Patent ID: 7406096

Claim:
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.