data-bursts .19
7.3 Null data-burst.19

Annex A (normative) Channel status when IEC 60958 is used in consumer
applications .20

Bibliography.21

Figure 1 – IEC 60958 interface format .9
Figure 2 – Data-burst format .11
Figure 3 – Burst-preamble .11
Figure 4 – Burst-preamble with extended preamble .13
Figure 5 – Length of the burst-payload specified by Pd .14
Figure 6 – Burst spacing .15
Figure 7 – Flow chart of transmission of a bitstream .16
Figure 8 – Bridging gaps in-between data-bursts with three pause data-bursts .17
Figure 9 – Data-burst format of the data-type pause .18
Figure 10 – Null data-burst .19

Table 1 – Bit allocation of the IEC 60958 frame .9
Table 2 – Bit allocation of data-burst in IEC 60958 subframes .10
Table 3 – Burst-preamble words .12
Table 4 – Bit map of burst-preambles .12
Table 5 – Fields of burst-info .12
Table 6 – Burst-preamble words .13
Table 7 – Fields of Pe (extended data-type).13

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
61937-1 © IEC:2007(E) – 3 –
Table 8 – Fields of Pf.13
Table 9 – Values of data-type-dependent info of the pause data-burst .18
Table 10 – Burst-payload of pause data-burst.19
Table 11 – Fields of a null data-burst .19
Table A.1 – Allocation of the channel status bits .20

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
– 4 – 61937-1 © IEC:2007(E)
INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________

DIGITAL AUDIO –
INTERFACE FOR NON-LINEAR PCM ENCODED
AUDIO BITSTREAMS APPLYING IEC 60958 –

Part 1: General


FOREWORD
1) The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide organization for standardization comprising
all national electrotechnical committees (IEC National Committees). The object of IEC is to promote
international co-operation on all questions concerning standardization in the electrical and electronic fields. To
this end and in addition to other activities, IEC publishes International Standards, Technical Specifications,
Technical Reports, Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) and Guides (hereafter referred to as “IEC
Publication(s)”). Their preparation is entrusted to technical committees; any IEC National Committee interested
in the subject dealt with may participate in this preparatory work. International, governmental and non-
governmental organizations liaising with the IEC also participate in this preparation. IEC collaborates closely
with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) in accordance with conditions determined by
agreement between the two organizations.
2) The formal decisions or agreements of IEC on technical matters express, as nearly as possible, an international
consensus of opinion on the relevant subjects since each technical committee has representation from all
interested IEC National Committees.
3) IEC Publications have the form of recommendations for international use and are accepted by IEC National
Committees in that sense. While all reasonable efforts are made to ensure that the technical content of IEC
Publications is accurate, IEC cannot be held responsible for the way in which they are used or for any
misinterpretation by any end user.
4) In order to promote international uniformity, IEC National Committees undertake to apply IEC Publications
transparently to the maximum extent possible in their national and regional publications. Any divergence
between any IEC Publication and the corresponding national or regional publication shall be clearly indicated in
the latter.
5) IEC provides no marking procedure to indicate its approval and cannot be rendered responsible for any
equipment declared to be in conformity with an IEC Publication.
6) All users should ensure that they have the latest edition of this publication.
7) No liability shall attach to IEC or its directors, employees, servants or agents including individual experts and
members of its technical committees and IEC National Committees for any personal injury, property damage or
other damage of any nature whatsoever, whether direct or indirect, or for costs (including legal fees) and
expenses arising out of the publication, use of, or reliance upon, this IEC Publication or any other IEC
Publications.
8) Attention is drawn to the Normative references cited in this publication. Use of the referenced publications is
indispensable for the correct application of this publication.
9) Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this IEC Publication may be the subject of
patent rights. IEC shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
International Standard IEC 61937-1 has been prepared by technical area 4: Digital system
interfaces and protocols, of IEC technical committee 100: Audio, video and multimedia
systems and equipment.
This second edition of IEC 61937-1 cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2000.
This edition contains the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition.
a) The data-type field in Pc is expanded from bit 0-4 to bit 0-6.
b) A new additional definition of Pd is specified.
c) The numbers of times for symbol frequency are changed to refer to each part of
IEC 61937.
d) The requirement for burst spacing is changed.

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
61937-1 © IEC:2007(E) – 5 –
The text of this standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
100/1101/CDV 100/1192/RVC

Full information on the voting for the approval of this standard can be found in the report on
voting indicated in the above table.
This publication has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The list of all the parts of IEC 61937, under the general title Digital audio – Interface for non-
linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams applying IEC 60958 can be found on the IEC website.
The committee has decided that the contents of this publication will remain unchanged until
the maintenance result date indicated on the IEC web site under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in
the data related to the specific publication. At this date, the publication will be
• reconfirmed;
• withdrawn;
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
A bilingual version of this publication may be issued at a later date.

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
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DIGITAL AUDIO –
INTERFACE FOR NON-LINEAR PCM ENCODED
AUDIO BITSTREAMS APPLYING IEC 60958 –

Part 1: General



1 Scope
This part of IEC 61937 applies to the digital audio interface using the IEC 60958 series for the
conveying of non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams.
It describes the way in which this digital interface can be used in consumer applications.
The professional mode (AES/EBU) is not considered within the scope of this standard.
2 Normative references
The following referenced documents are indispensable for the application of this document.
For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition
of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
IEC 60958 (all parts), Digital audio interface
IEC 61937 (all parts), Digital audio – Interface for non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams
applying IEC 60958
3 Terms, definitions, abbreviations and presentation
For the purposes of this document, the following terms, definitions, abbreviations and
presentation convention apply.
3.1 Definitions
3.1.1
audio data-burst
data-burst with an encoded audio frame as burst-payload
3.1.2
audio data-word
16-bit data word
3.1.3
audio frame
fixed number of audio samples
NOTE The number of samples in an audio frame is dependent on the particular encoding system which is used to
encode the audio frame into the encoded audio frame.
3.1.4
audio gap
period in the sequence of baseband audio samples where valid samples of audio are not
available

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
61937-1 © IEC:2007(E) – 7 –
3.1.5
bitstream
non-linear PCM encoded audio source, represented in a sequence of bits
NOTE In this interface the bitstream consists of a sequence of data-bursts.
3.1.6
data-burst
packet of data, including the burst-preamble, to be transmitted across the interface
3.1.7
burst-payload
information content of the data-burst
3.1.8
burst-preamble
header for the data-burst, containing synchronization, and information about the data
contained in the burst-payload
3.1.9
data-type
reference to the type of payload of the data-bursts
3.1.10
encoded audio frame
minimum decodable unit of an encoded data sequence
NOTE Each encoded audio frame is the encoded representation of a fixed number of audio samples (for each
original audio channel). The number of samples which are encoded into an encoded audio frame depends on the
particular encoding system which is used to encode the audio frame into the encoded audio frame.
3.1.11
idle
state in which the interface is not used to convey any sequence of data-bursts or PCM data
NOTE The channel status data is still active (bit b1 is set to ‘1’ when further non-linear PCM encoded audio is
anticipated; see Figure 7).
3.1.12
length-code
code indicating the length of the data-burst-payload in bits or bytes
3.1.13
repetition period
period between the reference point of the current data-burst and the reference point of the
immediately following data-burst of the same data-type
3.1.14
sampling frequency
sampling frequency of the encoded PCM audio samples (i.e. before encoding and after
decoding)
3.1.15
sampling period
time period related to the sampling frequency of the PCM audio samples, represented in the
encoded bitstream
3.1.16
stuffing
occupying the unused data capacity of the interface

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
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3.1.17
stuffing subframe
occupying the unused data capacity in 16-bit audio data words
3.1.18
stream gap
period within the encoded audio bitstream without any audio frame; a discontinuity in the
bitstream
NOTE Typically, a stream gap will occur between encoded audio frames.
3.2 Abbreviations
3.2.1
MPEG
Moving Pictures Expert Group, a joint committee of ISO and IEC
3.2.2
SMPTE
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
3.2.3
ETSI
European Telecommunication Standards Institute
3.2.4
ATSC
Advanced Television Standards Committee
3.3 Presentation convention
F872h
Value ‘F872’ in hexadecimal format
4 General description
The format of the IEC 60958 interface consists of a sequence of IEC 60958 subframes. Each
IEC 60958 subframe is normally used to carry one linear PCM sample but may also be used
to convey data. The non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams to be transported over this
interface are formed into a sequence of data-bursts.
Each data-burst consists of a 64-bit burst-preamble, followed by the burst-payload. The burst-
preamble consists of a sync-word, information about the burst-payload and a bitstream
number.
The interface may convey one or more bitstreams. Each type of bitstream may impose a
particular requirement for the repetition period for the data-bursts that make up the bitstream
(see Clause 7).
The 16 bits of a data-burst are placed in time-slots 12-27 of an IEC 60958 subframe. Both odd
and even IEC 60958 subframes (ch1, ch2) are simultaneously used to carry 32 bits of data.
This allows IEC 60958, in the consumer mode, to convey either two-channel linear PCM
audio, or a set of non-linear PCM encoded bitstreams (alternating data words), but not both
simultaneously.

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
61937-1 © IEC:2007(E) – 9 –
5 Interface format
The interface format as defined in IEC 60958-1 and IEC 60958-3 is used.
6 Mapping of the audio bitstream on to IEC 60958
6.1 Coding of the bitstream
The non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstream is transferred using the basic 16-bit data area
of the IEC 60958 subframes, i.e. in time-slots 12 to 27. Because the non-linear PCM encoded
audio bitstream to be transported is at a lower data rate than that supported by the IEC 60958
interface, the audio bitstream is broken into a sequence of discrete data-bursts, and stuffing
between the data-bursts is necessary (see 6.3).
Each data-burst contains data of an encoded audio frame that is the encoded representation
of a fixed number of audio samples per PCM audio channel. The number of samples to be
encoded into an encoded audio frame depends on the particular encoding system.
It is possible for this interface to simultaneously convey multiple non-linear PCM encoded
audio bitstreams. One of the applications of this capability would be to convey both a main
audio service and an associated audio service.
1 block = 192 frames
Frame 191 Frame 0 Frame 1 Frame 191 Frame 0
W B W M
Preamble Auxiliary LSB MSB V U C P
0 3 4 7 8 11 12 27 28 31
16-bit of bitstream
IEC  1288/03

Figure 1 – IEC 60958 interface format
Table 1 – Bit allocation of the IEC 60958 frame
Field IEC 60958 time-slot Value
0 – 3 Preamble IEC 60958 preamble
4 – 7 Auxiliary field Not used, all “0”
8 – 11 Unused data bits Not used, all “0”
12 – 27 16-bit data Sections of the bitstream
28 Validity flag According to IEC 60958
29 User data According to IEC 60958
30 Channel status According to IEC 60958
31 Parity bit According to IEC 60958

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6.1.1 Bit map of bitstream
The method of placing the data into the IEC 60958 bitstream is to format the data to be
transmitted into data-bursts and to send each data-burst in a continuous sequence of
IEC 60958 frames.
Table 2 – Bit allocation of data-burst in IEC 60958 subframes
Bit of subframes
Subframe MSB  LSB
b27 b26 b25 ………… b14 b13 b12
Frame 0; subframe B or M 0 1 14 15
Frame 0; subframe W 16 17 30 31
Frame 1; subframe B or M 32 33 46 47
Frame 1; subframe W 48 49 62 63
Frame 2; subframe B or M 64 65 78 79
--------------------  ------------
Last subframe B or M of data-burst n-32 n-31 n-18 n-17
Last subframe W of data-burst n-16 n-15 n-2 n-1

Considering the data within an IEC 60958 subframe as a 16-bit word out of a serial stream of
bits, the first bit of the burst-payload in a data-burst would occupy the MSB of subframe 1
(time-slot 27), and the 32nd bit would occupy the LSB (or what would be the LSB for 16-bit
PCM audio) of subframe 2 (time-slot 12). The next 32 bits of the burst-payload would occupy
the next IEC 60958 frame. The last data bits of the audio data-burst might occupy only a
fraction of the last frame. Any unused bits in the last frame will be ignored by the receiver. In
the case where the audio data-burst contains a multiple of 16-bit, all used IEC 60958 sub-
frames are completely filled. When it is not a multiple of 16-bit, the bits of the burst-payload to
be conveyed in the last IEC 60958 subframe will be MSB aligned; the remaining bits shall be
stuffed with ‘0’s.
6.1.2 IEC 60958 validity flag
It is recommended to set the validity bit to a logical ‘1’. This is intended to prevent accidental
decoding of non-audio data to analogue before a complete channel status block is received.
6.1.3 IEC 60958 channel status bit 1
The purpose of channel status bit 1 is to indicate if IEC 60958 is used to convey linear PCM
or to indicate that the interface is used for other purposes (see Annex A). This bit shall be set
to ‘1’ when IEC 60958 is used to convey non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstreams.
6.1.4 Symbol frequency
When the IEC 60958 bitstream conveys linear PCM audio, the symbol frequency is 64 times
the PCM sampling frequency (32 time-slots per PCM sample, times two channels). When a
non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstream is conveyed by the interface, the symbol frequency
is normally 64 times the sampling rate of the encoded audio within that bitstream, and other
times should be referred to each parts of IEC 61937.
6.1.5 The format of the data-bursts
Each data-burst contains a burst-preamble consisting of four 16-bit words (Pa, Pb, Pc and Pd)
followed by the burst-payload which contains data of an encoded audio frame.

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
61937-1 © IEC:2007(E) – 11 –
Data-burst Stuffing Data-burst Stuffing Data-burst Stuffing Data-burst
...
Pa Pb Pc Pd Burst-payload Pa Pb Pc Pd
R
R
Repetition period between 2 data-bursts
IEC  1289/03

Figure 2 – Data-burst format
The repetition period of these bursts is defined as the length between the reference points R
(measured in IEC 60958 frames) of one data-burst and the next data-burst (with the same
bit-stream-number). The data representing each individual encoded audio frame is typically
specified to be packaged into a single individual data-burst, with a repetition period
(measured in IEC 60958 frames) for that data-burst equal to the number of encoded audio
samples of each channel contained within that encoded audio frame.
It is possible for a number of data-bursts representing multiple bitstreams to be interleaved on
the interface. When more than one non-linear PCM encoded audio bitstream are transmitted
through the same interface, the audio sampling rates of these bitstreams are identical to each
other.
6.1.6 Burst-preamble
The burst-preamble consists of four mandatory fields. Pa and Pb represent a synchronization
word. Pc gives information about the type of data, and some information/control for the
receiver. Pd gives the length of the burst-payload, limited to 65 535 bits in the case of Pd
represent bits length, or limited to 65 535 bytes in the case of Pd represent bytes length.
The four preamble words are contained in two sequential IEC 60958 frames. The frame
beginning the data-burst contains preamble word Pa in subframe 1, and Pb in subframe 2.
The next frame contains Pc in subframe 1 and Pd in subframe 2. When placed into an
IEC 60958 subframe, the MSB of a 16-bit burst-preamble word is placed into time-slot 27 and
the LSB is placed into time-slot 12.
Pa Pb Pc Pd Burst_payload Pa Pb Pc Pd Burst_payload
Length of burst-payload
Length of burst-payload
Data-burst
Data burst
IEC  1290/03

Figure 3 – Burst-preamble

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SIST EN 61937-1:2007
– 12 – 61937-1 © IEC:2007(E)
Table 3 – Burst-preamble words
Preamble word Length of field Contents Value
MSB.LSB
Pa 16-bit Sync word 1 F872h
Pb 16-bit Sync word 2 4E1Fh
Pc 16-bit Burst-info Table 5
Pd 16-bit Length-code Number of bits or number of
bytes according to data-type

Table 4 – Bit map of burst-preambles
IEC 60958 time-slot
27        12
bit-number
Preamble
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
bit-number
Pa 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0
Pb 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1
Pc According to Table 5, burst-info values Pc, b
...