Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7272552?dq=6,563,928
Timestamp: 2014-07-31 06:11:22
Document Index: 297944229

Matched Legal Cases: ['arty 102', 'arty 104', 'arty 102', 'arty 104', 'arty 102', 'arty 104']

Patent US7272552 - Voice activity detection and silence suppression in a packet network - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign in<nobr>Advanced Patent Search</nobr>PatentsThe present invention is a system and method that improves upon voice activity detection by packetizing actual noise signals, typically background noise. In accordance with the present invention an access network receives an input voice signal (including noise) and converts the input voice signal into...http://www.google.com/patents/US7272552?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7272552 - Voice activity detection and silence suppression in a packet networkAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS7272552 B1Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 10/330,957Publication dateSep 18, 2007Filing dateDec 27, 2002Priority dateDec 27, 2002Fee statusPaidAlso published asUS7664646, US8112273, US20100106491Publication number10330957, 330957, US 7272552 B1, US 7272552B1, US-B1-7272552, US7272552 B1, US7272552B1InventorsJames H James, Joshua Hal RosenbluthOriginal AssigneeAt&T Corp.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (8), Non-Patent Citations (2), Referenced by (6), Classifications (14), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetVoice activity detection and silence suppression in a packet networkUS 7272552 B1Abstract The present invention is a system and method that improves upon voice activity detection by packetizing actual noise signals, typically background noise. In accordance with the present invention an access network receives an input voice signal (including noise) and converts the input voice signal into a packetized voice signal. The packetized voice signal is transmitted via a network to an egress network. The egress network receives the packetized voice signal, converts the packetized voice signal into an output voice signal, and outputs the output voice signal. The egress network also extracts and stores noise packets from the received packetized voice signal and converts the packetized noise signal into an output noise signal. When the access network ceases to receive the input voice signal while the call is still ongoing, the access network instructs the egress network to continually output the output noise signal.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of the following co-pending application: System and Method for Improved Us of Voice Activity Detection, Ser. No. 10/331,013, filed on Dec. 27, 2002.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to telecommunications. More particularly, this invention relates to the improved use of voice activity detection/silence suppression technology.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Network provides, like AT&T, are continually working to improve network efficiency. Consider a typical transmission from a calling party to called party in which noise signals, accompanied by noise, are transmitted. The noise component considered in this application is primarily the background noise of the speaking party. During this typical transmission there are periods of time when the calling party is not speaking but the background noise is still present. Even though no voice signal is being transmitted, the network is still committing the same amount of resources, and transmitting solely the noise signal. Conventional technology has made the network more efficient by reducing the amount of resources allocated to such a transmission during periods of �silence,� i.e., when only a noise signal is present, so that the bandwidth can be used for other transmissions.
Conventional technology detects a voice signal in a transmission. This technology, referred to as voice activity detection (VAD) or silence suppression (SS), determines whether an input signal is primarily a voice signal or a noise signal based on one or more parameters. This decision may be based on the current frame as well as a few of the preceding frames, to ensure that there is a significant break in the input voice signal. When the VAD/SS technology determines that no input voice signal is being transmitted, i.e., that just noise is present, instead of using a suitable amount of bandwidth for the particular transmission, the VAD/SS technology informs the receiving end that no signal is going to be transmitted. The VAD/SS technology sends one or more bits, referred to as silence insertion descriptors, that are noise characteristics. The VAD/SS technology, instead of transmitting the noise, or the �lack of voice� over the bandwidth, allocated the bandwidth to another use. At the receiving end, the silence insertion descriptors are converted into a representation of the background noise, also known as comfort noise, representation and transmitted to the called party.
Although there is bandwidth savings with this technology, suppressing silence in a transmission has another associated characteristic. Suppressing the silence �degrades� the quality of the connection. The parties participating in the transmission become familiar with each voice and the associated background noise. During periods of silence when the silence suppression system either transmits no signal or silence insertion descriptors, the parties will hear a difference in background noise, i.e., either no noise at all or a slightly different background noise. Noise pumping refers to the different sounds created when switching between the presence of noise and absence of noise. Noise contrast refers to the different sounds created when switching between the presence of actual noise and the presence of comfort noise. As noted above, the comfort noise results when the silence insertion descriptors are converted into a noise signal, and this noise is generally not identical to the actual noise. Both the noise pumping and the noise contrast yield audible distinctions that are apparent and undesirable to the parties.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION FIG. 1 represents a telephone system 100 connecting a calling party 102 and a called party 104. Calling party 102 places a telephone call to called party 104 by dialing a number as is well known in the art. The present invention is applicable for voice transmissions of a variety of different formats besides the traditional analog format, including Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Voice over Frame, Voice over ATM and the like. Once the connection is complete, if appropriate given the particular telephone system, the voice signal from calling party 102 is packetized by access network or gateway 106. The voice signal, in its packetized version, is transmitted through network 110 and is received at egress network or gateway 108. Within egress network 108, the voice signal is converted from a packetized signal into a voice signal. The voice signal is then transmitted to its termination point, called party 104.
Patent CitationsCited PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS5897613Oct 8, 1997Apr 27, 1999Lucent Technologies Inc.Efficient transmission of voice silence intervalsUS6243366 *Jun 20, 1997Jun 5, 2001At&T Corp.Method and apparatus for providing interactive two-way communications using a single one-way channel in satellite systemsUS6360265Jul 8, 1998Mar 19, 2002Lucent Technologies Inc.Arrangement of delivering internet protocol datagrams for multimedia services to the same serverUS6526140 *Nov 3, 2000Feb 25, 2003Tellabs Operations, Inc.Consolidated voice activity detection and noise estimationUS6643617May 22, 2000Nov 4, 2003Zarlink Semiconductor Inc.Method to generate telephone comfort noise during silence in a packetized voice communication systemUS20020006137May 8, 2001Jan 17, 2002Rabenko Theodore F.System and method for supporting multiple voice channelsUS20030055627 *May 10, 2002Mar 20, 2003Balan Radu VictorMulti-channel speech enhancement system and method based on psychoacoustic masking effectsUS20060069551 *Sep 16, 2004Mar 30, 2006At&T CorporationOperating method for voice activity detection/silence suppression system* Cited by examinerNon-Patent CitationsReference1"A Silence Compression Scheme For G.729 Optimized For Terminals Conforming To Recommendation V.70," Series G: Transmission Systems And Media, Digital Transmission Systems-Terminal Equipments-Coding Of Analogue Signals By Methods Other Than PCM, Coding Of Speech At 8 kbit/s Using Congugate Structure Algebraic-Code-Excited Linear-Prediction (CS-ACELP), ITU-T Recommendation G.729-Annex B, Nov. 1996.2"Carrier Grade Voice Over IP," by Daniel Collins, McGraw-Hill, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., 2001.Referenced byCiting PatentFiling datePublication dateApplicantTitleUS7463652 *Jun 21, 2003Dec 9, 2008Avaya, Inc.System and method for notification of internet users about faults detected on an IP networkUS7664646 *Jul 5, 2007Feb 16, 2010At&T Intellectual Property Ii, L.P.Voice activity detection and silence suppression in a packet networkUS7917356 *Sep 16, 2004Mar 29, 2011At&T CorporationOperating method for voice activity detection/silence suppression systemUS8112273 *Dec 28, 2009Feb 7, 2012At&T Intellectual Property Ii, L.P.Voice activity detection and silence suppression in a packet networkUS8391313Dec 28, 2009Mar 5, 2013At&T Intellectual Property Ii, L.P.System and method for improved use of voice activity detectionUS8705455Mar 1, 2013Apr 22, 2014At&T Intellectual Property Ii, L.P.System and method for improved use of voice activity detection* Cited by examinerClassifications U.S. Classification704/215, 704/210International ClassificationG10L21/02Cooperative ClassificationH04L65/1059, H04L65/80, G10L19/012, G10L25/78, G10L19/167, H04J3/17European ClassificationG10L19/012, G10L19/167, G10L25/78, H04L29/06M2N7, H04L29/06M8Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionFeb 18, 2011FPAYFee paymentYear of fee payment: 4Apr 21, 2003ASAssignmentOwner name: AT&T CORP., NEW YORKFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:JAMES, JAMES H;ROSENBLUTH, JOSHUA HAL;REEL/FRAME:013983/0991Effective date: 20030324RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google