Patent ID: 7522722

Claim:
A system for interfacing plain old telephone system (POTS) devices with cellular devices in communication with a cellular network, comprising: an interface configured to interface with a plurality of cellular telephones and a plurality of POTS devices, wherein the interface is configured to selectively convert a POTS compatible signal to one of a plurality of cellular network compatible signals, and wherein the interface is further configured to selectively convert a cellular network compatible signal to one of a plurality of POTS compatible signals, wherein the interface comprises: an interface controller configured to generate a tone-enable signal, wherein the interface controller is further configured to transmit signaling data to each of the plurality of cellular telephones and wherein the interface controller comprises: an off-hook sensor configured to detect when each of the plurality POTS devices is off-hook and generate an off-hook signal in response to detecting when each of the plurality of POTS device is off-hook; and a processor configured to receive the off-hook signal from the off-hook sensor and generate signaling data in response to the received off-hook signal, wherein the signaling data is indicative of each of the plurality of POTS devices being off-hook; a tone generator configured to receive the tone-enable signal from the interface controller and generate a tone in response to the received tone-enable signal; a dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) decoder configured to detect a DTMF signal from each of the plurality of POTS devices and generate a DTMF-dialing signal in response to the detected DTMF signal, wherein the DTMF signal is indicative of a key sequence, and wherein the processor of the interface controller is configured to parse the DTMF signal for the key sequence and select one of the plurality of cellular telephones based on the key sequence, wherein parsing the DTMF signal for the key sequence comprises comparing the key sequence in the DTMF signal to a set of stored key sequences to determine the one of the plurality of cellular telephones to select; and a plurality of POTS connectors configured to couple the plurality of POTS devices to the interface.