Patent ID: 8364495

Claim:
A speech encoding apparatus that encodes an input signal using encoded information of n layers, n being an integer greater than or equal to 2, the speech encoding apparatus comprising: a base layer encoder that encodes the input signal to generate the encoded information of layer 1; a decoder of layer i that decodes the encoded information of layer i , i being an integer greater than 1 and less than or equal to n−1, to generate a decoded signal of layer i; an adder, comprising a processor, that adds either a difference signal of layer 1 which is a difference between the input signal and the decoded signal of layer 1 or a difference signal of layer i which is a difference between the decoded signal of layer i−1 and the decoded signal of layer i; and an enhancement layer encoder of layer i+1 that encodes the difference signal of layer i to generate encoded information of layer i+1; wherein the enhancement layer encoder of layer i+1 performs an encoding process utilizing decoding parameters received separately from the difference signal and from a decoding section of layer j, j being an integer less than or equal to i and obtained in the decoding process of the decoding section of layer j.