We all take the little vocoder in our mobile phones for granted. We just talk in one end, and listen through the other, thinking nothing of it. But, it’s essential technology for all wireless communications. The vocoder (voice encoder) processes your voice and digitizes it for transmission. The problem is that vocoder quality (and so voice quality) is usually proportional to how much juice it requires – but not for long! NTT DoCoMo has demonstrated their new vocoder technology that halves power drain without taking a hit on voice quality. This breakthrough comes from a new encoding/decoding algorithm with a processing load of “about half that of existing methods.” The demonstration at Wireless Technology Park 2007, in Japan, last week means that the tech is set to bust out of the gates and into our phones sooner than later. Maybe the Apple iPhone’s 40 minute battery life could get a boost from this new vocoder.
Via: techon