US5600649A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Digital simultaneous voice and data modem
Assignee: Multi Tech Systems Inc
•
Filing: 1995-09-14
•
Granted: 1997-02-04
•
Expires: 2015-09-14
Abstract
Abstract A personal communications system is described which includes components of software and hardware operating in conjunction with a personal computer. The user interface control software operates on a personal computer, preferably within the Microsoft Windows® environment. The software control system communicates with hardware components linked to the software through the personal computer serial communications port. The hardware components include telephone communication equipment, digital signal processors, and hardware to enable voice, fax and data communication with a remote site connected through a standard-telephone line. The functions of the hardware components are controlled by control software operating within the hardware component and from the software components operating within the personal computer. The major functions of the system are a telephone function, a voice mail function, a fax manager function, a multi-media mail function, a show and tell function, a terminal function and an address book function. The telephone function allows the present system to operate, from the users perspective, as a conventional telephone using either hands-free, headset or handset operation. The telephone function is more sophisticated than a standard telephone in that the present system converts the voice into a digital signal which can be processed with echo cancellation, compressed, stored as digital data for later retrieval and transmitted as digital voice data concurrent with the transfer of digital information data.
Inventors
- 👤 Raghu Sharma
- 👤 Jeffrey P. Davis
- 👤 Timothy D. Gunn
- 👤 Ping Li
- 👤 Sidhartha Maitra
- 👤 Ashish Thanawala
- 👤 Steve Young
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-29 20:35
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04N; H04N1/00; H04N1/00127; H04N1/00204; H04N1/00206; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/64; H04L12/6418; H04L27/00; H04L27/32; H04L27/34; H04L27/3405; H04L27/3416; H04L65/00; H04L65/1066; H04L65/1069; H04L65/60; H04L65/75; H04L65/762; H04L65/80; H04L69/00; H04L69/04; H04L9/00; H04L9/40; H04M; H04M1/00; H04M1/247; H04M1/2473; H04M1/2477; H04M1/253; H04M1/60; H04M1/6033; H04M1/66; H04M1/663; H04M11/00; H04M11/06; H04M11/064; H04M11/068; H04M3/00; H04M3/42; H04M3/436; H04M3/50; H04M3/53; H04M3/5307; H04M3/533; H04M3/56; H04M3/567; H04M7/00; H04M7/0024; H04M7/0027; H04M7/0057; H04M7/12; H04M7/1205; H04M7/1295; G; G10; G10L; G10L19/00; G10L19/04; H04L2012/6424; H04L2012/6427; H04L2012/6445; H04L2012/6459; H04L2012/6475; H04L2012/6481; H04L2012/6491; H04L2012/6494; H04L65/1101; H04M1/57; H04M1/64; H04M1/65; H04M1/6505; H04M2203/00; H04M2203/45; H04M2203/4509; H04M3/002; H04M7/006; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S379/00; Y10S379/908
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 12
Claim 1
Independent Claim
197 words
A method for communication of voice and data information, comprising the steps of: receiving local voice signals from a local user; conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user; converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data; converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals; compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data; decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data into the incoming digital voice data; packetizing the compressed outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets; placing headers on each of the compressed outgoing digital voice packets; depacketizing the compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the compressed incoming digital voice data; packetizing computer digital data into computer digital data packets; placing headers on each of the computer digital data packets; multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets with outgoing computer digital data packets to produce an outgoing packet stream; transmitting the outgoing packet stream; receiving multiplexed incoming data which contains incoming computer digital data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets; and demultiplexing the incoming computer digital data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets.
Claim 2
Independent Claim
197 words
A method for communication of voice and data information, comprising the steps of: receiving local voice signals from a local user; conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user; converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data; converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals; compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data; decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data into the incoming digital voice data; packetizing the compressed outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets; placing headers on each of the compressed outgoing digital voice packets; depacketizing the compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the compressed incoming digital voice data; packetizing computer digital data into computer digital data packets; placing headers on each of the computer digital data packets; multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets with outgoing computer digital data packets to produce an outgoing packet stream; transmitting the outgoing packet stream; receiving multiplexed incoming data which contains incoming computer digital data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets; and demultiplexing the incoming computer digital data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
69 words
The method according to claim 1 further including the steps of: detecting quiet periods in which below threshold local voice signals are received and producing therefrom a quiet signal; transmitting digital voice data packets and outgoing computer digital data packets when the quiet signal indicates a presence of local voice signals; and transmitting only computer digital data packets when the quiet signal indicates an absence of local voice signals.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
104 words
A method according to claim 2 wherein said detecting quiet periods step includes the steps of: determining a power of a at least a portion of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packet including a plurality of samples of the local voice signals as a function of the summation of the square of each sample over the portion of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packet; and comparing the power of the portion of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets to a preselected threshold to indicate whether the compressed outgoing digital voice data packet is a silent compressed outgoing digital voice data packet.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
128 words
The method according to claim 3 wherein the multiplexing and transmitting of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and outgoing computer digital data packets when the quiet signal indicates the presence of local voice signals, includes the steps of: collecting and buffering outgoing computer digital data packets; collecting compressed outgoing digital voice data including non-silent compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and silent compressed outgoing digital voice data packets; buffering non-silent compressed outgoing digital voice data packets; discarding silent compressed outgoing digital voice data packets; and transmitting non-silent compressed outgoing digital voice data packets on a priority basis with respect to outgoing computer digital data packets to ensure integrity of real time voice transmission by monitoring the buffering of the non-silent outgoing compressed digital voice data packets.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
48 words
The method according to claim 1 wherein the method further includes the steps of: detecting corrupted incoming computer digital data packets and requesting retransmission in response thereto; and detecting corrupted compressed incoming digital voice data packets and ignoring such corruption to preserve real time operation of voice transmission.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
319 words
A communication module for use with a personal computer, comprising: a communications interface connected to the personal computer and operable for receiving computer data from the personal computer; communication line interface connected to a communications line; voice interface means for receiving local voice signals from a local user and for conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user; conversion means connected to the voice interface means for converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data and for converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals; means connected to the conversion memos for compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and for decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the incoming digital voice data, each of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets having headers and each of the compressed incoming digital voice data packets having headers; means connected to the communication line interface, connected for receiving the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets from the means for compressing, connected for receiving computer data from the personal computer through the communications interface, operable for 1.) placing the computer data into computer data packets having headers; 2.) multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and the computer data packets to produce multiplexed outgoing data; 3.) sending the multiplexed outgoing data to the communication line interface for transmission over the communication line; 4.) receiving multiplexed incoming data from the communications line interface, the multiplexed incoming data containing incoming computer data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, 5.) demultiplexing the incoming computer data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, 6. ) removing the incoming computer data from the incoming computer data packets; 7.) sending the computer data to the personal computer through the communications interface; and 8.) sending the compressed incoming digital voice data packets to the means for compressing.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
319 words
A communication module for use with a personal computer, comprising: a communications interface connected to the personal computer and operable for receiving computer data from the personal computer; communication line interface connected to a communications line; voice interface means for receiving local voice signals from a local user and for conveying remote voice signals from a remote user to the local user; conversion means connected to the voice interface means for converting the local voice signals into outgoing digital voice data and for converting incoming digital voice data into the remote voice signals; means connected to the conversion memos for compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and for decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data packets into the incoming digital voice data, each of the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets having headers and each of the compressed incoming digital voice data packets having headers; means connected to the communication line interface, connected for receiving the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets from the means for compressing, connected for receiving computer data from the personal computer through the communications interface, operable for 1.) placing the computer data into computer data packets having headers; 2.) multiplexing the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and the computer data packets to produce multiplexed outgoing data; 3.) sending the multiplexed outgoing data to the communication line interface for transmission over the communication line; 4.) receiving multiplexed incoming data from the communications line interface, the multiplexed incoming data containing incoming computer data packets multiplexed with the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, 5.) demultiplexing the incoming computer data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets, 6. ) removing the incoming computer data from the incoming computer data packets; 7.) sending the computer data to the personal computer through the communications interface; and 8.) sending the compressed incoming digital voice data packets to the means for compressing.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
26 words
The communication module of claim 6 wherein the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and the computer data packets conform to the CCITT V.42 packet protocol.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
69 words
The communication module of claim 6 wherein the means connected for receiving computer data from the personal computer through the communications interface is further operable for entering a packet mode of communication on the communication interface between the communication module and the personal computer by receiving a break command on the communications interface from the personal computer to initiate the packet mode of communicating both control information and data.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
69 words
The communication module of claim 8 wherein the means connected for receiving computer data from the personal computer through the communications interface is further operable for receiving a qualified packet having a stream mode identifier; and switching the communications module from the packet mode of communicating both control information and data into stream mode of communicating data to allow the communication module to receive large amounts of asynchronous information.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
42 words
The communication module of claim 9 wherein the means connected for receiving computer data from the personal computer through the communications interface is further operable for receiving an escape command in stream mode to cause the communications module to enter command state.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US3304372A
Cited
US3789165A
Cited
US3904830A
Cited
US3997732A
Cited
US3973081A
Cited
US4107471A
Cited
US4100377A
Cited
US4284850A
Cited
US4205202A
Cited
US4354273A
Cited
US4445213A
Cited
US4403322A
Cited
US4377860A
Cited
US4479213A
Cited
US4425661A
Cited
US4476559A
Cited
US4500987A
Cited
US4495620A
Cited
US4479195A
Cited
US4534024A
Cited
US4609788A
Cited
US4652703A
Cited
US4587651A
Cited
US4524244A
Cited
US4578537A
Cited
US4670874A
Cited
US4598397A
Cited
US4546212A
Cited
US4660218A
Cited
US4593389A
Cited
US4757527A
Cited
US4707831A
Cited
US4629829A
Cited
US4751736A
Cited
US5005183A
Cited
US4866732A
Cited
US4750169A
Cited
US4751510A
Cited
US4718082A
Cited
US4807250A
Cited
USRE34034E
Cited
US4700341A
Cited
US4764955A
Cited
US4835765A
Cited
US4740963A
Cited
US4697281A
Cited
US4901333A
Cited
US4932048A
Cited
US4926448A
Cited
US5008926A
Cited
US4813040A
Cited
US4809271A
Cited
US4862449A
Cited
US4839802A
Cited
US5235595A
Cited
US4845746A
Cited
GB2210237B
Cited
US4972483A
Cited
US4972462A
Cited
US5008901A
Cited
US4827085A
Cited
US4995059A
Cited
US5025443A
Cited
US4942569A
Cited
US5490060A
Cited
US5046188A
Cited
US4965789A
Cited
US4890282A
Cited
US4887265A
Cited
US5177734A
Cited
US4847900A
Cited
US5195130A
Cited
US5014232A
Cited
US4991169A
Cited
US5121385A
Cited
US5153897A
Cited
US4953210A
Cited
US4905282A
Cited
US4912758A
Cited
US4890316A
Cited
US5001745A
Cited
US5107519A
Cited
US5406560A
Cited
US4998241A
Cited
US4914650A
Cited
US5065425A
Cited
US4935954A
Cited
US5081647A
Cited
US4972457A
Cited
US5020058A
Cited
US5208812A
Cited
US5228026A
Cited
US5208850A
Cited
US5132966A
Cited
US5138662A
Cited
US5036513A
Cited
US5261027A
Cited
US5086471A
Cited
US5062133A
Cited
US5151937A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2000-02-04 | 2000-08-05 | 2001-02-04 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2004-02-04 | 2004-08-05 | 2005-02-04 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2008-02-04 | 2008-08-05 | 2009-02-04 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |