Infrastructure for enabling high quality real-time audio

• US 7,804,954 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Issued: 09/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Barkley, Warren Vincent, Pall, Gurdeep S., Zhong, Wei, Han, Mu
• Primary Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah; Melur
• Assistant Examiner(s): Laekemariam; Yosef K
• Application Number:
  US11/281,071
• Publication Number:
  US 20070116186A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 379/93.17, 379/102.02, 379/236, 379/399.02, 379/352, 379/102, 379/9.06, 370/236, 370/256, 370/352
• US Class Current: 379/399.02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0072 Speech codec negotiation H04L65/1069 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1225 Details of core network interconnection arrangements

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed that improve media communications. In one embodiment, a media server receives a media communication with a first quality from a personal computer with VoIP telephone capabilities. The media server translates the media (e.g., audio, visual, etc.) communication into a second quality, and forwards the media communication to a communication gateway. The translation to improve communications can also be done when receiving the media communication from the communication gateway for forwarding to the personal computer having VoIP telephone capability. In some embodiments, a media server sits in the communication channel between a personal computer with VoIP telephone capabilities and a communication gateway and is able to translate communications into codec protocols they each understand.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising:

a media server configured to be inserted into a communication path between at least one personal computer having VoIP capability and at least one communication gateway;

wherein the media server is configured to improve quality of audio data received in media communications from the personal computer having VoIP capability and quality of media communications received by the communication gateway; and

wherein the media server is to;

receive a first media communication comprising encoded audio data from the personal computer having VoIP capability,

decode the encoded audio data of the first media communication with a first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data,

determine a limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway based on a codec protocol requested by the communication gateway,

select a second audio codec that is different from the first audio codec from the limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway when the limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway does not include the first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data,

translate the audio data that has been decoded at the media server into higher quality audio data when the second audio codec that was selected from the limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway is of equal or lower quality than the first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data,

encode the higher quality audio data with the second audio codec, and

forward the encoded higher quality audio data to the communication gateway in a second media communication having a higher quality than the first communication.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first audio codec is an RTAudio codec.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the group of audio codecs based on the determined codec protocol includes one or more G.7XX codecs.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication gateway is one of a fixed communication gateway and a mobile communication gateway.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the communication gateway is a mobile communication gateway for at least one of a cellular network, a mesh network, a wireless metropolitan area network, and a wireless local area network.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the communication gateway is a fixed communication gateway for at least one of a public switched telephone network and a cable network.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the media server is to exchange information with the communication gateway to determine which particular audio codec from the group of audio codecs to use as the second audio codec.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the audio data decoded at the media server is translated into higher quality audio data using error absorption.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the media communication is at least one of an audible communication, a visual communication, and a multimedia communication.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the media server is to facilitate a three-way communication between devices used by a first person, a second person, and a third person, and wherein the first person participates in the three-way communication using the personal computer having VoIP capability.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the media server is to allow the second person to participate in the three-way communication using at least one of a wired telephone and a wireless telephone.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the media server is to allow participation in the three-way communication using instant messaging.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the media server is to traverse a firewall in a secure fashion to allow the second media communication to go through securely.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the first audio codec and the second audio codec are incompatible.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

decoding encoded audio data included in a first audio communication received from a personal computer having VoIP communication capabilities with a first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data;

selecting a second audio codec that is different from the first audio codec from a limited group of audio codecs supported by a telephone gateway when the limited group of audio codecs supported by the telephone gateway does not include the first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the audio data;

translating audio data that has been decoded into higher quality audio data when the second audio codec selected from the limited group of audio codecs supported by the telephone gateway is of equal or lower quality than the first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data;

encoding the higher quality audio data with the second audio codec;

forwarding the encoded higher quality audio data to the telephone gateway in a second audio communication having a higher quality than the first audio communication; and

if the second audio communication would be unable to reach an intended destination because of a firewall block, providing a feature to traverse the firewall in a secure fashion.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising computer-executable instructions for:

providing a feature to enable three-way communication between devices of three parties, with at least one of the three parties using the personal computer having VoIP communication capabilities.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein quality parameters are adjusted and one or more errors present in the first audio communication are absorbed during the translating of decoded audio data into higher quality audio data.

18. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at a media server, a first media communication comprising encoded audio data from a personal computer having VoIP telephone capabilities;

decoding, at the media server, the encoded audio data of the first media communication with a first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data;

determining a limited group of audio codecs supported by a communication gateway based on a codec protocol requested by the communication gateway;

selecting a second audio codec that is different from the first audio codec from the limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway when the limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway does not include the first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data;

adjusting the audio data that has been decoded at the media server to generate higher quality audio data when the second audio codec that was selected from the limited group of audio codecs is of equal or lower quality than the first audio codec that was used by the personal computer to generate the encoded audio data;

encoding the higher quality audio data with the second audio codec; and

forwarding, from the media server to the communication gateway, the encoded higher quality audio data in a second media communication having a higher quality than the first media communication.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the adjusting further comprises correcting for jitter.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

estimating available bandwidth for communications with the communication gateway, and

determining which codec of the limited group of audio codecs supported by the communication gateway would best suit the available bandwidth.