Abstract:
The apparatus of the present invention comprises an electronic patch panel controller apparatus for use in environments where multiple internal handset lines share connectivity to a lesser number of external telephone lines, the control apparatus patching excess internal handset lines to available web based external lines accessible at a website accessed via a browser in process memory, the website providing commands for latching and unlatching engagement between pairs of cooperating active and passive ports to multiple external telephone lines accessible at and via the website, by a remote processor, the controller being manually or automatically operable.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]    This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Provisional Pat. application Ser. No. 60/184,675, filed on Feb. 24, 2000, titled Electronic Patch Panel. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0003]    The present invention relates to a programmable apparatus which acts to increase phone line connection capacity. More particularly, the programmable apparatus is integrated into a phone system, such as that of a hotel, for example, which has a finite number of active outgoing telephone lines which is less than the number of internal telephone handsets, for increasing the number of active ports above the finite number by linking to a website through use of a browser of a web linked computer, the website providing a substantially unlimited number of external telephone access lines which can be used by all internal telephone handset lines of the hotel, simultaneously, as necessary, to accommodate telephone line accessibility by all internal handset lines, either manually or automatically.  
           [0004]    2. Prior Art  
           [0005]    Heretofore, capacity of simultaneously available telephone lines within an establishment, such as a hotel, for example, is always less than the number of internal telephone handset lines due to prohibitive costs of accommodation of all handsets since, typically, all internal handsets are never in use simultaneously. However, there are occasions, when demand is greater than such lesser number of available external telephone lines, causing users to have to wait for line availability, which may cause patrons to turn away from use of the establishment in the future.  
           [0006]    To date, there has been no way around the supply/demand dilemma except to provide a number of external lines equal to the number of handsets therefor, at impractical cost, and thus it is never done.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    According to the invention there is provided a programmable electronic patch panel controller apparatus for use in connecting a multiplicity of internal telephone handset lines to internet accessible external telephone lines which are accessed via a browser of a processor which is directed to a particular website affording access to external web based telephone lines, the apparatus comprising a controller incorporating at least:  
           [0008]    a motherboard;  
           [0009]    connections for functionally engaging a plurality of telephone handset lines to the apparatus;  
           [0010]    a keyboard connection for connecting a keyboard to the motherboard for manual keyed input thereto;  
           [0011]    a monitor connection for the motherboard for visibility of parameters and information provided via a monitor engaged to the connection;  
           [0012]    an ethernet port for creating a connection between the motherboard and the particular website via the processor incorporating the browser;  
           [0013]    active and passive port boards functionally engaged to the motherboard;  
           [0014]    a programmable hard drive processor functionally engaged to the motherboard;  
           [0015]    a memory module functionally engaged to the hard drive;  
           [0016]    a power supply;  
           [0017]    and programming within the processor of the apparatus to produce latching and unlatching between active and passive port pairs of the active and passive port boards as necessary through commands received via the web browser from a server computer to assure connection of the plurality of handset telephone lines to the web based external telephone lines.  
           [0018]    Still further according to the invention there is provided a method for using the electronic patch panel controller apparatus for accomplishing the specific goal thereof.  
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1A is a simple perspective view of an existing telephone system of an establishment.  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 1B is a simple perspective view of an existing telephone system of an establishment incorporating an internet MUX having a one to one connecting ratio.  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2 is a simple perspective view of the system of FIG. 2 showing the electronic patch panel apparatus of the present invention incorporated therein.  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3 is rear view of the apparatus showing connectivity structures thereof.  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 4 is a simplified top plan view of the motherboard and associated structures of the apparatus.  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 5 is a top plan view of one of the active and passive port boards of FIG. 4.  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 6 is an enlarged simplified view of one rear connector of one board of FIG. 5.  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 7 is a graph showing characteristics of exemplary pins of the connector of FIG. 6.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 8 is a graphic representation of simultaneous signal accommodation over one telephone line.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 9 is a simplified logic flow chart of steps taken by the preprogrammed software of the apparatus in accomplishing the goal thereof.  
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0029]    Referring now to the drawings in greater detail, there is illustrated therein the programmable apparatus of the present invention generally identified by the reference numeral  10  and referred to herein as a controller apparatus  10 .  
         [0030]    [0030]FIG. 2 shows the controller apparatus  10  connected to all handset lines of an establishment at a position upstream of a punchdown block of a telephone system.  
         [0031]    In perusing the further, more detailed Figures showing the presently preferred embodiment of the controller apparatus  10 , it will be seen to include a motherboard  12  engaged to a power supply  14 , and having an onboard programmable hard drive or processor  16  including a memory  17 , with a first port  18  provided for engagement of a monitor  19 , a second port  20  for engagement of a keyboard  21 , a third serial port  22  for engagement of a serial device such as a mouse (not shown) and a fourth ethernet port  24 . A fifth port  25  is also provided by means of which a telephone handset line  26  is connectable to the apparatus  10  as well.  
         [0032]    Also provided on the motherboard  12  are a plurality of card engaging slots  28 . To each of these slots  28  is attached a circuit board  30  defined as a passive and active port board  30 , as illustrated in FIG. 5 which incorporates electronic latchable input/output ports thereon which are program actuated, as will be defined hereinbelow.  
         [0033]    It will be understood that any desired plurality of card slots  28  may be accommodated the apparatus  10  as necessary to accommodate the total number of telephone handset lines  26  within a particular establishment, such as a hotel, for instance. It will also be understood that the handset lines  26  are functionally connected to passive ports  40  of the boards  30  while the external telephone lines  45  of the establishment, typically far fewer than the number of handset lines  26 , are connected to the active ports  42  of the boards  30 .  
         [0034]    Inasmuch as it is understood that cooperating active and passive port  40 ,  42  pairs must be cooperably latchable to engage a particular handset line  26  to an external telephone line  45  on demand and to be unlatchable when connection is terminated by a user, to allow latchability of another handset line  26 , it will be understood that programming is required within the processor  16  to accomplish the latching and unlatching.  
         [0035]    Further, it will be understood that provision of external telephone line connections (not shown) to which handset lines  26  are capable of gaining access is provided through use of an ethernet connection via the ethernet port  24  to a particular website on the internet, via a browser of an internet capable computer  50 .  
         [0036]    Accordingly, programming for gaining access to the website via a web browser must be provided and loaded into the memory  17  of the hard drive processor  16 .  
         [0037]    Further, programming for latching and unlatching of cooperating port pairs as defined above must be provided.  
         [0038]    Thirdly, programming must be provided for activation of the apparatus  10  on demand, whether through manual commands issued via the keyboard  21 , or whether the apparatus  10  is of the self actualizing type.  
         [0039]    Turning for a moment to the required programming, and viewing FIG. 9, there is found illustrated therein a simplified generic flow chart of the logic used by the apparatus  10 , in its most simplistic form for operability, which should not be constructed as limiting inasmuch as it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that ancillary steps can be added as desired, within the obvious structural limitations of the apparatus  10  to make same more “feature oriented” and can also have incorporated various “bells and whistles” which may be desired by a particular establishment using the apparatus  10 .  
         [0040]    At step  1  of the Software Flow Chart, the ports  40 ,  42  on the active and passive port boards  30  are initialized, set up information stored in the registry in processor memory  17  is retrieved, and monitoring of the apparatus  10  is activated.  
         [0041]    At step  2  labelled Set Hardware, the hardware configuration of the apparatus  10  is read into memory  17  and, based on the determined hardware configuration, software arrays for the ports  40 ,  42  on the active and passive port boards  30  are activated, to allow for desired latching and unlatching between corresponding active/passive port pairs  40 ,  42 .  
         [0042]    At step  4  of a Service Remote Control “RC” Monitor Interrupt Software Flow Chart, labelled Service RC, connection information culled from an external interrupt, is saved to memory  17 .  
         [0043]    At step  5 , labelled User Input, in an apparatus  10  which is manually controlled by input from the keyboard  21 , the input is read and, based on the input, the ports of the active and passive port boards  30  are modified, or latched, the input being read in the form of a request for such latching.  
         [0044]    At step  6 , labelled External Interrupt Housekeeping, the modifications made at step  5  are entered into a database log in memory  17  for possible retrieval therefrom should the need arise, such as in the case of apparatus  10  failure, such as during a power outage, for example.  
         [0045]    Finally, under Clear Connection Settings, at Step  7 , labelled Clear Connections Robot, user options located in the registry portion of processor memory  17  are read and the latched cooperating ports on the active and passive port boards  30  are unlatched when external telephone line connection via the website access is no longer required, when a handset  46  is replaced onto its cradle  48 .  
         [0046]    It will also be understood that the apparatus  10  can be automated through use of cycling logic to check for handset  46  disengagement and engagement from the cradle  48  to produce the desired latching and unlatching, respectively so the above manually activated logic should not be construed as limiting, but rather as exemplary.  
         [0047]    The apparatus  10  will be understood to be compatible with voice signals (POTS) which may be of the analog or PBX type as well as with data signals which may be any single one or combination of DSL, HPNA (home Network), and Ethernet type.  
         [0048]    As crudely illustrated in FIG. 8, it will be understood by those skilled in that art that one pair of telephone wires (not shown) is capable of providing three separate channels for simultaneous voice signal transmission, internet access signal transmission, and home network signal transmission, inasmuch as each type of signal is mutually exclusive of the others in both power and frequency parameters.  
         [0049]    From the rear view of the apparatus  10  in FIG. 3, it will be seen that each active and passive board  30  is mounted to a rear bracket  51  incorporating a standard SCSI-II high density  50  pin connector  52  which is available from various sources. As an example, Adams Tech Part No. S2ASR50BL2 and mating Part No. S2APW50 &amp; S2A-HD-PWA-50 Metal Hood, can be used in the apparatus  10 .  
         [0050]    A simplified view showing four pins  54  of the connector  52  is illustrated in FIG. 6, with a Table defining signal connections for pins  54  of the connector  52 , including explanatory legends, being provided in FIG. 7.  
         [0051]    As detailed above, the apparatus  10  and method of its use provide a number of advantages, some of which are inherent in the invention. Also, modifications can be proposed to the teachings herein without departing therefrom. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is only to be limited as necessitated by the accompanying claims.