IP Library Granted Patent US 8,145,479
Granted Patent B2
US 8,145,479 · App. 12/160,090 · Granted Mar 27, 2012

Improving the quality of output audio signal,transferred as coded speech to subscriber's terminal over a network, by speech coder and decoder tandem pre-processing

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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 8,145,479
App. No.
12/160,090
Granted
Mar 27, 2012
Kind
B2
Abstract

A method of pre-processing an audio signal transmitted to a user terminal via a communication network and an apparatus using the method are provided. The method of pre-processing the audio signal may prevent deterioration of a sound quality of the audio signal transmitted to the user terminal by pre-processing the audio signal, and by enabling a codec module, encoding the audio signal, to determine the audio signal as a speech signal. The method of pre-processing may include encoding the audio signal using a speech codec and decoding the encoded audio signal using the speech codec. A codec module, transmitting the decoded audio signal to the user terminal via the communication network, may determine whether a speech interval or a speechless interval with respect to at least one frame is included in the audio signal and transmit at least one parameter with respect to the at least one frame as a result of the determination.

Claims (23)

1. A method of pre-processing an audio signal transmitted to a user terminal via a communication network, the method comprising:

encoding the audio signal using a speech codec; and

decoding the encoded audio signal using the speech codec,

wherein a codec module, transmitting the decoded audio signal to the user terminal via the communication network, comprises

determining whether a speech interval or a speechless interval with respect to at least one frame is included in the audio signal; and

transmitting at least one parameter with respect to the at least one frame as a result of the determination.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the codec module uses any one of an adaptive multi-rate voice activity detector (AMR VAD) option 1 and an AMR VAD option 2 .

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the codec module includes a voice activity detection (VAD) module and a discontinuous transmission (DTX) module.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the encoding the audio signal using the speech codec comprises:

extracting at least one parameter with respect to the audio signal using the speech codec; and

encoding the audio signal by including the extracted parameter.

5. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program for implementing a method of pre-processing an audio signal transmitted to a user terminal via a communication network, the method comprising:

encoding the audio signal using a speech codec; and

decoding the encoded audio signal using the speech codec,

wherein a codec module, transmitting the decoded audio signal to the user terminal via the communication network, comprises

determining whether a speech interval or a speechless interval with respect to at least one frame is included in the audio signal; and

transmitting at least one parameter with respect to the at least one frame as a result of the determination.

6. An apparatus of pre-processing an audio signal transmitted to a user terminal via a communication network, the apparatus comprising:

a speech codec encoding the audio signal and decoding the encoded audio signal, wherein a codec module transmitting the decoded audio signal to the user terminal via the communication network comprises

a voice activity detection (VAD) module determining whether a speech interval or a speechless interval with respect to at least one frame is included in the audio signal; and

a discontinuous activity detection module transmitting at least one parameter with respect to the at least one frame as a result of the determination.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the codec module uses any one of an AMR VAD option 1 and an AMR VAD option 2 .

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the speech codec extracts at least one parameter with respect to the audio signal using the speech codec, and encoding the audio signal by including the extracted parameter.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 8, 2012
From: REALNETWORKS, INC.
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 028752/0734 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jan 24, 2012
From: REALNETWORKS ASIA PACIFIC CO, LTD
To: REALNETWORKS, INC.
Reel/Frame 027587/0391 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 11, 2008
From: JEONG, JAE WOONG; PARK, SEOP HYEONG; RYU, JONG KYU
To: REALNETWORKS ASIA PACIFIC CO., LTD.
Reel/Frame 021517/0770 →