Method and system for pitch contour quantization in audio coding

A coding device for encoding an audio signal comprising pitch contour data containing a plurality of pitch values representative of an audio segment in time, said coding device comprising:

• an input end for receiving the pitch contour data;
• and
• a data processing module, responsive to the pitch contour data, for creating a plurality of simplified pitch contour segment candidates, each candidate corresponding to a sub-segment of the audio signal, wherein the processing module comprises:
• an algorithm for measuring deviation between each of the simplified pitch contour segment candidates and said pitch values in the corresponding sub-segment;
• and
• an algorithm for selecting one of said candidates based on the measured deviations and pre-selected criteria.

A computer software product embodied in an electronically readable medium for use in conjunction with an audio coding device, the audio coding device providing parameters indicative of the audio signal, the parameters including pitch contour data containing a plurality of pitch values representative of an audio segment in time, said software product comprising:

• a code for creating a plurality of simplified pitch contour segment candidates based on the pitch contour data, each candidate corresponding to a sub-segment of the audio signal;
• a code for measuring deviation between each of the simplified pitch contour segment candidates and said pitch values in the corresponding sub-segment;
• and
• a code for selecting one of said candidates based on the measured deviations and pre-selected criteria, so as to allow a quantization module to code the pitch contour data in the sub-segment of the audio signal corresponding to the selected candidate with characteristics of the selected candidate.

A communication network, comprising:

• a plurality of base stations;
• and
• a plurality of mobile stations communicating with the base stations, wherein at least one of the mobile stations comprises:
• a decoder for reconstructing an audio signal, wherein the audio signal is encoded for providing parameters indicative of the audio signal, the parameters including pitch contour data containing a plurality of pitch values representative of an audio segment in time, and wherein the pitch contour data in the audio segment in time is approximated by a plurality of consecutive sub-segments in the audio segment, each of said sub-segments defined by a first end point and a second end point, so as to allow the audio segment to be constructed based on the end points defining the sub-segments;
• and
• an input for receiving audio data indicative of the end points from at least one of the base stations for providing the audio data to the decoder.