System and Method for Improved Use of Voice Activity Detection

• US 20100100375A1
• Filed: 12/28/2009
• Published: 04/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cerence Operating Company (Cerence Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: James, James H., Rosenbluth, Joshua Hal
• Granted Patent: US 8,391,313 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/226
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/012 Comfort noise or silence coding
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 21/0272 Voice signal separating
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1026 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1036 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols

Abstract

The present invention is a system and method for packetizing actual noise signals, typically background noise, received by an access gateway from a speaking party and transmitting these packetized noise signals via a network to an egress gateway. The egress gateway converts the packetized noise signal into noise signals suitable for output and transmits the output noise signals to a listening party. When the access gateway detects that no voice signal is being received and only a noise signal is being received for a predetermined period of time, the access gateway instructs the egress network to continually transmit output noise signals to the listening party and ceases to transmit packetized noise signals to the egress gateway.

Claims

1. A system for communicating data signals and having an access silence suppressor and an egress silence suppressor, the system comprising:

an access gateway that receives and converts an input voice signal into a packetized voice signal and receives and converts an input noise signal into a packetized noise signal; and

an egress gateway that receives and converts the packetized voice signal into an output voice signal and receives and converts the packetized noise signal into an output noise signal,

wherein after the access gateway ceases to receive the input voice signal, the access gateway ceases to transmit the packetized noise signal through the network and instructs the egress gateway to output the output noise signal.