Patent ID: 7664167

Claim:
A method for configuring a direct access arrangement (DAA) circuit, wherein said DAA circuit is capable of coupling a host computer system to a telephone line while providing isolation between said host computer system and said telephone line, said method comprising: providing a serial audio interface within said DAA circuit, wherein said serial audio interface allows for communications between said DAA circuit and said host computer system, wherein said serial audio interface is capable of operating under a plurality of serial communication interface standards; and configuring said serial audio interface to transmit and receive modem samples at an audio sample rate higher than a modem sample rate of said modem samples and at a predetermined bit size that is wider than a bit size of said modem samples, wherein said predetermined bit size is 24 bits with M least significant bits of said 24 bits being utilized to store said modem sample data, and one of N most significant bits utilized to indicate validity of said modem sample data by setting said one of N most significant bits of said 24 bits to a first logical state to indicate said modem sample data is valid, and by setting said one of N most significant bits of said 24 bits to a second logical state to indicate said modem sample data is invalid, wherein M and N are integers greater than one with M being greater than N.