Digital space phone system

Claim 2

A television receiver having two-way telephone communication capability comprising: a talk channel and a listen channel coupled to a telephone line, said telephone line introducing substantial cross coupling between said channels; an A/D converter in each said channel for digitizing signals in said channels; a gain controlled amplifier in each said channel; and channel control means for selectively controlling the gains of said channel as a function of the difference in signal levels in said channels and for offsetting cross coupled signals in said channels, said channel control means including; differential means comparing the signal levels in the channels and developing an output as a function of the comparison; a switch control generator for adjusting the gains of the channels in accordance with the output of the differential means; and a variable gain amplifier, associated with each channel and having an output coupled to a respective input of the differential means and two inputs, one input being responsive to the signal level in the talk channel and another input being responsive to the signal level in the listen channel.

Claim 3

A television receiver as set forth in claim 1 wherein said switch control generator has a pair of outputs, each of which is connected to the gain-controlled amplifier in its associated channel and to the input of the variable gain amplifier in the other channel.

Claim 4

A television receiver as set forth in claim 2 wherein the signal level fed to the other channel is equal to A and the signal level fed to the gain-controlled amplifier in said associated channel is equal to (1-A).

Claim 5

A television receiver as set forth in claim 3 wherein the sensitivity of said talk channel is less than the sensitivity of said listen channel.

Claim 6

A television receiver as set forth in claim 4 further including: noise cancelling means in said talk channel, the input to said gain-controlled amplifier in said talk channel being taken from the input of said noise cancelling means and the input to its associated variable gain amplifier in said channel control means being taken from the output of said noise cancelling means.

Claim 7

A television receiver as set forth in claim 5 wherein said noise cancelling means has a long time constant to compensate for relatively constant background noise signals in said talk channel.

Claim 8

A television receiver having two-way telephone communication capability comprising: a talk channel having an output circuit, including a microphone responsive to sound adjacent to the television receiver, coupled to a telephone line; a listen channel having an output circuit coupled to said telephone line, and being connectable to the television audio system, said telephone line introducing substantial cross coupling between said channels; A/D converter means for digitizing output analog signals from said microphone and from said telephone line; a gain-controlled amplifier and a D/A converter in the output circuits of each said talk channel and said listen channel; and channel control means selectively controlling the gains of said gain-controlled amplifiers as a function of the digitized signal in said channels and for offsetting cross coupled signals in said channels, said channel control means including: differential means, having a pair of inputs each of which is connected to receiver signals in said talk channel and in said listen channel; a switch control generator for selectively adjusting the gains of said gain-controlled amplifiers in accordance with the output of said differential means; and a variable gain amplifier associated with each channel, and having an output coupled to the input of said differential means and two inputs, one input being responsive to signal levels in the talk channel and the other input being responsive to signal levels in the listen channel.

Claim 9

A television receiver having two-way telephone communication capability comprising: a talk channel having an output circuit, including a microphone responsive to sound adjacent to the television receiver, coupled to a telephone line; a listen channel having an output circuit coupled to said telephone line, and being connectable to the television audio system, said telephone line introducing substantial cross coupling between said channels; A/D converter means for digitizing output analog signals from said microphone and from said telephone line; a gain-controlled amplifier and a D/A converter in the output circuits of each said talk channel and said listen channel; and channel control means selectively controlling the gains of said gain-controlled amplifiers as a function of the digitized signal in said channels and for offsetting cross coupled signals in said channels, said channel control means including: differential means, having a pair of inputs each of which is connected to receiver signals in said talk channel and in said listen channel; a switch control generator for selectively adjusting the gains of said gain-controlled amplifiers in accordance with the output of said differential means; and a variable gain amplifier associated with each channel, and having an output coupled to the input of said differential means and two inputs, one input being responsive to signal levels in the talk channel and the other input being responsive to signal levels in the listen channel.

Claim 10

A television receiver as set forth in claim 7 further including: ring detector means responsive to a ringing signal from said telephone line; oscillator means coupled to said ring detector means for generating an audible signal in response thereto; and means supplying said audible signal to said audio system in said television receiver.

Claim 11

A television receiver as set forth in claim 8 further including: means for disabling said microphone for precluding sounds adjacent to said television receiver from being coupled into said talk channel.

Claim 12

A television receiver as set forth in claim 9 wherein said talk channel, said listen channel and said channel control means are microprocessor based.