Patent ID: 7275031

Claim:
Apparatus for encoding an audio signal, comprising: a first transform encoder for generating a first encoder output signal from the audio signal, wherein the first transform encoder is adapted to convert a block with a first number of time samples of the audio signal into a spectral representation to obtain the first encoder output signal; a decoder adapted to the first encoder for decoding the first encoder output signal to provide a decoded audio signal; a comparator for comparing the audio signal with the decoded audio signal, wherein the comparator is adapted to provide a residual signal, wherein the residual signal comprises a difference between the audio signal and the decoded audio signal; a second transform encoder for encoding the residual signal to provide a second encoder output signal, wherein the second transform encoder is adapted to convert a block with a second number of time samples of the audio signal into a spectral representation to obtain the second encoder output signal, wherein the first transform encoder and the second transform encoder are adapted so that the first number of time samples of the audio signal is greater than the second number of time samples of the audio signal and that the first encoder has a low time resolution and a high frequency resolution, and that the second encoder has a high time resolution and a low frequency resolution; and a multiplexer for combining the first encoder output signal and the second encoder output signal to obtain an encoded audio signal.