Abstract: One aspect of the invention relates to a method and embodiment for decoding a sequence of frames in a communication system having a predetermined decoding time constraint per frame. The first frame of a sequence of frames is decoded for a time period longer than the predetermined time constraint, and at least one other frame of the sequence of frames is decoded in a time period less than the predetermined time constraint. Thus, an average decoding time of all decoded frames is less than or equal to the predetermined time constraint.