Audio coding method and apparatus

1. A method for encoding an audio signal, wherein a frequency spectrum of the audio signal is divided into at least a first and a second region, wherein at least the second region comprises a number of bands, the method comprising:

encoding spectral peak segments in the first region using a first coding method;

encoding at least one non-peak segment in the first region using a coding method different from the first coding method;

determining a first relation between an energy of a band in the second region and an energy estimate of the first region;

determining a second relation between the energy of the band in the second region and an energy of neighboring bands in the second region;

determining whether an available number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region;

responsive to when the first and second relations fulfill a respective predetermined criterion and the number of bits is sufficient, encoding the band in the second region using a second coding method that is different from the first coding method used to encode the spectral peak segments in the first region; and

responsive to when the first and second relations do not fulfill the respective predetermined criterion or the number of bits is not sufficient, subjecting the band in the second region to BandWidth Extension BWE or noise fill.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first coding method is a peak based coding method.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the energy estimate of the first region is based on the energies of the spectral peaks in the first region.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining whether the available number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region is performed after encoding at least one non-peak segment of the first region.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining whether the available number of bits is sufficient reserves a sufficient number of bits for encoding a defined most relevant region.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the determination whether the number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region is based on a minimum number of bits required to encode at least one coefficient of the band in the second region.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first region is a lower part of the frequency spectrum than the second region.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second coding method comprises vector quantization or pyramid vector quantization.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first coding method is a peak-based coding method comprising encoding of a peak position, an amplitude and sign of the peak position, and a shape vector representing neighboring Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) bins.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein encoding the band in the second region using a second coding method comprises gain shape coding the band in the second region.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising gain shape coding at least one non-peak segment of the first region in response to the first and second relations fulfilling a respective predetermined criterion and the number of bits is sufficient.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein gain shape coding the band in the second region comprises applying a shape quantizer to a structure of the band in the second region.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein gain shape coding the band in the second region comprises gain shape coding the band in the second region responsive to peak coding the spectral peak segments of the first region.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first coding method is not used to encode the band in the second region.

15. An apparatus for encoding an audio signal, wherein a frequency spectrum of the audio signal is divided into at least a first and a second region, wherein at least the second region comprises a number of bands, and the encoder being further configured to perform operations comprising:

encoding spectral peak segments in the first region using a first coding method;

encoding at least one non-peak segment in the first region using a coding method different from the first coding method;

determining a first relation between an energy of a band in the second region and an energy estimate of the first region;

determining a second relation between the energy of the band in the second region and an energy of neighboring bands in the second region;

determining whether an available number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region;

responsive to when the first and second relations fulfill a respective predetermined criterion and the number of bits is sufficient, encoding the band in the second region using a second coding method that is different from the first coding method used to encode the spectral peak segments in the first region; and

responsive to when the first and second relations do not fulfill the respective predetermined criterion or the number of bits is not sufficient, subjecting the band in the second region to BandWidth Extension BWE or noise fill.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the first coding method is a peak based coding method.

17. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the energy estimate of the first region is based on the energies of the spectral peaks in the first region.

18. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the determining whether the available number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region is performed after encoding at least one non-peak segment of the first region.

19. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the determining whether the available number of bits is sufficient reserves a sufficient number of bits for encoding a defined most relevant region.

20. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the determination whether the number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region is based on a minimum number of bits required to encode at least one coefficient of the band in the second region.

21. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the first region is a lower part of the frequency spectrum than the second region.

22. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the first coding method is a peak-based coding method comprising encoding of a peak position, an amplitude and sign of the peak position, and a shape vector representing neighboring Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT) bins.

23. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the second coding method comprises vector quantization or pyramid vector quantization.

24. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the apparatus is configured to operate as an encoder to encode the audio signal.

25. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the apparatus is configured to operate as an audio codec for the audio signal.

26. The apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the apparatus is configured to operate as a communication device.

27. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of an apparatus, perform operations comprising:

encoding spectral peak segments in the first region using a first coding method;

encoding at least one non-peak segment in the first region using a coding method different from the first coding method;

determining a first relation between an energy of a band in the second region and an energy estimate of the first region;

determining a second relation between the energy of the band in the second region and an energy of neighboring bands in the second region;

determining whether an available number of bits is sufficient for encoding the band in the second region;

responsive to when the first and second relations fulfill a respective predetermined criterion and the number of bits is sufficient, encoding the band in the second region using a second coding method that is different from the first coding method used to encode the spectral peak segments in the first region; and

responsive to when the first and second relations do not fulfill the respective predetermined criterion or the number of bits is not sufficient, subjecting the band in the second region to BandWidth Extension BWE or noise fill.