Line-oriented key telephone system

Claim 2

A key telephone system comprising a plurality of station sets each including a plurality of key buttons, a plurality of lines, a station module for each of said station sets, each said station module including means for transferring data to and receiving data from its associated station set, a line module for each of said lines, each said line module including means for sequentially transmitting control information to and receiving control information from said station modules connected therewith, cross-point means for interconnecting the station module associated with a station set with those line modules associated with the lines to which that associated station set has access, and timing control means at each said line module for defining intervals for the transfer of particular types of information between said line modules and all of said station modules connected thereto.

Claim 3

A key telephone system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said cross-point means includes means defining direct connections between said station and line modules and means controlled by signals transmitted over said direct connections between said station and line modules for establishing a speech connection therebetween.

Claim 4

A key telephone system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said line module includes memory means for storing the state of the station sets associated with the station modules connected thereto.

Claim 5

A key telephone system in accordance with claim 3 wherein said timing control means is connected to said memory means to define an order of priority of the types of information received from said station modules connected thereto.

Claim 6

A key telephone system in accordance with claim 1 wherein said station module includes counter means for determining the line button to which said control information received from said line module pertains.

Claim 7

A key telephone system in accordance with claim 5 wherein said station module further includes a line button memory for associating a line connected to a line module and a particular button at the associated station set.

Claim 8

A line organized key telephone system comprising A plurality of lines each capable of exhibiting a plurality of distinct states including the idle, calling, ringing, and holding states, a plurality of telephone station sets capable of exhibiting said distinct states, a line module for each of said lines, a station module for each of said stations, a cross-point module for each line and station module which are to be interconnected, means for enabling in turn each of said line modules, means in each enabled one of said line modules for defining a first series of time slots each corresponding to one of said distinct states during which said line module may transmit information to each interconnected one of said station modules and a second series of time slots corresponding to said distinct states during which said line module may receive information from all said interconnected ones of said station modules, memory means at said enabled line module for storing an indication for each of said distinct states, and means at said enabled line module for according different levels of precedence to said distinct state information received from said station modules and for controlling said memory means to store only the highest precedence item when more than one level of said information is simultaneously received.

Claim 9

A line organized key telephone system comprising A plurality of lines each capable of exhibiting a plurality of distinct states including the idle, calling, ringing, and holding states, a plurality of telephone station sets capable of exhibiting said distinct states, a line module for each of said lines, a station module for each of said stations, a cross-point module for each line and station module which are to be interconnected, means for enabling in turn each of said line modules, means in each enabled one of said line modules for defining a first series of time slots each corresponding to one of said distinct states during which said line module may transmit information to each interconnected one of said station modules and a second series of time slots corresponding to said distinct states during which said line module may receive information from all said interconnected ones of said station modules, memory means at said enabled line module for storing an indication for each of said distinct states, and means at said enabled line module for according different levels of precedence to said distinct state information received from said station modules and for controlling said memory means to store only the highest precedence item when more than one level of said information is simultaneously received.

Claim 10

A line organized key telephone system according to claim 7 wherein said station modules each comprises: means for synchronously receiving said time slot information transmitted from each said line module, a plurality of output flip-flops each for storing an item of information for a respective button of an associated telephone station set, means for defining display clock signals, and means for selectively gating a bit of said time slot information from said receiving means to said flip-flop under control of said display clock means.

Claim 11

A line organized key telephone system according to claim 8 wherein said station modules further comprise means for counting each time a connected one of said line modules is enabled by said enabling means, and means controlled by said counting means for controlling said selective gating means to transfer said bit of information to a predetermined output flip-flop.