Methods and apparatuses for bit stream decoding in MP3 decoder

A decoder for decoding an MP3 bit stream having a plurality of frames, comprising:

• a decoder, reading and decoding a header, side information, and main data of a current frame in the MP3 bit stream by directly accessing a start position of the main data and a start address of a subsequent frame;
• a memory, storing data required for address calculation;
• and
• an address calculating unit, receiving a main_data_end parameter in the side information from the decoder, calculating the start position of the main data according to the main_data_end parameter and the data stored in the memory, sending the calculated start position to the decoder, and calculating the start address of the subsequent frame when the decoder is finished reading the main data of the current frame;
• wherein the decoder skips the header and side information of the subsequent frame if detecting the header of the subsequent frame when decoding of the main data is not yet finished.