Patent ID: 7103014

Claim:
A method of filling a dead gap between bursts of packets of data received across a computer network comprising the steps of: storing data samples from a selected one of the packets of a first burst in a buffer associated with a read pointer, the buffer having starting and ending boundaries; and during a dead gap between the first burst and a second burst, playing out the stored data from the buffer one sample at a time comprising the substeps of: retrieving a data sample from the buffer at a randomly selected initialized read pointer value; incrementing the read pointer value in a selected direction to retrieve next sample from the buffer; if the read pointer value has reached one of the starting and ending boundaries, incrementing a rebound count; if the rebound count has reached a selected value, incrementing the read pointer value in the selected direction to generate at least one subsequent sample until a random stop point is reached; and when the random stop is reached, resetting the rebound count and reversing the selected direction for subsequent read pointer increments.