Patent ID: 7706313

Claim:
A method, comprising: determining in a communications device a maximum length of a silent period that is longer than predetermined regular intervals between upper-level scheduled silence-breaking transmissions transmitted over a telecommunications connection by a service that involves transmitting upper-level scheduled silence-breaking transmissions, and at a layer of a protocol stack governing communication over said telecommunication connection, observing the occurrence of silent periods and transmitting a dummy block over the telecommunication connection when the length of an observed silent period reaches said maximum length without an upper-level scheduled silence-breaking transmission or payload data having been transmitted, wherein said layer is lower in said protocol stack than layers that produce said upper-level scheduled silence-breaking transmissions, wherein said determining a maximum length of a silent period comprises: classifying the telecommunication connection according to channel type and interleaving type in said communications device, and determining the maximum length of a silent period according to the classification of the telecommunication connection.