Methods and apparatus for enhancing wireless data network telephony, including quality of service monitoring and control

Abstract

A system for wireless communication comprises an architecture of routers connected to a network and having connected transceivers for wireless transmission and reception of data, and a plurality of hand-held communicators adapted for users to communicate with the network through the routers. The system is adapted to provide wireless Data Network Telephony (DNT), and the hand-held communicators execute Quality of Service (QoS) code adapted to prioritize DNT packet code over all non-DNT traffic, thereby preserving the real-time nature of the DNT code.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A hand-held communication device, comprising:
 microphone and speaker apparatus including converters for rendering audio data as audible speech, and for rendering audible speech as audio data; 
 a communication interface comprising circuitry for receiving and sending the audio data on a wireless network as Data Network Telephony (DNT) packets; and 
 circuitry including a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) recognizing human speech as opposed to all other audio input and processing the recognized human speech audio data for DNT calls, the circuitry transmitting DNT data over the wireless network, enabling substantially only human speech to be prepared as DNT packets for transmission. 
 
     
     
       2. The hand-held communication device of  claim 1  wherein the device is implemented in the form of a cell phone. 
     
     
       3. The hand-held communication device of  claim 1  further comprising a noise cancellation microphone and speaker apparatus for creating a noise reduction zone in the region of a principle speech input microphone. 
     
     
       4. A hand-held communication device, comprising:
 communication circuitry configured to receive audio data and transmit the audio data over a wireless network as telephony data packets; and   a digital signal processor (DSP) configured to recognize only human speech in the audio data and process substantially only the recognized human speech into telephony data packets, the DSP being configured to transmit the telephony data packets over the wireless network for receipt by a recipient.   
     
     
       5. The hand-held communication device of claim 4, further comprising a speech system configured to render audio data as audible speech, and render audible speech as audio data. 
     
     
       6. The hand-held communication device of claim 5, wherein the speech system comprises a noise cancellation system configured to reduce background noise. 
     
     
       7. The hand-held communication device of claim 4, wherein the DSP includes a DSP chip. 
     
     
       8. The hand-held communication device of claim 4, wherein the DSP includes a central processing unit configured to perform DSP tasks. 
     
     
       9. The hand-held communication device of claim 4, wherein the device is a cell phone. 
     
     
       10. The hand-held communication device of claim 4, further comprising:
 a microphone; and   a noise cancellation apparatus for creating a noise reduction zone in a region of the microphone.   
     
     
       11. A hand-held communication device, comprising:
 a communication interface comprising circuitry for receiving and sending the audio data on a wireless network as Data Network Telephony (DNT) packets; and   circuitry including a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) recognizing human speech as opposed to all other audio input and processing the recognized human speech audio data for DNT calls, the circuitry transmitting DNT data over the wireless network, enabling substantially only human speech to be prepared as DNT packets for transmission.