METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPRESSION OF PACKETS DURING SILENCE PERIODS IN A PACKET TELEPHONY SYSTEM

摘要

A method and apparatus are disclosed for notifying a far-end calling partywhen anear-end calling party utilizes a hold or mute feature. The present inventionreducesbandwidth utilization by suppressing the transmission of packets duringperiods ofextended silence. Each packet telephony device includes a packet suppressionsystemthat monitors local terminal activity and notifies the far-end party that thenear-enddevice is discarding the "listen" stream. In addition, the disclosed packetsuppressionsystem monitors the incoming packets and processes such notifications from thefar-endparty that the far-end device is discarding the "listen" stream. In response,the packetsuppression system can suppress the transmission of further packets andoptionallyactivate a music-on-hold feature for the held party.