Method for retransmitting vocoded data

A method of operating a vocoder system, the method comprising:

• receiving a combined speech packet at a receiving communication device, wherein the combined speech packet comprises a current speech packet and a replacement speech packet and wherein the replacement speech packet is formed by stripping speech parameters from a first speech packet, generating replacement speech parameters using the stripped speech parameters from the first speech packet and the speech parameters from a preceding speech packet, and applying the generated speech parameters to the replacement speech packet;
• stripping the replacement speech packet from the combined speech packet;
• stripping the current speech packet from the combined speech packet;
• placing the current speech packet in a receiver buffer;
• sequencing the stripped replacement speech packet in sequential position with speech packets leaving the receiver buffer;
• sending the sequenced replacement speech packet to a speech decoder;
• and
• decoding the sequenced replacement speech packet.

A method for forming a combined packet, the method comprising:

• encoding a current speech segment at a substantially half rate;
• retrieving a first speech packet;
• compressing the first speech packet to a substantially half rate;
• and
• combining the encoded current speech segment and the compressed first speech packet to form a full rate replacement packet.

A computer usable medium storing a computer program for operating a vocoder system comprising:

• computer readable code for receiving a first negative acknowledgement from a receiving communication device indicative of a corrupted first speech packet transmission;
• computer readable code for retrieving a first speech packet associated with the first negative acknowledgement;
• computer readable code for compressing the first speech packet to form a replacement speech packet;
• computer readable code for encoding a current segment of speech responsive to the first negative acknowledgement to form a current speech packet;
• computer readable code for combining the current speech packet with the replacement speech packet to form a combined speech packet;
• and
• computer readable code for transmitting the combined speech packet.

A computer usable medium storing a computer program for operating a vocoder system comprising:

• computer readable code for receiving a combined speech packet at a receiving communication device, wherein the combined speech packet comprises a current speech packet and a replacement speech packet;
• computer readable code for stripping the replacement speech packet from the combined speech packet;
• computer readable code for stripping the current speech packet from the combined speech packet;
• computer readable code for placing the current speech packet in a receiver buffer;
• computer readable code for sequencing the stripped replacement speech packet in sequential position with speech packets leaving the receiver buffer;
• computer readable code for sending the sequenced replacement speech packet to a speech decoder;
• and
• computer readable code for decoding the sequenced replacement speech packet.

A computer usable medium storing a computer program for forming a combined packet comprising:

• computer readable code for encoding a current speech segment at a substantially half rate;
• computer readable code for retrieving a first speech packet;
• computer readable code for compressing the first speech packet to a substantially half rate;
• and
• computer readable code for combining the encoded current speech segment and the compressed first speech packet to form a full rate combined packet.