SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING SPECTRALLY EFFICIENT VOICE COMMUNICATION IN WIRELESS AND SATELLITE COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
A system and method for carrying Voice over LTE network (VoLTE) is described. The method includes: providing a dedicated channel between a user terminal and a gateway; associating the dedicated channel of a voice communication with a header context; receiving a packet comprising a voice payload of the voice communication over the dedicated channel, wherein the packet does not include the header context; selecting an associated header context based on the dedicated channel; generating a header based on the header context; and sending an IP standard packet comprising the header and the voice payload to a terrestrial network device. Another method receives a voice payload with a header and forwards the voice payload without the header over a dedicated channel associated with information in the header.
1 . A method comprising:
providing a dedicated channel between a user terminal and a gateway;
associating the dedicated channel of a voice communication with a header context;
receiving a packet comprising a voice payload of the voice communication over the dedicated channel, wherein the packet does not include the header context;
selecting an associated header context based on the dedicated channel;
generating a header based on the header context; and
sending an IP standard packet comprising the header and the voice payload to a terrestrial network device.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway comprises an enhanced Node-B (eNodeB), and the dedicated channel comprises an Over-The-Air (OTA) channel providing communication between the user terminal and the enhanced Node-B (eNodeB) via a satellite.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the gateway comprises a satellite gateway, and the dedicated channel comprises an Over-The-Air (OTA) channel providing communication between a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) and the satellite gateway via a satellite.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the generating the header comprises filling at least a portion of a Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP) header, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) header, or an Internet Protocol (IP) header.
5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the voice payload is an encoded data stream and the generating the header comprises filling at least a portion of an encoded data stream header.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the encoded data stream is encoded by an Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec, and the header includes an AMR header, an AMR auxiliary information, and AMR padding bits.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the voice payload is an encoded data stream and the generating the header comprises filling at least a portion of an encoded data stream header.
8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising implementing, during an active voice communication, one or more of a supplementary feature, a handover, a vocoder rate selection during handover, a vocoder rate selection during call waiting, a vocoder rate selection during three-way calling, a bearer rate change, or a combination thereof.
9 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising decrypting a portion of the header, the voice payload or a combination thereof, using a frame number associated with a frame comprising the packet.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the dedicated channel comprises a plurality of dedicated channels each associated with a vocoder rate, and the method further comprises changing the vocoder rate based on a condition of the dedicated channel during an active voice communication.
11 . A method comprising:
providing a dedicated channel between a user terminal and a gateway;
associating the dedicated channel of a voice communication with a header context;
receiving an IP standard packet comprising a header and a voice payload from a terrestrial network device;
selecting a selected dedicated channel from the dedicated channel based on an association between the header and the header context;
updating the header context based on the header; and
sending a packet comprising the voice payload over the selected dedicated channel, wherein the packet does not include the header.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the gateway comprises an enhanced Node-B (eNodeB), and the dedicated channel comprises an Over-The-Air (OTA) channel providing communication between the user terminal and the enhanced Node-B (eNodeB) via a satellite.
13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the gateway comprises a satellite gateway, and the dedicated channel comprises an Over-The-Air (OTA) channel providing communication between a Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) and the satellite gateway via a satellite.
14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising encrypting a portion of the header, the voice payload or a combination thereof, using a frame number associated with a frame comprising the packet.
15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the header context comprises a rate, the dedicated channel comprises a plurality of channels and the selecting comprises selecting an associated channel based on the rate.
16 . The method of claim 11 , wherein
the generating the header comprises filling at least a portion of a Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP) header, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) header, or an Internet Protocol (IP) header,
the voice payload is an encoded data stream encoded by an Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) codec, and
the generating the header comprises filling at least a portion of an AMR header, an AMR auxiliary information, and AMR padding bits.
17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising implementing, during an active voice communication, one or more of a supplementary feature, a handover, a vocoder rate selection during handover, a vocoder rate selection during call waiting, a vocoder rate selection during three-way calling, a bearer rate change, or a combination thereof.
18 . A system comprising:
a gateway; and
a dedicated channel for voice communication connected to the gateway;
wherein the gateway
associates the dedicated channel with a header context,
receives a packet comprising a voice payload of the voice communication over the dedicated channel, wherein the packet does not include the header context,
selects an associated header context based on the dedicated channel,
generates a header based on the header context, and
sends an IP standard packet comprising the header and the voice payload to a terrestrial network device.
19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the dedicated channel comprises a plurality of dedicated channels each associated with a vocoder rate, and the gateway changes the vocoder rate based on a condition of the dedicated channel.
20 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the gateway is configured to
the voice payload is an encoded data stream, and
the gateway is configured to fill the header with at least a portion of a Realtime Transport Protocol (RTP) header, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) header, an Internet Protocol (IP) header, or an encoded data stream header.
21 . A system comprising:
a gateway; and
a dedicated channel for voice communication connected to the gateway;
wherein the gateway
associates the dedicated channel with a header context,
receives an IP standard packet comprising a header and a voice payload from a terrestrial network device,
selects a selected dedicated channel from the dedicated channel based on an association between the header and the header context,
updates the header context based on the header, and
sends a packet comprising the voice payload of the voice communication over the selected dedicated channel, wherein the packet does not include the header.