US5764627A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method and apparatus for a hands-free speaker phone
Assignee: Multi Tech Systems Inc
•
Filing: 1996-04-23
•
Granted: 1998-06-09
•
Expires: 2016-04-23
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
2026-11-08 21:32
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: 17
Claim 1
Independent Claim
122 words
A communication system, comprising: a hands-free speaker phone operable for receiving local analog voice signals with a microphone and for playing remote analog voice signals though a speaker; codec means connected to the hands free speaker phone for digitizing the local analog voice signals to produce local digital voice signals and for decoding remote digital voice signals to produce the remote analog voice signals; means for placing the local digital voice signals into outgoing packets having headers and for removing the remote digital voice signals from incoming packets having headers; and a modem connected to a telephone line for receiving the incoming packets from a remote site and for sending the outgoing packets to the remote site in full duplex communication mode.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
122 words
A communication system, comprising: a hands-free speaker phone operable for receiving local analog voice signals with a microphone and for playing remote analog voice signals though a speaker; codec means connected to the hands free speaker phone for digitizing the local analog voice signals to produce local digital voice signals and for decoding remote digital voice signals to produce the remote analog voice signals; means for placing the local digital voice signals into outgoing packets having headers and for removing the remote digital voice signals from incoming packets having headers; and a modem connected to a telephone line for receiving the incoming packets from a remote site and for sending the outgoing packets to the remote site in full duplex communication mode.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
36 words
The communication system according to claim 1 wherein the hands-free speaker phone includes a deskset microphone operable for receiving the local analog voice signals and a deskset speaker operable for playing the remote analog voice signals.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
The communication system according to claim 2 further including an acoustic echo canceler connected to the codec means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
17 words
The communication system according to claim 3 further including line echo canceler connected to the codec means.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
36 words
The communication system according to claim 1 wherein the hands-free speaker phone includes a headset microphone operable for receiving the local analog voice signals and a headset speaker operable for playing the remote analog voice signals.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
23 words
The communication system according to claim 1 wherein the incoming packets and the outgoing packets comply with the CCITT V.42 communications packet standard.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
101 words
A method of operating a full-duplex speaker phone, comprising the steps of: receiving local analog voice signals at a local site; digitizing the local analog voice signals to produce local digital voice signals; placing the local digital voice signals into outgoing packets having headers; sending the outgoing packets to a remote site over a telephone line using a modem; receiving incoming packets through the modem from the remote site; removing remote digital voice signals from the incoming packets; decoding the remote digital voice signals to produce remote analog voice signals; and playing the remote analog voice signals at the local site.
Claim 9
Independent Claim
101 words
A method of operating a full-duplex speaker phone, comprising the steps of: receiving local analog voice signals at a local site; digitizing the local analog voice signals to produce local digital voice signals; placing the local digital voice signals into outgoing packets having headers; sending the outgoing packets to a remote site over a telephone line using a modem; receiving incoming packets through the modem from the remote site; removing remote digital voice signals from the incoming packets; decoding the remote digital voice signals to produce remote analog voice signals; and playing the remote analog voice signals at the local site.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
36 words
The method according to claim 7 wherein the step of placing the local digital voice signals into outgoing packets further includes placing the digital voice signals into packets complying with the CCITT V.42 communications packet standard.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
18 words
The method according to claim 7 further including the step of acoustic echo canceling at the local site.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
22 words
The method according to claim 9 further including the step of line echo canceling between the local site and the remote site.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
194 words
A full-duplex speaker phone, comprising: 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 means for compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data and for decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data into the incoming digital voice data, a modem connected to the communication line interface, connected for receiving the compressed outgoing digital voice data from the means for compressing, and operable for 1) placing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets having headers; 2) sending the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets to the communication line interface for transmission over the communication line; 3) receiving compressed incoming digital voice data packets having headers from the communications line interface, and 4) sending the compressed incoming digital voice data packets to the means for compressing.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
194 words
A full-duplex speaker phone, comprising: 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 means for compressing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data and for decompressing compressed incoming digital voice data into the incoming digital voice data, a modem connected to the communication line interface, connected for receiving the compressed outgoing digital voice data from the means for compressing, and operable for 1) placing the outgoing digital voice data into compressed outgoing digital voice data packets having headers; 2) sending the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets to the communication line interface for transmission over the communication line; 3) receiving compressed incoming digital voice data packets having headers from the communications line interface, and 4) sending the compressed incoming digital voice data packets to the means for compressing.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
31 words
The communication module according to claim 11 wherein the compressed outgoing digital voice data packets and the compressed incoming digital voice data packets comply with the CCITT V.42 communications packet standard.
Claim 16
Independent Claim
144 words
A method of performing full-duplex hands-free speaker phone operation, 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; transmitting the compressed outgoing digital voice packets on a communication line using a modem; and receiving the compressed incoming digital voice data packets from the communication line.
Claim 17
Independent Claim
144 words
A method of performing full-duplex hands-free speaker phone operation, 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; transmitting the compressed outgoing digital voice packets on a communication line using a modem; and receiving the compressed incoming digital voice data packets from the communication line.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2001-06-08 | 2001-12-08 | 2002-06-09 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2005-06-08 | 2005-12-08 | 2006-06-09 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2009-06-08 | 2009-12-08 | 2010-06-09 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |