Patent ID: 7710982

Claim:
A reproducing method for receiving a stream of sent audio packets containing an audio code generated by encoding an input audio data stream frame by frame and reproducing an audio signal, comprising: (a) storing received packets in a receiving buffer; (b) detecting, in a control part, a largest delay jitter and a number of buffered packets, the largest jitter being any of a largest value or statistical value of jitter obtained by observing arrival jitter of the received packets over a predetermined period of time and the number of buffered packets being a number of packets stored in the receiving buffer; (c) obtaining, in a control part and based on the largest delay jitter, an optimum number of buffered packets by using a predetermined relation between the largest delay jitter and the optimum number of buffered packets, the optimum number of buffered packets being an optimum number of packets to be stored in the receiving buffer; (d) determining, in the control part, on a scale of a plurality of levels, a difference between the detected number of buffered packets and the optimum number of buffered packets; (e) retrieving, by the control part, a packet corresponding to a current frame from the receiving buffer and decoding an audio code in the packet to obtain a decoded audio data stream in the current frame; and (f) performing, in a consumption adjusting part, any of expansion, reduction, and preservation of a waveform of the decoded audio data stream in accordance with a rule to make the number of buffered packets close to the optimum number of buffered packets, the rule being established for each level of the difference, and outputting a result as audio data of the current frame, wherein step (f) includes obtaining a pitch length of the decoded audio data stream, analyzing the audio data stream to determine whether the audio data stream is in a voice segment or a non-voice segment, and performing any of expansion, reduction, and preservation by inserting or removing a waveform corresponding to the pitch length in the decoded audio string or by not changing the decoded audio signal string, on the basis of a result of the determination of voice/non-voice segment and a result of the determination of the difference.