Patent ID: 6654718
Filing Date: 2003-11-25
Classification: G10L

Abstract:
A speech encoding apparatus for encoding voiced and unvoiced intervals of an input speech signal at variable bitrates, comprising:fuzzy inferring means for applying a fuzzy rule; input signal verifying means for dividing said input speech signal into preset time units, and for verifying whether said unvoiced interval is a background noise interval or a speech interval, using said fuzzy inferring means, based on time changes of a signal level and a spectral envelope of said preset time unit corresponding to said unvoiced interval, wherein allocation of encoding bits is differentiated between parameters of said background noise interval, parameters of said speech interval, and parameters of said voiced interval; and encoding means for encoding said parameters of said voiced interval using a first encoding bitrate, for encoding said parameters of said speech interval using a second encoding bitrate, and for encoding said parameters of said background noise interval using a third encoding bitrate, wherein said second encoding bitrate is lower than said first encoding bitrate and said third encoding bitrate is lower than said second encoding bitrate.