Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US7139265?dq=5636223
Timestamp: 2017-11-23 15:35:58
Document Index: 196621598

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 31', 'art 32', 'art 35', 'art 33', 'art 34', 'art 36']

Patent US7139265 - Packet communication system - Google Patents
The packet communication system enables communication between a communication unit connected in a conventional telephone network and a communication unit in a packet communication network. A device for exclusively selecting the connection network is provided so that, at the time of transmission of a...http://www.google.com/patents/US7139265?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US7139265 - Packet communication system
Publication number US7139265 B2
Application number US 10/396,824
Also published as US5654957, US6563815, US20030227910, US20060002379, US20110216764
Publication number 10396824, 396824, US 7139265 B2, US 7139265B2, US-B2-7139265, US7139265 B2, US7139265B2
Patent Citations (26), Classifications (27), Legal Events (2)
US 7139265 B2
The packet communication system enables communication between a communication unit connected in a conventional telephone network and a communication unit in a packet communication network. A device for exclusively selecting the connection network is provided so that, at the time of transmission of a signal from one communication unit to another, the connection path is selected according to the kind of the network to which the other communication unit belongs. At the time of signal reception, the communication unit is connected to only one of the conventional telephone network and the packet communication network. The packet communication system includes a packet processor for converting an information signal, such as speech, inputted from an input unit (for example, a transmitter microphone of a handset) into the form of a packet.
1. A voice communication apparatus, comprising:
a switch connected with a voice input and output unit and which connects said packet processor or said telephone controller with said voice input and output unit, and
a controller connected with at least said switch,
wherein said controller determines to communicate with a transmission source connected with said packet communication network or said telephone network with use of packets or signals received by said voice input and output unit, in response to whether the packets from said transmission source connected to said packet communication network enter into said packet processor or the signals from said transmission source connected to said telephone network enter into said telephone controller, and controls said switch to exclusively connect said voice input and output unit in said voice communication apparatus to said packet processor or said telephone controller.
2. A voice communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit that displays the identification information for indicating at least said communication destination unit.
3. A voice communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second switch for connecting said voice input and output unit to said telephone network when power is not supplied to said voice communication apparatus.
The present application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/238,160, filed Jan. 28, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,563,815, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/827,054, filed Mar. 26, 1997, now abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/436,183, filed May 9, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,957.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a packet communication system which can reliably and economically ensure communication between communication units connected in a conventional telephone network and those connected in a packet communication network.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a packet communication system which is constructed to be accommodated in the prior art network by adding a function of connection to the conventional telephone network in addition to the function of connection to the packet communication network, so as to lighten loads imposed on a communication gateway, to decrease the amount of materials of an interface circuit or parts for connection to the conventional telephone network, and to reduce the cost of the system.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a packet communication system in which a user possessing his telephone already can transmit speech through his telephone subscriber line possessed already and which also makes it possible to make voice communication with another packet communication unit connected in the packet communication network.
The present invention which attains the above objects provides a packet communication system making communication between a communication unit connected in a conventional telephone network and that in a packet communication network, in which a function of connection to the conventional telephone network is added to a function of connection to the packet communication network, and means for exclusively selecting the connection network is provided so that, at the time of transmission of a signal from one of the communication units to the other, the connection path is selected according to the kind of network to which the other communication unit belongs, while, at the time of signal reception, the communication unit is connected to only one of the conventional telephone network and the packet communication network. That is, the packet communication system comprises packet processor means for converting a speech or like information signal inputted from an input unit (for example, a transmitter microphone of a handset) into the form of a packet to transmit the packet to the packet communication network and converting the packet transmitted from the packet communication network into the original speech or like information signal stream to reproduce the signal stream by an output unit (for example, a receiver of the handset), conventional telephone network interface control means for reproducing the speech or like information signal arrived from the conventional telephone network by the output unit, and exclusive selection means for exclusively selecting only one of the conventional telephone network and the packet communication network in response to the arrival of the input signal.
Thus, in the case of communication between the communication unit connected in the packet communication network and the communication unit, such as, the telephone connected in the conventional telephone network, a connection path is formed between them by the function of connection to the conventional telephone network. On the other hand, in the case of communication between the communication units in the packet communication network, a communication path is formed between them by the function of connection to the packet communication network. Therefore, the communication gateway is utilized only for the communication between the communication unit (for example, the telephone) connected to the conventional telephone network only and the communication unit connected to the packet communication network only, and concentration of loads on the communication gateway is avoided. Thus, even when the number of the communication units connected in the conventional telephone network may be large, information, such as, audio information and/or video information can be reliably communicated between the communication units in the conventional telephone network and those in the packet communication network.
Further, when the packet communication unit is newly provided for the user possessing his telephone already connected to the conventional telephone network, the sole requirement is to connect the subscriber telephone line to the packet communication system of the present invention, so that the telephone can be eliminated, and communication of information, such as, audio information and/or video information can be economically attained. When, in this case, information signals are simultaneously inputted from the communication unit connected in the packet communication network and that in the conventional telephone network, only one of the input signals is connected to the user's communication unit, and a busy tone is issued for the other input signal, so that the user does not feel any difficulty in dealing with such a situation.
FIG. 1 shows the system structure of an embodiment of the packet communication system using the packet communication unit according to the present invention, and like reference numerals are used in FIG. 1 to designate like parts appearing in FIG. 4. Referring to FIG. 1, the reference numeral 30 designates a packet communication unit having a function of connection both of a conventional telephone network and a LAN 101 that is a packet communication network. The packet communication unit 30 is provided with a connection path for connection to the LAN 101 and a connection interface line 103 for connection to a private branch exchange network 13 that is the conventional telephone network. The connection interface line 103 provides the same interface as that for subscriber lines connected to telephones 21 and 22. The connection interface line 103 may be connected to a public telephone network 20 instead of the private branch exchange network 13. However, for the convenience of description, it is supposed herein that the connection interface line 103 is connected to the private branch exchange network 13.
FIG. 2 shows in detail the structure of the packet communication unit 30. The packet communication unit 30 is composed of a processor part 31 executing overall control, a display part 32 displaying various kinds of messages, for example, arrived messages, scenes, for example, address input scenes, etc., viewed by the user for the selection of the other party, a keyboard/mouse part 35 inputting information required for operation, a speech packet processor part 33 processing a speech input and a speech output to and from a handset 19 so as to transmit and receive a speech packet to and from the LAN 101, a telephone interface control part 34 controlling the subscriber line interface of the conventional telephone network, and a switch part 36 switched over to select whether the speech stream to the handset 19 is to be supplied from the side of the LAN 101 or from the side of the private branch exchange network 13, therefore. These parts are interconnected with each other by a bus 301.
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JPS5990486A Title not available
U.S. Classification 370/353, 370/419
International Classification H04M3/00, H04Q11/04, H04M3/533, H04L12/28, H04L12/66, H04M1/253, H04M7/12, H04M3/428, H04M7/00, H04M3/42
Cooperative Classification H04L2012/6481, H04M3/42323, H04M1/2535, H04M7/0057, H04M3/428, H04M3/533, H04M7/12, H04M7/006, H04L12/6418, H04M7/0069
European Classification H04L12/64B, H04M7/00M8R, H04M7/00D18, H04M7/00M, H04M3/42P2