US Patent 9723130 Unified communications system and method

A unified communications system enables a user to simultaneously manage real time voice communication with background audio streams such as a music. In one embodiment, the system comprises a plurality of devices connected through a persistent voice over IP channel, where each device is playing background audio independently, and each device is operatively coupled to a microphone. When a connected user speaks, Voice Activity Detection results in the automatic adjustment of background audio on other connected devices, the adjustments based upon user-input settings on each device.