Patent ID: 7092406

Claim:
A communication apparatus comprising: a modem operable for connection to a telephone line; a voice receiving interface apparatus for use in receiving voice signals from a local user; a voice conveying interface apparatus for use in conveying voice signals to the local user; and processing circuitry operable under control of a graphical user interface program executable on a personal computer, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to: convert received voice signals from the local user via the voice receiving interface apparatus into outgoing digital voice information; compress the outgoing digital voice information into compressed outgoing digital voice information; packetize the compressed outgoing digital voice information and provide outgoing packets based thereon, wherein each of the outgoing packets comprises at least one header; provide the outgoing packets to the telephone line using the modem; receive incoming packets comprising compressed incoming digital voice information from the telephone line using the modem, wherein each of the incoming packets comprises at least one header, wherein the at least one header comprises information used to route the incoming packets within the communication apparatus; decompress compressed incoming digital voice information; and convert decompressed incoming digital voice information into voice signals for conveyance to the local user via the voice conveying interface apparatus.