Patent ID: 7359979

Claim:
A method for processing voice communications over a data network, comprising: (a) receiving a voice stream from a user, the voice stream comprising a plurality of temporally distinct segments; and (b) processing at least first, second and third segments of the voice stream according to the following substeps: (i) selecting the first segment, wherein the contents of the selected first segment are not product of voice activity; (ii) determining that the contents of the selected first segment are not the product of voice activity; (iii) determining a level of confidence that the voice activity determination for the selected first segment is accurate; (iv) when the level of confidence is one of less than and greater than a predetermined threshold, not transmitting the selected first segment to a selected endpoint; (v) selecting the second segment, wherein the contents of the selected second segment are the product of voice activity and wherein the second and third segments are temporally adjacent to one another; (vi) determining that the contents of the selected segment are the product of voice activity; (vii) comparing the selected second segment with the third segment to determine a degree of acoustic similarity between the second and third segments; and (viii) when the selected second segment is similar to the third segment, at least one of not transmitting the selected second segment to the selected endpoint and dropping the second segment during transmission.