Patent ID: 7911945

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a packet data serving node; and a packet control function, the packet data serving node comprising: a receiver configured to receive voice over internet protocol packets, wherein a portion of the voice over internet protocol packets encode background noise that occurs during speech and another portion of the voice over internet protocol packets encode speech; a header compressor configured to compress the headers of the voice over internet protocol packets; and a voice over internet protocol packet forwarder configured to forward the voice over internet protocol packets with compressed headers to the packet control function; the packet control function configured to receive voice over internet protocol packets from the packet data serving node; configured to identify which voice over internet protocol packets encode background noise and which voice over internet protocol packets encode speech; and configured to discard all the voice over internet protocol packets encoding background noise; and wherein the apparatus is configured to reduce downlink bandwidth requirements associated with a voice over internet protocol service by discarding the voice over internet protocol packets encoding background noise.