Patent ID: 7839837

Claim:
An asynchronous speech data communication system comprising: a hands-free speech communication terminal operable to generate speech; an audio-visual navigation system configured to communicate with the hands-free speech communication terminal; an asynchronous wireless local area network (LAN) operatively coupled between the speech communication terminal and the audio-visual navigation system; the wireless LAN including a wireless access point configured to facilitate communication between the speech communication terminal and the audio-visual navigation system; the audio-visual navigation system including a communication control processor configured to enable asynchronous data communication between the speech communication terminal and other electronic devices; a speech detection processor configured to detect the generation of speech by the speech communication terminal by determining if a header contained in communication frames transmitted or received by the access point indicates a source address or a destination address corresponding to the communication terminal; wherein if the speech detection processor does not detect the generation of speech, the communication control processor is configured to direct a polling frequency of the speech communication terminal to be equal to the polling frequency of the other electronic devices and to set a maximum packet size value for packets on the wireless LAN to a first value; and wherein if the speech detection processor detects the generation of speech, the communication control processor is configured to direct polling of the speech communication terminal at an increased polling frequency relative to the polling frequency of the other electronic devices to provide a higher priority to the speech communication terminal relative to that of the other electronic devices and is further configured to set the maximum packet size value to a second value where the second value is less than the first value.