Patent ID: 8370515

Claim:
A method for processing voice communications over a data network, comprising: receiving a voice stream from a first user, the voice stream comprising a plurality of temporally distinct segments associated with a plurality of packets and the voice stream being a part of a session between at least the first user and a second user, wherein the session has an associated at least one of a jitter value, a latency value, a number of missing packets, a number of packets received out-of-order, a processing delay, a propagation delay, a receive buffer delay, and a number of packets enqueued in a receive buffer and comparing the at least one of a jitter value, a latency value, a number of missing packets, a number of packets received out-of-order, a processing delay, a propagation delay, a receive buffer delay, and a number of packets enqueued in a receive buffer with a predetermined threshold; (i) when the at least one of a jitter value, a latency value, a number of missing packets, a number of packets received out-of-order, a processing delay, a propagation delay, a receive buffer delay, and a number of packets enqueued in a receive buffer exceeds the predetermined threshold, not transmitting at least some of the plurality of packets and (ii) when the at least one of a jitter value, a latency value, a number of missing packets, a number of packets received out-of-order, a processing delay, a propagation delay, a receive buffer delay, and a number of packets enqueued in a receive buffer is less than the predetermined threshold, transmitting the at least some of the plurality of packets; and further comprising at least one of the following steps: determining whether or not the contents of a selected first segment of the plurality of temporally distinct segments of the voice stream are the product of voice activity and, when the contents are determined not to be the product of voice activity, indicate a level of confidence that the voice activity determination is accurate; and comparing the selected first segment with a second segment of the plurality of temporally distinct segments to determine a degree of acoustic similarity between the first and second segments, wherein the processing of the first segment is based on at least one of the level of confidence, the type of voice activity, and the degree of acoustic similarity.