What we claim is:
1. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog comprising a connecting peptide (C-peptide) being cleavable from the A and B chains said connecting peptide comprising at least one aromatic amino acid residue and a cleavage site enabling cleavage of the peptide bond between the A-chain and the connecting peptide, wherein one aromatic amino acid residue is immediately N-terminal to said cleavage site.
2. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 15 amino acid residues in length.
3. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 9 amino acid residues.
4. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 5 amino acid residues, preferably up to 3 amino acid residues.
5. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the cleavage site enabling cleavage of the peptide bond between the A-chain and the connecting peptide is Lys or Arg.
6. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the connecting peptide comprises up to 5 aromatic amino acid residues
7. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the connecting peptide comprises up to 3 aromatic amino acid residues, preferably only one aromatic amino acid residue.
8. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 7, wherein one of the aromatic amino acid residues is less than 5 away from at least one of the amino acid residues in position B11, B12 or B26 in the B chain.
9. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the aromatic amino acid residue immediately N-terminal to the cleavage site is less than 5 away from at least one of the amino acid residues in position B11, B12 or B26 in the B chain.
10. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1, wherein the insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog exhibits an increased Cmid stability in solution relative to an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog which does not comprise an aromatic amino acid residue in the connecting peptide.
11. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 10, wherein Cmid is higher than about 5.5 M GuHCl.
12. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 10, wherein Cmid is higher than about 6.0 M GuHCl.
13. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 10, wherein Cmid is at least about 6.5 M GuHCl.
14. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog comprising a connecting peptide (C-peptide) being cleavable from the A and B chains and being of up to 9 amino acid residues in length, wherein the C-peptide comprises at least one aromatic amino acid residue.
15. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 5 amino acid residues.
16. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 3 amino acid residues in length.
17. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein the connecting peptide comprises up to 5 aromatic amino acid residues.
18. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein the connecting peptide comprises up to 3 aromatic amino acid residues, preferably one aromatic amino acid residue.
19. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein the connecting peptide has a Lys or Arg immediately N-terminal to the A chain.
20. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 19, wherein one aromatic amino acid residue is immediately N-terminal to the Lys or Arg.
21. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein one of the aromatic amino acid residues in the connecting peptide is less than 5 away from at least one of the residues in positions B11, B12, or B26 in the B-chain.
22. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 20, wherein the aromatic amino acid residues positioned immediately N-terminal to the Lys or Arg is less than 5 away from at least one of the residues in positions B11, B12, or B26 in the B-chain.
23. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14, wherein the insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog exhibits an increased Cmid stability in solution relative to an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog which does not comprise an aromatic amino acid residue in the connecting peptide.
24. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 23, wherein Cmid is higher than about 5.5 M GuHCl.
25. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 23, wherein Cmid is higher than about 6.0 M GuHCl.
26. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 23, wherein Cmid is at least about 6.5 M GuHCl.
27. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog comprising a connecting peptide (C-peptide) being cleavable from the A and B chains, said connecting peptide comprising one aromatic amino acid residue which is less than 5 away from at least one of the residues in position B11, B12, or B26 in the B-chain.
28. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 15 amino acid residues in length.
29. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 9 amino acid residues.
30. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 5 amino acid residues.
31. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide is of up to 3 amino acid residues.
32. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide comprises up to 5 aromatic amino acid residues.
33. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide comprises up to 3 aromatic amino acid residues, preferably only one aromatic amino acid residue.
34. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the connecting peptide has a Lys or Arg immediately N-terminal to the A chain.
35. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 34, wherein one aromatic amino acid residue is immediately N-terminal to the Lys or Arg.
36. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 35, wherein the aromatic amino acid residues positioned immediately N-terminal to the Lys or Arg is less than 5 away from at least one of the residues in positions B11, B12, or B26 in the B-chain.
37. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27, wherein the insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog exhibits an increased Cmid stability in solution relative to an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog which does not comprise an aromatic amino acid residue in the connecting peptide.
38. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 37, wherein Cmid is higher than about 5.5 M GuHCl.
39. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 37, wherein Cmid is higher than about 6.0 M GuHCl.
40. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 37, wherein Cmid is at least about 6.5 M GuHCl.
41. An insulin precursor or an insulin precursor analog comprising the formula
B(1-27)-X2-X3-X1-Y-A(1-21)
wherein
X1 is a peptide sequence of 1-8 amino acid residues of which at least one is an aromatic amino acid residue,
X2 is one of Pro, Asp, Lys, or lie at position 28 of the B chain,
X3 is one of Pro, Lys, Ala, Arg or Pro-Thr at position 29 of the B chain, and
Y is Lys or Arg.
42. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 is 1-6 amino acid residues.
43. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 is 1-4 amino acid residues.
44. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 is 1-3 amino acid residues.
45. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 is 1-2 amino acid residues.
46. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 comprises up to 5 aromatic amino acid residues.
47. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 comprises up to 3 aromatic amino acid residues, preferably only one aromatic amino acid residue.
48. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein the aromatic amino acid residues are selected from the group consisting of Trp and Tyr.
49. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein one aromatic amino acid residues is less than 5 away from at least one of the amino acid residues in position B11, B12 or B26 in the B chain.
50. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein one aromatic amino acid residue is immediately N-terminal to Y.
51. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 50, wherein the aromatic amino acid residue immediately N-terminal to Y is less than 5 away from at least one of the amino acid residues in position B11, B12 or B26 in the B chain.
52. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X1 – Y is selected from the group of: (a) Met-Trp-Lys, (b) Ala-Trp-Lys, (c) Val-Trp-Lys, (d) Ile-Trp-Lys, (e) Leu-Trp-Lys, (f) Glu-Glu-Phe-Lys (SEQ ID NO:15), (g) Glu-Phe-Lys, (h) Glu-Trp-Lys, (i) Ser-Trp-Lys, (j) Thr-Trp-Lys, (k) Arg-Trp-Lys, (l) Glu-Met-Trp-Lys (SEQ ID NO: 1), (m) Gln-Met-Trp-Lys (SEQ ID NO:2), and (n) Asp-Trp-Lys.
53. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 41, wherein X2 is Asp, X3 is Lys and X1 is 1-3 amino acid residues of which one is Trp or Phe.
54. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 41, wherein the insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog exhibits an increased Cmid stability in solution relative to an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog which does not comprise an aromatic amino acid residue in X1.
55. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 54, wherein Cmid is higher than about 5.5 M GuHCl.
56. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 54, wherein Cmid is higher than about 6.0 M GuHCl.
57. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 54, wherein Cmid is at least about 6.5 M GuHCl.
58. An insulin precursor or an insulin precursor analog comprising the formula:
B(1-27)-X2-X3-X1-Y-A(1-21)
wherein
X1 is a peptide sequence of 1-15 amino acid residues of which one is an aromatic amino acid residue immediately N-terminal to Y,
X2 is one of Pro, Asp, Lys, or Ile at position 28 of the B chain,
X3 is one of Pro, Lys, Ala, Arg or Pro-Thr at position 29 of the B chain, and
Y is Lys or Arg.
59. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 58, wherein X1 is 1-9, preferably 1-5 amino acid residues.
60. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 58, wherein X1 is 1-3, preferably 1-2 amino acid residues.
61. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 58, wherein X1 is 1-2 amino acid residues of which one is Trp or Phe.
62. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 58, wherein X1 – Y is selected from the group of: (a) Met-Trp-Lys, (b) Ala-Trp-Lys, (c) Val-Trp-Lys, (d) Ile-Trp-Lys, (e) Leu-Trp-Lys, (f) Glu-Glu-Phe-Lys (SEQ ID NO:15), (g) Glu-Phe-Lys, (h) Glu-Trp-Lys, (i) Ser-Trp-Lys, (j) Thr-Trp-Lys, (k) Arg-Trp-Lys, (l) Glu-Met-Trp-Lys (SEQ ID NO: 1), (m) Gln-Met-Trp-Lys (SEQ ID NO:2), and (n) Asp-Trp-Lys.
63. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 58, wherein X2 is Asp, X3 is Lys and X1 is of 1-3 amino acid residues of which one is Trp or Phe.
64. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 58, wherein the insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog exhibits an increased Cmid stability in solution relative to an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog which does not comprise an aromatic amino acid residue in X1.
65. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 64, wherein Cmid is higher than about 5.5 M GuHCl.
66. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 64, wherein Cmid is higher than about 6.0 M GuHCl.
67. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 64, wherein Cmid is at least about 6.5 M GuHCl.
68. An insulin precursor or an insulin precursor analog comprising the formula:
B(1-27)-X2-X3-X1-Y-A(1-21)
wherein
X1 is a peptide sequence of 1-15 amino acid residues of which one is an aromatic amino acid residue which is less than 5 away from at least one of the amino acid residues in position B11, B12 or B26 in the B chain,
X2 is one of Pro, Asp, Lys, or Ile at position 28 of the B chain,
X3 is one of Pro, Lys, Ala, Arg or Pro-Thr at position 29 of the B chain, and
Y is Lys or Arg.
69. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X1 is 1-9, preferably 1-5 amino acid residues.
70. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X1 is 1-4, preferably 1-3 amino acid residues.
71. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X1 is 1-2 amino acid residues.
72. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X1 comprises up to 5 aromatic amino acid residues.
73. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X1 comprises up to 3 aromatic amino acid residues, preferably only one aromatic amino acid residue.
74. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein the aromatic amino acid residues are selected from the group consisting of Trp and Tyr.
75. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 75, wherein one aromatic amino acid residue is immediately N-terminal to Y.
76. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 68, wherein the aromatic amino acid residue immediately N-terminal to Y is less than 5 away from at least one of the amino acid residues in position B11, B12 or B26 in the B chain.
77. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X1 – Y is selected from the group of: (a) Met-Trp-Lys, (b) Ala-Trp-Lys, (c) Val-Trp-Lys, (d) Ile-Trp-Lys, (e) Leu-Trp-Lys, (f) Glu-Glu-Phe-Lys (SEQ ID NO:15), (g) Glu-Phe-Lys, (h) Glu-Trp-Lys, (i) Ser-Trp-Lys, (j) Thr-Trp-Lys, (k) Arg-Trp-Lys, (l) Glu-Met-Trp-Lys (SEQ ID NO: 1), (m) Gln-Met-Trp-Lys (SEQ ID NO:2), and (n) Asp-Trp-Lys.
78. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 68, wherein X2 is Asp, X3 is Lys and X1 is 1-3 amino acid residues of which one is Trp or Phe.
79. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 68, wherein the insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog exhibits an increased Cmid stability in solution relative to an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog which does not comprise an aromatic amino acid residue in X1.
80. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 79, wherein Cmid is higher than about 5.5 M GuHCl.
81. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 79, wherein Cmid is higher than about 6.0 M GuHCl.
82. An insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog of claim 79, wherein Cmid is at least about 6.5 M GuHCl.
83. A polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 1.
84. A polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 14.
85. A polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 27.
86. A polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 41.
87. A polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 58.
88. A polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or insulin precursor analog according to claim 68.
89. An expression vector comprising a polynucleotide sequence according to any of claims 83-88.
90. A host cell transformed with a vector of claim 89.
91. A process for making an insulin precursor or an insulin precursor analog said method comprising (i) culturing a host cell comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or an insulin precursor analog according to any of claims 1-82 under suitable culture conditions for expression of said precursor or precursor analog; and (ii) isolating the expressed precursor or precursor analog.
92. A process according to claim 91, wherein the host cell is a yeast host cell.
93. A process for making insulin or an insulin analog, said method comprising (i) culturing a host cell comprising a polynucleotide sequence encoding an insulin precursor or an insulin precursor analog according to any of claims 1-82 under suitable culture conditions for expression of said precursor or precursor analog; (ii) isolating the precursor or precursor analog from the culture medium and (iii) converting the precursor or precursor analog into insulin or an insulin analog by in vitro chemical or enzymatic conversion.
94. A process according to claim 93, wherein the host cell is a yeast host cell.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method of providing tandem-free operation (TFO) communication between a first wireless terminal and a second wireless terminal, wherein the first wireless terminal encodes active speech using a first wideband speech coder associated with a first type of wireless interface and generates active speech frames having a first format, wherein the second wireless terminal encodes active speech using a second wideband speech coder associated with a second type of wireless interface and generates active speech frames having a second format, wherein the first and second wideband speech coders each sample voice signals at a sampling rate greater than 8,000 samples per second, wherein the first format is different from the second format, and wherein the first type of wireless interface is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) wireless interface that is different from the second type of wireless interface, the method comprising:
encoding, at the first wireless terminal, first active speech data to generate an active speech frame having the first format;
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, an active speech frame having the second format to generate second active speech data;
receiving, at the first wireless terminal, a continuous transmission (CTX) eighth-rate inactive speech frame via the DTX wireless interface; and
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, the CTX eighth-rate inactive speech frame to generate comfort noise.
2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
encoding, at the first wireless terminal, DTX inactive speech frames in accordance with the first type of wireless interface.
3. An apparatus comprising:
a speech encoder configured to encode speech data in accordance with a first speech coding format to communicate over a mobile-to-mobile connection; and
a speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data that is received via the mobile-to-mobile connection in accordance with a second speech coding format, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format, wherein the first format is an adaptive multi-rate (AMR) format, wherein the second format is a selectable mode vocoder (SMV) format, and wherein the speech decoder is adapted to decode eighth-rate frames that are received via a discontinuous transmission (DTX) wireless interface.
4. An apparatus comprising:
a speech encoder configured to encode speech data in accordance with a first speech coding format to communicate over a mobile-to-mobile connection; and
a speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data that is received via the mobile-to-mobile connection in accordance with a second speech coding format, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format, wherein the first format is a selectable mode vocoder (SMV) format, wherein the second format is an adaptive multi-rate (AMR) format, and wherein the speech decoder is adapted to decode a silence descriptor (SID) frame that is received via a continuous transmission (CTX) wireless interface to generate comfort noise.
5. An apparatus comprising:
a speech encoder configured to encode speech data in accordance with a first speech coding format to communicate over a mobile-to-mobile connection; and
a speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data that is received via the mobile-to-mobile connection in accordance with a second speech coding format, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format, wherein the first format is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format, wherein the second format is a continuous transmission (CTX) format, and wherein the apparatus is adapted to receive active speech frames in accordance with the DTX format via a first mode of a DTX wireless network and to receive inactive speech frames in accordance with the CTX format via a second mode of the DTX wireless network.
6. An apparatus comprising:
a speech encoder configured to encode speech data in accordance with a first speech coding format to communicate over a mobile-to-mobile connection; and
a speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data that is received via the mobile-to-mobile connection in accordance with a second speech coding format, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format, wherein the first format is a continuous transmission (CTX) format, wherein the second format is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format, and wherein the apparatus is adapted to receive inactive speech frames in accordance with the DTX format via a CTX wireless network and to transmit active speech frames in accordance with the CTX format via the CTX wireless network.
7. A method of providing tandem-free operation (TFO) communication between a first wireless terminal communicating through a first type of wireless interface and a second wireless terminal communicating through a second type of wireless interface, wherein the first type is different from the second type, the method comprising:
encoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a first speech coding format, speech data to be transmitted through a wireless channel; and
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a second speech coding format, speech data received through the wireless channel, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format,
wherein the speech encoding includes wideband active speech encoding, and the speech decoding includes wideband active speech decoding, wherein wideband refers to voice frequencies above 4 kilohertz, wherein the speech data that is encoded in accordance with the first speech coding format includes first inactive speech data and wherein the speech data that is received and decoded in accordance with the second speech coding format includes second inactive speech data.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the first format is an adaptive multi-rate (AMR) format and the second format is a selectable mode vocoder (SMV) format, and wherein the first type of wireless interface is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) wireless interface.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the first format is a selectable mode vocoder (SMV) format and the second format is an adaptive multi-rate (AMR) format, and wherein the first type of wireless interface is a continuous transmission (CTX) wireless interface.
10. The method of claim 7 wherein the first format is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format and the second format is a continuous transmission (CTX) format, wherein the first type of wireless interface is a DTX wireless interface, and further comprising:
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, active speech frames that are received in accordance with the DTX format via a first mode of the DTX wireless interface; and
decoding inactive speech frames in accordance with the CTX format via a second mode of the DTX wireless interface.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein the first format is a continuous transmission (CTX) format and the second format is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format, wherein the first type of wireless interface is a CTX wireless interface, and further comprising:
decoding, at the first terminal, inactive speech frames in accordance with the DTX format that are received via the CTX wireless interface; and
encoding, at the first terminal, active speech frames in accordance with the CTX format.
12. A method of providing tandem-free operation (TFO) communication between a first wireless terminal communicating through a first type of wireless interface and a second wireless terminal communicating through a second type of wireless interface, wherein the first type is different from the second type, the method comprising:
encoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a first speech coding format, speech data to be transmitted through a wireless channel; and
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a second speech coding format, speech data received through the wireless channel, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format,
wherein the encoding is comfort noise encoding that includes a silence descriptor (SID) frame, and the decoding is decoding eighth-rate frames with inactive speech.
13. A method of providing tandem-free operation (TFO) communication between a first wireless terminal communicating through a first type of wireless interface and a second wireless terminal communicating through a second type of wireless interface, wherein the first type is different from the second type, the method comprising:
encoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a first speech coding format, speech data to be transmitted through a wireless channel; and
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a second speech coding format, speech data received through the wireless channel, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format,
wherein the speech encoding is encoding inactive speech in eighth-rate frames, and the speech decoding is decoding comfort noise based on at least one received silence descriptor (SID) frame.
14. A storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause said processor to configure a speech coder to perform steps of a method of providing tandem-free operation (TFO) communication between a first wireless terminal communicating through a first type of wireless interface and a second wireless terminal communicating through a second type of wireless interface, wherein the first type is different from the second type, the method comprising:
encoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a first speech coding format, speech data received through a wireless channel;
decoding, at the first wireless terminal, and in accordance with a second speech coding format, speech data received through the wireless channel, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format; and
disabling selected functions of at least one comfort noise coder at the first wireless terminal based on whether the first type of wireless interface is a DTX interface or a CTX interface.
15. An apparatus for providing tandem-free operation (TFO) communication between a first wireless terminal communicating through a first type of wireless interface and a second wireless terminal communicating through a second type of wireless interface, wherein the first type is different from the second type, the apparatus comprising:
means for encoding, at the first wireless terminal, wideband speech data through a wireless channel in accordance with a first speech coding format;
means for decoding, at the first wireless terminal, wideband speech data received through the wireless channel in accordance with a second speech coding format, wherein the first speech coding format is different from the second speech coding format, wherein wideband refers to voice frequencies above 4 kilohertz; and
means for encoding comfort noise frames in a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format and for decoding comfort noise frames received in a continuous transmission (CTX) format.
16. A speech coder comprising:
an active speech encoder configured to encode active speech data in accordance with a speech coding format;
an active speech decoder configured to decode active speech data in accordance with the speech coding format;
a first inactive speech encoder configured to encode inactive speech data in accordance with a continuous transmission (CTX) format;
a first inactive speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data in accordance with the CTX format;
a second inactive speech encoder configured to encode inactive speech data in accordance with a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format; and
a second inactive speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data in accordance with the DTX format.
17. A speech coder comprising:
a first inactive speech encoder configured to encode inactive speech data in accordance with a first format;
a first inactive speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data in accordance with the first format;
a second inactive speech encoder configured to encode inactive speech data in accordance with a second format; and
a second inactive speech decoder configured to decode inactive speech data in accordance with the second format.
18. The speech coder of claim 17 wherein the first format is a continuous transmission (CTX) format and the second format is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format.
19. The speech coder of claim 17 further comprising an active speech encoder configured to encode active speech data in accordance with a speech coding format.
20. The speech coder of claim 19 further comprising an active speech decoder configured to decode active speech data in accordance with the speech coding format.
21. The speech coder of claim 20 wherein the active speech encoder is a wideband active speech encoder, and wherein the active speech decoder is a wideband active speech decoder.
22. The speech coder of claim 21 wherein the first format is a discontinuous transmission (DTX) format and the second format is a continuous transmission (CTX) format.