INTERGRATED SPEECH ENCODING

In prior art mobile communication systems, a speech signal is processed and converted from one format to another at several points. Such conversions include Echo Cancellation (EC), Transcoding (TC), and Soft Handover (SH) with Diversity Combining (DC). These measures for processing the signal and for converting it from one format to another at several points of the system to a great extent include analogous processing. A consequent problem is met that carrying out analogous processing for a multitude of times at several different points adds to the complexity of the system, increases costs and deteriorates the reliability of the system. Processing steps carried out separately are only able to utilize results of the preceding processing step, but are not able to utilize useful intermediate results. According to the invention, as many as possible of the processing steps of the mobile communication system are carried out in an integrated network element (ISP, Integrated Speech Processing), which may be a separate unit. The ISP unit may physically be located also at a Mobile Switching Center MSC. Integrated processing provides the advantages of a simpler structure as all the processing steps may be carried out by the same signal processor (DSP). Integration reduces costs and makes the system more reliable. The integrated network elements (ISP) according to the invention may also be placed in parallel either at the same point or as part of Base Station Controllers (BSC).