System and method for speaker-phone operation in a communications device

摘要

The invention provides a cellular telephone or other communications device with intelligence to manage speakerphone operation to more nearly approximate normal conversation, even when using a one-way only transmission mode. The microphone path and speaker path may be continuously monitored using dual voice activity detectors to assess the energy and other characteristics of each channel, and switch between one or the other depending on dynamic criteria. In noisy environments, a hangtime may be applied before permitting switching to avoid premature dropouts. Other criteria used to trigger the seizure of the channel may be adjusted, such as to eliminate a lower threshold below which the speaker path switches out automatically.