Patent ID: 7610384

Claim:
A single unified end-user network appliance for providing packetized data over a packet data network, comprising: a network controller subsystem coupled to said packet data network for establishing point-to-point communications; a digital signal processing subsystem coupled to said network controller subsystem, the digital signal processing subsystem further comprising a computer program for detecting incoming calls and initiating call sessions; a signal conversion subsystem coupled to said digital signal processing subsystem; and a user interface subsystem coupled to both the signal conversion subsystem and said digital signal processing subsystem; wherein said digital signal processing subsystem comprises a digital signal processor (DSP) and one or more memory devices coupled to said digital signal processor; wherein said computer program implements the Session Initiation Protocol for detecting and initiating call sessions and performing call session control; wherein a unique SIP address is associated with the appliance, said address being stored in at least one of said memory devices; wherein the packetized data includes audio data and wherein the user interface subsystem comprises: a handset comprising an input device, a microphone and a speaker; and a display device; and wherein said computer program implements a monitor feature, wherein on detection of a call directed to the appliance from a caller, a call session is automatically initiated with said microphone enabled and said speaker disabled during the call session.