Patent ID: 6075784
Filing Date: 2000-06-13
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
A system for communicating voice and data over a local packet network (LPN) to and from at least one customer site connected to the LPN via a local loop link, comprising:a remote digital terminal at the customer site, the remote digital terminal interfacing a plurality of telephone devices at the customer site to the local loop link to transmit and receive voice via the LPN, wherein the remote digital terminal comprises:a modem for connection to the local loop link to modulate information for transmission over the LPN and to demodulate information received from the LPN;a plurality of subscriber line interface circuits each suitable for connection to a telephone device;a plurality of coder/decoders each for connection to a subscriber line interface circuit, each coder/decoder capable of converting analog telephone signals received from an associated subscriber line interface circuit to digital bit streams and converting a digital bit stream to analog telephone signals to be supplied to the associated subscriber line interface circuit;a network interface device for connection to a local area network of data devices at the customer site to couple data packets from the local area network for transmission over the LPN and to couple data packets received from the LPN to the local area network;a controller coupled to the modem, to the coder/decoders, to the network interface device and to the subscriber line interface circuits, the controller coupling data packets from the network interface device to the modem for transmission on the local loop link to the LPN and coupling demodulated data packets received from the modem to the network interface device, and the controller managing the interface of voice-band packets between the LPN and the customer site by:converting digital bit streams received from one or more coder/decoders to voice-band packets and coupling the voice-band packets to the modem for transmission on the local loop link to the LPN; andconverting demodulated voice-band packets received via the modem from the LPN to digital bit streams and coupling the digital bit streams to an appropriate one of the coder/decoders; anda host digital terminal at a control site within or connected to the LPN that interfaces voice calls between the remote digital terminal and a public switched telephone network (PSTN) switch via the LPN.