Abstract:
Disclosed is an audio signal processing method comprising the steps of: receiving an audio signal containing current frame data; generating a first temporary output signal for the current frame when an error occurs in the current frame data, by carrying out frame error concealment with respect to the current frame data a random codebook; generating a parameter by carrying out one or more of short-term prediction, long-term prediction and a fixed codebook search based on the first temporary output signal; and memory updating the parameter for the next frame; wherein the parameter comprises one or more of pitch gain, pitch delay, fixed codebook gain and a fixed codebook.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/511,331, filed May 22, 2012, now allowed, which is a U.S. National Phase of International Application PCT/KR2010/008336, filed on Nov. 24, 2010, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/264,248, filed on Nov. 24, 2009, U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/285,183, filed on Dec. 10, 2009 and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/295,166, filed on Jan. 15, 2010, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0002]    1. Technical Field 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to an audio signal processing method and device which can encode or decode audio signals. 
         [0004]    2. Background Art 
         [0005]    Transmission of audio signals, especially transmission of speech signals, improves as encoding and decoding delay of speech signals decreases since the purpose of transmission of speech signals is often real-time communication. 
       DISCLOSURE  
     Technical Problem 
       [0006]    When a speech signal or an audio signal is transmitted to a receiving side, an error or loss may occur causing a reduction in audio quality. 
       Technical Solution 
       [0007]    The present invention has been made in order to overcome such problem and it is an object of the present invention to provide an audio signal processing method and device for concealing frame loss at a receiver. 
         [0008]    It is another object to provide an audio signal processing method and device for minimizing propagation of an error to a next frame due to a signal that is arbitrarily generated to conceal frame loss. 
       Advantageous Effects 
       [0009]    The present invention provides the following advantages and benefits. First, since a receiver-based loss concealment method is performed, bits for additional information for frame error concealment are not required and therefore it is possible to efficiently conceal loss even in a low bit rate environment. 
         [0010]    Second, when a current loss concealment method is performed, it is possible to minimize propagation of an error to a next frame and therefore it is possible to prevent audio quality degradation as much as possible. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS  
         [0011]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an audio signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0012]      FIG. 2  is a flowchart of an audio signal processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0013]      FIG. 3  is a detailed block diagram of an error concealment unit  130  according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0014]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart of error concealment step S 400 ; 
           [0015]      FIG. 5  illustrates a signal generated by an error concealment unit according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0016]      FIG. 6  is a detailed block diagram of a re-encoder  140  according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0017]      FIG. 7  is a flowchart of re-encoding step S 500 ; 
           [0018]      FIG. 8  is a detailed block diagram of a decoder  120  according to an embodiment of the present invention; 
           [0019]      FIG. 9  is a flowchart of encoding step S 700 ; and 
           [0020]      FIG. 10  illustrates a signal generated by a decoder according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     BEST MODE  
       [0021]    An audio signal processing method according to the present invention to accomplish the above objects includes receiving an audio signal including data of a current frame, performing, when an error has occurred in the data of the current frame, frame error concealment on the data of the current frame using a random codebook to generate a first temporary output signal of the current frame, performing at least one of short term prediction, long term prediction, and fixed codebook search based on the first temporary output signal to generate a parameter, and updating a memory with the parameter for a next frame, wherein the parameter includes at least one of a pitch gain, a pitch delay, a fixed codebook gain, and a fixed codebook. 
         [0022]    According to the present invention, the audio signal processing method may further include performing, when an error has occurred in the data of the current frame, extrapolation on a past input signal to generate a second temporary output signal, and selecting the first temporary output signal or the second temporary output signal according to speech characteristics of a previous frame, wherein the parameter may be generated by performing at least one of short term prediction, long term prediction, and fixed codebook search on the selected temporary output signal. 
         [0023]    According to the present invention, the speech characteristics of the previous frame may be associated with whether voiced sound characteristics or unvoiced sound characteristics of the previous frame are greater and the voice sound characteristics may be greater when the pitch gain is high and the pitch delay changes little. 
         [0024]    According to the present invention, the memory may include a memory for long term prediction and a memory for short term prediction and includes a memory used for parameter quantization of a prediction scheme. 
         [0025]    According to the present invention, the audio signal processing method may further include generating a final output signal of the current frame by performing at least one of fixed codebook acquisition, adaptive codebook synthesis, and short term synthesis using the parameter. 
         [0026]    According to the present invention, the audio signal processing method may further include updating the memory with the final output signal and an excitation signal acquired through the long term synthesis and fixed codebook synthesis. 
         [0027]    According to the present invention, the audio signal processing method may further include performing at least one of long term synthesis and short term synthesis on a next frame based on the memory when no error has occurred in data of the next frame. 
         [0028]    An audio signal processing device according to the present invention to accomplish the above objects includes a demultiplexer for receiving an audio signal including data of a current frame and checking whether or not an error has occurred in the data of the current frame, an error concealment unit for performing, when an error has occurred in the data of the current frame, frame error concealment on the data of the current frame using a random codebook to generate a first temporary output signal of the current frame, a re-encoder for performing at least one of short term prediction, long term prediction, and fixed codebook search based on the first temporary output signal to generate a parameter, and a decoder for updating a memory with the parameter for a next frame, wherein the parameter includes at least one of a pitch gain, a pitch delay, a fixed codebook gain, and a fixed codebook. 
         [0029]    According to the present invention, the error concealment unit may include an extrapolation unit for performing, when an error has occurred in the data of the current frame, extrapolation on a past input signal to generate a second temporary output signal, and a selector for selecting the first temporary output signal or the second temporary output signal according to speech characteristics of a previous frame, wherein the parameter may be generated by performing at least one of short term prediction, long term prediction, and fixed codebook search on the selected temporary output signal. 
         [0030]    According to the present invention, the speech characteristics of the previous frame may be associated with whether voiced sound characteristics or unvoiced sound characteristics of the previous frame are greater and the voice sound characteristics may be greater when the pitch gain is high and the pitch delay changes little. 
         [0031]    According to the present invention, the memory may include a memory for long term prediction and a memory for short term prediction and includes a memory used for parameter quantization of a prediction scheme. 
         [0032]    According to the present invention, the decoder may generate a final output signal of the current frame by performing at least one of fixed codebook acquisition, adaptive codebook synthesis, and short term synthesis using the parameter. 
         [0033]    According to the present invention, the decoder may update the memory with the final output signal and an excitation signal acquired through the long term synthesis and fixed codebook synthesis. 
         [0034]    According to the present invention, the decoder may perform at least one of long term synthesis and short term synthesis on a next frame based on the memory when no error has occurred in data of the next frame. 
       Mode for Invention 
       [0035]    Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to the description, it should be noted that the terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to common or dictionary meanings but instead should be understood to have meanings and concepts in agreement with the spirit of the present invention based on the principle that an inventor can define the concept of each term suitably in order to describe his/her own invention in the best way possible. Thus, the embodiments described in the specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are simply the most preferable examples of the present invention and are not intended to illustrate all aspects of the spirit of the present invention. As such, it should be understood that various equivalents and modifications can be made to replace the examples at the time of filing of the present application. 
         [0036]    The following terms used in the present invention may be construed as described below and other terms, which are not described below, may also be construed in the same manner. A term “coding” may be construed as encoding or decoding as needed and “information” is a term encompassing values, parameters, coefficients, elements, and the like and the meaning thereof varies as needed although the present invention is not limited to such meanings of the terms. 
         [0037]    Here, in the broad sense, the term “audio signal” is distinguished from “video signal” and indicates a signal that can be audibly identified when reproduced. In the narrow sense, the term “audio signal” is discriminated from “speech signal” and indicates a signal which has little to no speech characteristics. In the present invention, the term “audio signal” should be construed in the broad sense and, when used as a term distinguished from “speech signal”, the term “audio signal” may be understood as an audio signal in the narrow sense. 
         [0038]    In addition, although the term “coding” may indicate only encoding, it may also have a meaning including both encoding and decoding. 
         [0039]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an audio signal processing device according to an embodiment of the present invention and  FIG. 2  is a flowchart of an audio signal processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0040]    First, as shown in  FIG. 1 , the audio signal processing device  100  according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an error concealment unit  130  and a re-encoder  140  and may further include a demultiplexer  110  and a decoder  120 . Each of the components of the audio signal processing device  100  is described below with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0041]    The demultiplexer  110  receives an audio signal including data of a current frame through a network (S 100 ). Here, the demultiplexer  110  performs channel encoding on a packet of the received audio signal and checks whether or not an error has occurred (S 200 ). Then, the demultiplexer  110  provides the received data of the current frame to the decoder  120  or the error concealment unit  130  according to a bad frame indicator (BFI) which is an error check result. Specifically, the demultiplexer  110  provides the data of the current frame to the error concealment unit  130  when an error has occurred (yes in step S 300 ) and provides the data of the current frame to the decoder  120  when no error has occurred (no in step S 300 ). 
         [0042]    Then, the error concealment unit  130  performs error concealment on the current frame using a random codebook and past information to generate a temporary output signal (S 400 ). A procedure performed by the error concealment unit  130  will be described later in detail with reference to  FIGS. 3 to 5 . 
         [0043]    The re-encoder  140  performs re-encoding on the temporary output signal to generate an encoded parameter (S 500 ). Here, re-encoding may include at least one of short-term prediction, long-term prediction, and codebook search and the parameter may include at least one of a pitch gain, pitch delay, a fixed codebook gain, and a fixed codebook. A detailed configuration of the re-encoder  140  and step S 500  will be described later in detail with reference to  FIGS. 6 and 7 . The re-encoder  140  provides the encoded parameter to the decoder  120  (S 600 ). 
         [0044]    When it is determined in step S 300  that no error has occurred (i.e., no in step S 300 ), the decoder  120  performs decoding on data of the current frame extracted from a bitstream (S 700 ) or performs decoding based on the encoded parameter of the current frame received from the re-encoder  140  (S 700 ). Operation of the decoder  120  and step S 700  will be described later in detail with reference to  FIGS. 8 to 10 . 
         [0045]      FIG. 3  is a detailed block diagram of the error concealment unit  130  according to an embodiment of the present invention,  FIG. 4  is a flowchart of the error concealment step S 400 , and  FIG. 5  illustrates a signal generated by the error concealment unit according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
         [0046]    First, as shown in  FIG. 3 , the error concealment unit  130  may include an error concealment unit  130 , a long term synthesizer  132 , a random signal generator  134 , an enhancer  136 , an enhancer  136 , an extrapolator  138 - 2 , and a selector  139 . A detailed configuration of the error concealment unit  130  is described below with reference to  FIGS. 3 and 4 . 
         [0047]    First, the long term synthesizer  132  acquires an arbitrary pitch gain g pa  and an arbitrary pitch delay D a  (S 410 ). The pitch gain and the pitch delay are parameters that are generated through long term prediction (LTP) and the LTP filter may be expressed by the following expression. 
         [0000]    
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
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         [0048]    Here, g p  denotes the pitch gain and D denotes the pitch delay. 
         [0049]    That is, the received pitch gain and the received pitch delay, which may constitute an adaptive codebook, are substituted into Expression 1. Since the pitch gain and the pitch delay of the received data of the current frame may contain an error, the long term synthesizer  132  acquires the arbitrary pitch gain g pa  and the arbitrary pitch delay D a  for replacing the received pitch gain and the received pitch delay. Here, the arbitrary pitch gain g pa  may be equal to a pitch gain value of a previous frame and may also be calculated by weighting the most recent gain value from among gain values stored in previous frames by a weight although the present invention is not limited thereto. The arbitrary pitch gain g pa  may also be obtained by appropriately reducing the weighted gain value according to characteristics of the speech signal. The arbitrary pitch delay d a  may also be equal to that of data of a previous frame although the present invention is not limited thereto. 
         [0050]    In the case in which data of a previous frame is used to generate the arbitrary pitch gain g pa  and the arbitrary pitch delay D a , a value (not shown) received from a memory of the decoder  120  may be used. 
         [0051]    An adaptive codebook is generated using the arbitrary pitch gain g pa  and the arbitrary pitch delay D a  acquired in step S 410 , for example, by substituting the arbitrary pitch gain g pa  and the arbitrary pitch delay D a  into Expression 1 (S 420 ). Here, a past excitation signal of a previous frame received from the decoder  120  may be used in step S 420 .  FIG. 5(A)  illustrates an exemplary long term synthesized signal g pa v(n) generated based on the arbitrary pitch delay and the arbitrary pitch gain and a long term synthesized signal (adaptive codebook) of a previous frame. 
         [0052]    Referring back to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , the random signal generator  134  generates a signal g ca rand(n) for replacing the fixed codebook using arbitrary codebook gain g ca  and a random codebook rand(n) (S 430 ). Here, the arbitrary codebook gain g ca  may also be calculated by weighting the most recent gain value from among gain values stored in previous frames by a weight and may also be calculated by appropriately reducing the weighted gain value according to characteristics of the speech signal. However, the present invention is not limited to these calculation methods. 
         [0053]      FIG. 5(B)  illustrates an exemplary fixed codebook signal g ca rand(n) generated using a random codebook rand(n) and an arbitrary codebook gain g ca . Referring back to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , an error-concealed excitation signal u fec (n) is generated using the LTP synthesized signal generated in step S 420  and the codebook signal generated in step S 430  (S 440 ). 
         [0000]      [Expression 2] 
         [0000]        g   fec ( n )= g   pa   V ( n )+ g   ca   rand ( n ) 
         [0054]    Here, u fec (n) denotes the error-concealed excitation signal, g pa  denotes the arbitrary pitch gain (adaptive codebook gain), v(n) denotes the adaptive codebook, g ca  denotes the arbitrary codebook gain, and rand(n) denotes the random codebook. 
         [0055]    The enhancer 136 is used to remove, from the error-concealed excitation signal u fec (n), artifact which may occur in a low transfer rate mode or which may occur due to insufficient information when error concealment has been applied. First, the enhancer  136  makes the codebook natural through an FIR filter in order to compensate the fixed codebook for a shortage of pulses and adjusts gains of the fixed codebook and the adaptive codebook through a speech characteristics classification process. However, the present invention is not limited to this method. 
         [0056]    The short term synthesizer  138  first acquires a spectrum vector I [0]  whose arbitrary short term prediction coefficient (or arbitrary linear prediction coefficient) has been converted for the current frame. Here, the arbitrary short term prediction coefficient has been generated in order to replace the received short term prediction coefficient since an error has occurred in data of the current frame. The arbitrary short term prediction coefficient is generated based on a short term prediction coefficient of a previous frame (including an immediately previous frame) and may be generated according to the following expression although the present invention is not limited thereto. 
         [0000]      [Expression 3] 
         [0000]        I   [0]   =α[I   −1] +(1−α) I   ref  
 
         [0057]    Here, I [0]  denotes an Immittance Spectral Frequency (ISP) vector corresponding to the arbitrary short term prediction coefficient, I [−1]  denotes an ISP vector corresponding to a short term prediction coefficient of a previous frame, I ref  denotes an ISP vector of each order corresponding to a stored short term prediction coefficient, and α denotes a weight. 
         [0058]    The short term synthesizer  138  performs short term prediction synthesis or linear prediction (LPC) synthesis using the arbitrary short term spectrum vector I [0] . Here, the STP synthesis filter may be represented by the following expression although the present invention is not limited thereto. 
         [0000]    
       
         
           
             
               
                 
                   
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         [0059]    Here, a i  is an ith-order short term prediction coefficient. 
         [0060]    The short term synthesizer  138  then generates a first temporary output signal using a signal obtained by short term synthesis and the excitation signal generated in step S 440  (S 460 ). The first temporary output signal may be generated by passing the excitation signal through the short term prediction synthesis filter since the excitation signal corresponds to an input signal of the short term prediction synthesis filter. 
         [0061]    The extrapolator  138 - 2  performs extrapolation to generate a future signal based on a past signal in order to generate a second temporary output signal for error concealment (S 470 ). Here, the extrapolator  138 - 2  may perform pitch analysis on a past signal and store a signal corresponding to one pitch period and may then generate a second temporary output signal by sequentially coupling signals in an overlap and add manner through a Pitch Synchronous Overlap and Add (PSOLA) method although the extrapolation method of the present invention is not limited to PSOLA. 
         [0062]    The selector  139  selects a target signal of the re-encoder  140  from among the first temporary output signal and the second temporary output signal (S 480 ). The selector  139  may select the first temporary output signal upon determining, through speech characteristics classification of the past signal, that the input sound is unvoiced sound and select the second temporary output signal upon determining that the input sound is voiced sound. A function embedded in a codec may be used to perform speech characteristics classification and it may be determined that the input sound is voiced sound when the long term gain is great and the long term delay value changes little although the present invention is not limited thereto. 
         [0063]    Hereinafter, the re-encoder  140  is described with reference to  FIGS. 6 and 7 .  FIG. 6  is a detailed block diagram of the re-encoder  140  according to an embodiment of the present invention and  FIG. 7  is a flowchart of the re-encoding step S 500 . 
         [0064]    First, referring to  FIG. 6 , the re-encoder  140  includes at least one of a short term predictor  142 , a perceptual weighting filter  144 , a long term predictor  146 , and a codebook searcher  148 . 
         [0065]    As shown in  FIGS. 6 and 7 , the short term predictor  142  receives one of the first temporary output signal and the second temporary output signal which are output signals of the error concealment unit  130  described above with reference to  FIG. 1  and performs short term prediction analysis on the received signal (S 510 ). Here, a Linear Prediction Coefficient (LPC) may be obtained through short term prediction analysis. The purpose of step S 510  is to generate a short term prediction coefficient, which minimizes an error of the short term prediction (STP) filter (i.e., a prediction error corresponding to the difference between original and predicted signals), through short term analysis. Here, for example, it is possible to use the definition of Expression 4 described above. 
         [0066]    Then, the perceptual weighting filter  144  applies perceptual weighting filtering to a residual signal r(n) which is the difference between a temporary output signal and a predicted signal obtained through short term prediction (S 520 ). Here, the perceptual weighting filtering may be represented by the following expression. 
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         [0067]    Here, γ 1  and γ 2  are weights. 
         [0068]    It is preferable to use the same weights as used in encoding. For example, γ 1  may be 0.94 and γ 2  may be 0.6 although the present invention is not limited thereto. 
         [0069]    The long term predictor  146  may obtain a long term prediction delay value D by performing open loop search on a weight input signal to which the perceptual weighting filtering has been applied and perform closed loop search on the long term prediction delay value D within a range of ±d from the long term prediction delay value D to select a final long term prediction delay value T and a corresponding gain (S 530 ). Here, d may be 8 samples although the present invention is not limited thereto. 
         [0070]    Here, it is preferable to use the same long term prediction method as used in the encoder. 
         [0071]    Specifically, a long term prediction delay value (pitch delay) D may be calculated according to the following expression. 
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         [0072]    Here, the long term prediction delay D is k which maximizes the value of the function. 
         [0073]    The long term prediction gain (pitch gain) may be calculated according to the following expression. 
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         [0074]    Here, d(n) denotes a long term prediction target signal and u(n) denotes a perceptual weighting input signal, L denotes the length of a subframe, D denotes a long term prediction delay value (pitch delay), and g p  denotes a long term prediction gain (pitch gain). 
         [0075]    d(n) may be an input signal x(n) in the closed-loop scheme and may be wx(n) to which the perceptual weighting filtering has been applied in the open-loop scheme. 
         [0076]    Here, the long term prediction gain is obtained using the long term prediction gain D that is determined according to Expression 6 as described above. 
         [0077]    The long term predictor  146  generates the pitch gain g p  and the long term prediction delay value D through the above procedure and provides a fixed codebook target signal c(n), which is obtained by removing an adaptive codebook signal generated through long term prediction from the short term prediction residual signal r(n), to the codebook searcher  148 . 
         [0000]      [Expression 8] 
         [0000]        c ( n )= r ( n )− g   p   v ( n )
 
         [0078]    Here, c(n) denotes the fixed codebook target signal, r(n) denotes the short term prediction residual signal, g p  denotes the adaptive codebook gain, and v(n) denotes a pitch signal corresponding to the adaptive codebook delay D. 
         [0079]    Here, v(n) may represent an adaptive codebook obtained using a long term predictor from a previous excitation signal memory which may be the memory of the decoder  120  described above with reference to  FIG. 1 . 
         [0080]    The codebook searcher  148  generates a fixed codebook gain g c  and a fixed codebook ĉ(n) by performing codebook search on the codebook signal (S 540 ). Here, it is preferable to use the same codebook search method as used in the encoder. 
         [0081]    Here, the parameters may be generated in a closed loop manner such that encoded parameters are re-determined taking into consideration results of synthesis processes (such as long term synthesis and short term synthesis) that are performed using the parameters (including the short term prediction coefficient, the long term prediction gain, the long term prediction delay value, the fixed codebook gain, and the fixed codebook) generated in steps S 510 , S 530 , and S 540 . 
         [0082]    The parameters generated through the above procedure are provided to the decoder  120  as described above with reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 . 
         [0083]      FIG. 8  is a detailed block diagram of the decoder  120  according to an embodiment of the present invention and  FIG. 9  is a flowchart of the encoding step S 700 .  FIG. 10  illustrates a signal generated by the decoder according to an embodiment of the present invention. First, referring to  FIG. 8 , the decoder  120  includes a switch  121 , a long term synthesizer  122 , a fixed codebook acquirer  124 , a short term synthesizer  126 , and a memory  128 . 
         [0084]    Referring to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , the switch  121  receives parameters from the demultiplexer  110  or receives parameters from the re-encoder  140  according to the error check result (BFI) (S 710 ). The parameters received from the demultiplexer  110  are parameters included in a bitstream which have been extracted by the demultiplexer  110 . The parameters received from the re-encoder  140  are parameters which have been encoded by the re-encoder  140  after the error concealment unit  130  performs error concealment for an interval (for example, a frame) in which an error has occurred as described above. The following description is given with reference to the latter case in which the parameters are received from the re-encoder  140 . 
         [0085]    The long term synthesizer  122  performs long term synthesis based on the long term prediction gain g p  and the long term prediction delay D to generate an adaptive codebook (S 720 ). The long term synthesizer  122  is similar to the long term synthesizer  132  described above with the difference being the input parameters.  FIG. 10(A)  illustrates an exemplary long term synthesis signal g p v(n) generated using the received pitch gain and the received pitch delay. 
         [0086]    The codebook acquirer  124  generates a fixed codebook signal ĉ(n) using the received fixed codebook gain g c  and fixed codebook parameter (S 730 ).  FIG. 10(B)  illustrates an exemplary fixed codebook signal generated using the fixed codebook gain and the fixed codebook index. 
         [0087]    An excitation signal u(n) is generated by summing the pitch signal and the codebook signal.  FIG. 10(C)  illustrates an exemplary excitation signal. 
         [0088]    Unlike the random signal generator  134  described above with reference to  FIG. 3 , the codebook acquirer  124  uses the received fixed codebook rather than a random codebook. 
         [0089]    The short term synthesizer  126  performs short term synthesis based on a signal of a previous frame and the short term prediction coefficient and adds the excitation signal u(n) to the short term synthesis signal to generate a final output signal (S 740 ). Here, the following expression may be applied. 
         [0000]      [Expression 9] 
         [0000]        u ( n )= g   p   v ( n )+ g   c   ĉ ( n ) 
         [0090]    Here, u(n) denotes an excitation signal, g p  denotes an adaptive codebook gain, v(n) denotes an adaptive codebook corresponding to a pitch delay D, g c (n) denotes a fixed codebook gain, and ĉ(n) denotes a fixed codebook having a unit size. 
         [0091]    A detailed description of operation of the short term synthesizer  126  is omitted herein since it is similar to operation of the short term synthesizer  138  described above with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0092]    Then, the memory  128  is updated with the received parameters, signals generated based on the parameters, the final output signal, and the like (S 750 ). Here, the memory  128  may be divided into a memory  128 - 1  (not shown) for error concealment and a memory  128 - 2  (not shown) for decoding. The memory  128 - 1  for error concealment stores data required for the error concealment unit  130  (for example, a long term prediction gain, a long term prediction delay value, a past delay value history, a fixed codebook gain, and a short term prediction coefficient) and the memory  128 - 2  for decoding stores data required for the decoder  120  to perform decoding (for example, an excitation signal of a current frame for synthesis of a next frame, a gain value, and a final output signal). The two memories may be implemented as a single memory  128  rather than being separated. The memory  128 - 2  for decoding may include a memory for long term prediction and a memory for short term prediction. The memory  128 - 2  for long term prediction may include a memory required to generate an excitation signal from a next frame through long term synthesis and a memory required for short term synthesis. 
         [0093]    In the case in which parameters are received from the demultiplexer  110  through the switch  121  of  FIG. 8  when no error has occurred in data of a next frame, one of long term synthesis  122  and short term synthesis  126  is performed on the next frame based on data of the memory updated in step S 750 . 
         [0094]    By updating data of a frame which contains an error with parameters corresponding to an error-concealed signal in the above manner, it is possible to prevent error propagation as much as possible upon decoding of the next frame. 
         [0095]    The audio signal processing method according to the present invention may be implemented as a program to be executed by a computer and the program may then be stored in a computer readable recording medium. Multimedia data having a data structure according to the present invention may also be stored in a computer readable recording medium. The computer readable recording medium includes any type of storage device that stores data that can be read by a computer system. Examples of the computer readable recording medium include read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), CD-ROMs, magnetic tapes, floppy disk, optical data storage devices, and so on. The computer readable recording medium can also be embodied in the form of carrier waves (for example, signals transmitted over the Internet). A bitstream generated through the encoding method described above may be stored in a computer readable recording medium or may be transmitted over a wired/wireless communication network. 
         [0096]    Although the present invention has been described above with reference to specific embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments and drawings and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 
       INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY  
       [0097]    The present invention is applicable to audio signal processing and output.