An apparatus for generating a bandwidth extended signal includes an anti-sparseness processing unit to perform anti-sparseness processing on a low-frequency spectrum; and a frequency domain high-frequency extension decoding unit to perform high-frequency extension encoding in the frequency domain on the low-frequency spectrum on which the anti-sparseness processing is performed.

An apparatus for generating a bandwidth extended signal includes an anti-sparseness processing unit to perform anti-sparseness processing on a low-frequency spectrum; and a frequency domain high-frequency extension decoding unit to perform high-frequency extension encoding in the frequency domain on the low-frequency spectrum on which the anti-sparseness processing is performed.

A method and apparatus to encode and decode an audio/speech signal is provided. An inputted audio signal or speech signal may be transformed into at least one of a high frequency resolution signal and a high temporal resolution signal. The signal may be encoded by determining an appropriate resolution, the encoded signal may be decoded, and thus the audio signal, the speech signal, and a mixed signal of the audio signal and the speech signal may be processed.

A method and apparatus to encode and decode an audio/speech signal is provided. An inputted audio signal or speech signal may be transformed into at least one of a high frequency resolution signal and a high temporal resolution signal. The signal may be encoded by determining an appropriate resolution, the encoded signal may be decoded, and thus the audio signal, the speech signal, and a mixed signal of the audio signal and the speech signal may be processed.

Provided are an apparatus and a method for integrally encoding and decoding a speech signal and a audio signal. The encoding apparatus may include: an input signal analyzer to analyze a characteristic of an input signal; a first conversion encoder to convert the input signal to a frequency domain signal, and to encode the input signal when the input signal is a audio characteristic signal; a Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) encoder to perform LPC encoding of the input signal when the input signal is a speech characteristic signal; and a bitstream generator to generate a bitstream using an output.

Provided are an apparatus and a method for integrally encoding and decoding a speech signal and a audio signal. The encoding apparatus may include: an input signal analyzer to analyze a characteristic of an input signal; a first conversion encoder to convert the input signal to a frequency domain signal, and to encode the input signal when the input signal is a audio characteristic signal; a Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) encoder to perform LPC encoding of the input signal when the input signal is a speech characteristic signal; and a bitstream generator to generate a bitstream using an output.

A method for partitioning of input vectors for coding is presented. The method comprises obtaining of an input vector. The input vector is segmented, in a non-recursive manner, into an integer number, N.sup.SEG, of input vector segments. A representation of a respective relative energy difference between parts of the input vector on each side of each boundary between the input vector segments is determined, in a recursive manner. The input vector segments and the representations of the relative energy differences are provided for individual coding. Partitioning units and computer programs for partitioning of input vectors for coding, as well as positional encoders, are presented.

Provided is an encoding apparatus for integrally encoding and decoding a speech signal and a audio signal, and may include: an input signal analyzer to analyze a characteristic of an input signal; a stereo encoder to down mix the input signal to a mono signal when the input signal is a stereo signal, and to extract stereo sound image information; a frequency band expander to expand a frequency band of the input signal; a sampling rate converter to convert a sampling rate; a speech signal encoder to encode the input signal using a speech encoding module when the input signal is a speech characteristics signal; a audio signal encoder to encode the input signal using a audio encoding module when the input signal is a audio characteristic signal; and a bitstream generator to generate a bitstream.

Provided is an encoding apparatus for integrally encoding and decoding a speech signal and a audio signal, and may include: an input signal analyzer to analyze a characteristic of an input signal; a stereo encoder to down mix the input signal to a mono signal when the input signal is a stereo signal, and to extract stereo sound image information; a frequency band expander to expand a frequency band of the input signal; a sampling rate converter to convert a sampling rate; a speech signal encoder to encode the input signal using a speech encoding module when the input signal is a speech characteristics signal; a audio signal encoder to encode the input signal using a audio encoding module when the input signal is a audio characteristic signal; and a bitstream generator to generate a bitstream.

Spectral encoding methods are more robust when used with improved weak signal detection and synchronizations methods. Further robustness gains are achieved by using informed embedding, error correction and embedding protocols that enable signal to noise enhancements by folding and pre-filtering the received signal.