Patent ID: 6408057
Filing Date: 2002-06-18
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
A line interface circuit for interfacing a voice terminal and a fax terminal with a telephone exchange via a telephone line, comprising:a single dialer for facilitating communication between the voice terminal and fax terminal with said telephone exchange; a communication port coupled to the fax terminal; a line interface control unit for receiving dial information from a key matrix input at the fax terminal via the communication port in a power-on state, for deriving power during said power-on state from said telephone exchange, for transferring the dial information to the dialer, for directly receiving dial information from the key matrix in a power-off state of the fax terminal, and for transferring the dial information to the dialer, and a fax central processing unit for generating and transferring at least one of commands and status information to the line interface control unit; wherein the line interface control unit receives the commends or status information and generates in response to the received commands or status information switching control signals for switching between one of a voice path, a non-voice path, and a dialing path during the execution of a dialing operation to confirm the dialing operation to a user by transferring dial tone to the voice path.