Patent ID: 7876758

Claim:
In a network node in a central office of a digital networking system, a method of providing voice services, the method comprising the steps of: providing a service signal to at least one user device through each of a plurality of gateways, the at least one user device and the plurality of gateways being external to the central office; receiving one or more voice packets from the at least one user device through at least one of the plurality of gateways; processing the one or more voice packets; and transmitting the one or more voice packets to one or more destinations determined in the processing step; wherein the network node in the central office comprises an uplink card, the uplink card comprising a network processor having an associated voice packet detection and processing element; wherein the network node in the central office further comprises one or more line cards coupled to the uplink card, each of the one or more line cards comprising modem circuitry adapted to communicate with the at least one user device through the at least one of the plurality of gateways, and each of the one or more line cards further comprising at least one of a backplane device and a bridge device, the at least one of the backplane device and the bridge device being coupled to a corresponding device of the uplink card, the uplink card comprising at least one of a backplane device and a switching fabric; wherein the processing step is implemented in the voice packet detection and processing element of the network node in the central office; and wherein voice packets received from the at least one user device via the modem circuitry of the network node in the central office are detected in the voice packet detection and processing element of the network node in the central office and transmitted to corresponding destinations via the network processor of the network node in the central office.