Patent ID: 8260609

Claim:
A method of encoding frames of a speech signal, said method comprising: producing a first encoded frame that is based on a first frame of the speech signal and has a length of q bits, q being a nonzero positive integer; and producing a second encoded frame that is based on a second frame of the speech signal and has a length of r bits, r being a nonzero positive integer less than q, wherein the first encoded frame includes (A) a description of a spectral envelope, over a first frequency band, of a portion of the speech signal that includes the first frame and (B) a description of a spectral envelope, over a second frequency band different than the first frequency band, of a portion of the speech signal that includes the first frame, and wherein the first frame is an inactive frame, and wherein the second frame is an inactive frame that occurs after the first frame, and wherein all of the frames of the speech signal between the first and second frames are inactive.