Patent ID: 7877501

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a voice stream from a user, the voice stream comprising a plurality of temporally distinct segments; processing at least one selected first segment of the voice stream, wherein the processing step comprises the following substeps: determining whether or not the contents of the selected first segment are the product of voice activity and, when the contents are determined to be a product of voice activity, a level of confidence that the voice activity determination is accurate; determining a type of voice activity associated with the contents of the first segment; comparing the first segment with a second segment of the voice stream 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; converting at least the first segment into a packet; providing a receive buffer; receiving the packet into the receive buffer; determining a level of importance associated with the packet, wherein the level of importance is based on the processing of the first segment; and based on the level of importance associated with the packet, removing the packet from the receive buffer.