Digital voice enhancement

1. A method of transmitting digital voice information comprising the steps of:

encoding speech into encoded digital speech data;

marking the beginning and end of individual phonemes within the encoded digital speech data;

forming the encoded digital speech data into packets; and

transmitting the packets to a speech decoding mechanism.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the step of forming the encoded digital speech data into packets comprises forming the encoded digital speech data into packets such that no phoneme spans multiple packets.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the step of marking the beginning and end of individual phonemes within the encoded digital speech data comprises identifying individual phonemes using a phonetic speech recognition engine.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1 , further comprising the step of substituting alternative audio signals for lost packets.

5. The method in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the step of substituting alternative audio signals for lost packets comprises substituting silence for lost packets.

6. The method in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the step of substituting alternative audio signals for lost packets comprises substituting white noise for lost packets.

7. The method in accordance with claim 4 , wherein the step of substituting alternative audio signals for lost packets comprises the following:

providing an intelligent decoder capable of interpreting speech data and generating a likely audio signal for replacing lost packets;

feeding the encoded speech data into an intelligent decoder; and

substituting a likely audio signal for lost packets via the intelligent decoder.

8. A method of manipulating digital voice information comprising the steps of:

inputting raw speech into a phonetic detector;

actuating the phonetic detector to mark predetermined units of speech within the raw speech wherein actuating the phonetic detector to mark predetermined units of speech comprises marking the beginning and end of individual phonemes within the raw speech;

encoding the raw speech into encoded digital speech data while retaining the marked predetermined units of speech; and

forming the encoded digital speech data into packets.

9. The method in accordance with claim 8 , further comprising the step of transmitting the packets to a speech decoding mechanism.

10. The method in accordance with claim 9 , further comprising the steps of:

receiving the packets at a speech decoding mechanism; and

reassembling the packets into a predetermined sequence.

11. The method in accordance with claim 10 , further comprising the step of detecting missing packets in the predetermined sequence.

12. The method in accordance with claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:

providing an intelligent decoder capable of interpreting speech data and generating a likely audio signal for replacing lost packets;

feeding the reassembled packets into the intelligent decoder;

substituting a likely audio signal for lost packets via the intelligent decoder; and

feeding the reassembled packets and substituted audio signals into a speech generator.

13. The method in accordance with claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:

substituting silence for lost packets and

feeding the reassembled packets and substituted silence into a speech generator.

14. The method in accordance with claim 11 , further comprising the steps of:

substituting white noise for lost packets; and

feeding the reassembled packets and substituted white noise into a speech generator.

15. The method in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the step of substituting an alternative audio signal comprises the following:

providing an intelligent decoder capable of interpreting speech data and generating a likely audio signal for replacing missing packets;

feeding the reassembled packets into the intelligent decoder; and

substituting a likely audio signal for lost packets via the intelligent decoder.

16. The method in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the step of substituting an alternative audio signal comprises substituting silence for missing packets.

17. The method in accordance with claim 11 , wherein the step of substituting an alternative audio signal comprises substituting white noise for lost packets.

18. The method in accordance with claim 8 , wherein the step of marking the beginning and end of individual phonemes within the raw speech

comprises identifying individual phonemes using a phonetic speech recognition engine.

19. A method of transmitting digital voice information comprising the steps of:

inputting raw speech into a phonetic detector;

actuating the phonetic detector to mark individual phonemes within the raw speech;

encoding the raw speech into encoded digital speech data while retaining the marked phonemes;

forming the encoded digital speech data into packets;

transmitting the packets to a speech decoding mechanism;

reassembling the packets at the speech decoding mechanism;

detecting missing packets;

substituting an alternative audio signal for any missing packets; and

sending the reassembled packets and substituted audio signals into a speech generator; and

generating raw speech output at the speech generator.

20. A system for transmitting digital voice information comprising:

a speech encoder adapted and constructed to encode speech into encoded digital speech data;

a phonetic marker adapted and constructed to mark the beginning and end of individual phonemes within encoded digital speech data from the speech encoder;

a speech coder adapted and constructed to form the encoded digital speech data from the phonetic marker into packets; and

a transmission medium for transmitting the packets to a speech decoding mechanism.