Patent ID: 7796583

Claim:
A cable modem for use with Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications, comprising: a central processing unit (CPU) for: receiving a plurality of digital information packets including management packets, non-voice data packets and voice packets; and sorting the management packets, the non-voice data packets, and the voice packets into a corresponding management packets buffer pool, a non-voice data packets buffer pool, and a voice packets buffer pool, the management packets buffer pool, the non-voice data packets buffer pool, and the voice packets buffer pool being separate from each other; a logic circuit, the logic circuit receiving the voice packets from the voice packets buffer pool and modifying only the voice packets to include stripping off protocol information; and a digital signal processor (DSP) interfaced with said CPU via a communications bus, the DSP processing the modified voice packets received by the CPU prior to processing management packets and non-voice data packets; the logic circuit relaying the modified voice packets directly from the CPU to the DSP via the communications bus.