Patent ID: 7170855

Claim:
A device comprising: a network interface for coupling to a network; a memory to store a plurality of packets received from the network through the network interface; and a processor coupled with the network interface and the memory, in which the processor is adapted to play out some of the stored packets; extract a comparative discardability code from a plurality of the stored packets responsive to a reduction in the size of the memory, where the comparative discardability code identifies a class of speech corresponding to voice data associated with the stored packets; identify at least one transition in the class of speech between multiple stored packets responsive to the comparative discardability codes; setting a discarding probability in accordance with the identified transition in the class of speech, where the discarding probability indicates a lower probability that at least one of the stored packets will be discarded; and delete at least one of the packets from the memory without playing it out according to the discarding probability.