Patent ID: 7039062

Claim:
A cable telephony network interface unit (NIU), said NIU comprising: a radio frequency (RF) cable input for receiving RF telephony signals, wherein said telephony signals comprise a time division multiplexed (TDM) RF signal having a frame rate and a corresponding frame period; an RF tuner for processing said TDM RF signal, wherein said tuner has an acquisition time of less than half of said frame period, whereby said tuner is pulsed on for signal acquisitions, and pulsed off between signal acquisitions, and wherein said acquisition time is a time to lock on to a desired frequency; and a voice telephony device compatible output for providing an output from said tuner to a telephony device, wherein said RF telephony signals further comprise a continuous wave (CW) signal, and said tuner is capable of processing said CW signal, and wherein said NIU receives electrical power via said cable input when said tuner is processing said TDM RF signal and receives electrical power from a different source when processing said CW signal.