Symmetrical codec selection in an asymmetrical codec environment

A codec selector comprising:

• means for initiating a request for a locally-requested codec, from a set of codecs supported by a remote peer, prior to the codec selector receiving a request from the remote peer for a remotely-requested codec;
• means for detecting conflicts between locally-requested and remotely-requested codecs;
• and
• means for synchronizing a locally-requested codec with a remotely-requested codec in response to the means for detecting conflicts, the means for synchronizing operating to close a current locally-requested codec and request a different codec that does not conflict with the remotely-requested codec.

A codec selector comprising:

• means for detecting conflicts between locally-requested and remotely-requested codecs;
• means for synchronizing a locally-requested codec with a remotely-requested codec in response to a detected conflict detected by the means for detecting conflicts, the means for synchronizing operating to close an existing locally-requested codec and request a different codec that does not conflict with the remotely-requested codec;
• and
• ping-pong detecting means, at a local endpoint, for detecting that a remote endpoint is operating a codec synchronizer.

A media gateway comprising:

• a plurality of receive codecs and a plurality of transmit codecs;
• a codec synchronizer that initiates a request for a first transmit codec, from a set of codecs supported by a remote endpoint, prior to the media gateway receiving a request from the remote endpoint for a receive codec;
• and
• a codec conflict detector enabled to indicate, after receiving a request from the remote endpoint for a receive codec, that a second transmit codec is a better match for the receive codec than the first transmit codec;
• the codec synchronizer responding to an indication from the codec conflict detector by closing the requested transmit codec and requesting the second transmit codec.

A computer-readable media containing computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of establishing media channels between a local packet-switched endpoint and a remote packet-switched endpoint, the method comprising:

• receiving a remote capability set from the remote endpoint;
• selecting a local media format appearing in both the remote capability set and a local capability set;
• requesting a first transmit channel, in the local media format, with the remote endpoint;
• detecting a remote media format of a remote transmit channel opened by the remote endpoint;
• detecting potential conflicts between the first transmit channel local media format and the remote transmit channel remote media format;
• and
• when a potential conflict is detected, closing the first transmit channel and requesting a second transmit channel in a media format that does not conflict with the remote transmit channel remote media format.