Patent ID: 7567549

Claim:
A computer telephony interface adapter (CTIA) for interfacing a computing device, a telephone, and a telephone network, comprising: (a) a telephone network interface for communicating with the telephone network according to a telephone network protocol, wherein the telephone network protocol comprises one of a public switched telephone network (PSTN) protocol and a private branch exchange protocol; (b) a telephone interface for communicating with the telephone; (c) a computer interface for communicating with the computing device according to a data communication protocol, wherein the computing device is connected to a data network; (d) a controller in communication with the telephone network interface and with the computer interface, said controller converting between the telephone network protocol and the data communication protocol; and (e) a switch that selectively couples the telephone in communication with the telephone network and the computing device at the same time to enable: conferencing a call over the telephone network with a call over the data network on either the telephone or the computing device, and sharing data from the telephone network and the data network on either the telephone or the computing device.