An Incremental Adaptive Quantizer: A Novel Quantization Scheme

Adaptive quantizers for PCM and DPCM coding of speech have been of great interest, and several excellent quantization strategies have evolved [1], [2]. In this paper we propose another algorithm for the step-size change in a quantizer. In the present strategy the quantizer is always a linear one except for the fact that the step size can be changed by a fixed amount at each sampling instant. This fixed value is also the minimum allowed step size. Hence, we have the name incremental adaptive quantizer. The quantizer has been simulated on a computer and its performance has been compared with that of Jayant's adaptive quantizer (JAQ), both in PCM and DPCM coders. The figure of merit used in the comparison is the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with a correlated sequence as the input. The preliminary results indicate that the new design can perform very well. However, it has the drawback of not being able to respond to very fast changes in the input. It can be easily realized in an integrated form using ROM's.