EP0309627B1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Apparatus for connecting data processing equipment to a telephone network
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
•
Filing: 1987-09-30
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Granted: 1993-06-16
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Expires: 2007-09-30
Abstract
No abstract record available.
Inventors
- 👤 John Dennis Hartley
- 👤 Mark Germain
- 👤 Brian Douglas Key
- 👤 Ray Jepson
- 👤 Victor Gerald Golding
- 👤 Steven Cook
- 👤 Paul David Maddison
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-27 05:32
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04M; H04M11/00; H04M11/06; H04L; H04L27/00; H04L27/10; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S379/00; Y10S379/912
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
120 words
Apparatus for connecting data processing equipment (1) to a communication network (2) including circuits for transmitting and/or receiving signals between the data processing equipment and the communications network and a digital processing means (23) for controlling the operation of said transmitting/receiving circuits in accordance with control code stored in a control store (24), said apparatus including common hardware for a range of different network standards, and means (4) for coupling the equipment to the network, and characterised in that said coupling means (4) contains an identifier for identifying which network is to be connected to the equipment, and in that said apparatus is configured to the standard of a particular network when the coupling means is connected to the apparatus.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
45 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 1, including control logic (25) adapted to read an identifier code indicative of a particular standard from said coupling means (4) and to enable said digital processing means to operate in accordance with control code associated with the identified standard.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus as claimed in either preceding claim in which the control code contained in said store has a standard identifier associated therewith (27), operation of the apparatus only being enabled when the identifier (27) associated with the control code matches the identifier contained in the coupling means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claims, in which means is provided for loading control code unique to a particular standard into said control store (24) in accordance with the standard identified by the identifier contained within a particular coupler connected to the apparatus.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
27 words
Apparatus as claimed in claim 4, in which the control code is loaded into the apparatus from a magnetic diskette (27) in accordance with the standard identifier.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
50 words
Apparatus as claimed in any of claims 1 to 3, in which the control store contains control code for a plurality of standards, said processing means being enabled to access only those sections of the control store containing control code to be used with the standard identified by the identifier.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
59 words
Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim for connecting data processing equipment to a telephone network (2), in the form of a modem (3) provided with digital to analogue and analogue to digital converting circuits, which circuits are enabled only when a country identifier code read from the coupling means (4) matches a country identifier stored within the modem.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
67 words
A coupler (4) for connecting data processing equipment (1) to a communications network (2), comprising a plug (5) for connecting the coupler to a standard communications socket (6) and a connector for attaching the coupler to the data processing equipment, characterised in that the coupler (4) includes a standard identifier code corresponding to the communications socket (6) for configuring the equipment to comply with that particular standard.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
30 words
A coupler as claimed in claim 8, in which the coupler further includes electrical components uniquely required for the equipment to meet the telephone standard associated with the attached plug.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
22 words
A coupler as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9, in which the standard identifier code is stored as a digital number.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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