The present invention is directed to audio processing including IP
telephony audio processing. Voice-over-IP terminals used in phone
terminal applications benefit from a low-power implementation suitable
for the limited chassis area of these devices. According to an example
embodiment of the present invention, a programmable audio processor chip
is adapted to process voice data for IP communications. The chip includes
a DSP voice compression device adapted to compress voice data, and audio
processing circuitry programmed with an audio processing software
application adapted to process the compressed voice data. The chip
further includes an IP network stack adapted to store and process IP
data. The IP data includes protocols for processing the compressed voice
data via an IP network. A communication stack is also included in the
chip and is adapted to store and process communications data. The
communications data includes audio processing protocols for processing
the compressed voice data. In a more particular example implementation,
the chip is used in a complete IP phone system for processing data
ranging from audio samples to compressed TCP/IP packetized network
signals, and is implemented with 2 Mbits of on-chip RAM. In this manner,
voice and data networks are effectively fused in a way that facilitates
user control for the integration of applications including computer
telephony applications.