Integrated audio and modem device

• US 20020097794A1
• Filed: 03/22/2002
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amir Hindie, Jim Beaney, Karl Leinfelder, Karl Nordling, Sebastian Gracias, Wesley Smith
• Original Assignee: Amir Hindie, Jim Beaney, Karl Leinfelder, Karl Nordling, Sebastian Gracias, Wesley Smith
• Inventors: Leinfelder, Karl, Nordling, Karl, Beaney, Jim, Hindie, Amir, Smith, Wesley, Gracias, Sebastian
• Granted Patent: US 6,611,555 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 375/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the invention, a modem provides functionality for audio processing and for implementing a modem. A digital signal processor is connected to one or more audio codecs to interface with an analog audio channel, and is connected to one or more modem codecs and a data access arrangement to interface with a communications channel.

Claims

1. A modem, comprising:

a digital signal processor having a plurality of ports, the digital signal processor being configured to process both audio and modem signals;

one or more audio codecs, each of the audio codecs being connected to one of the ports of the digital signal processor, an audio channel being connected to the audio codecs;

one or more modem codecs, each of the modem codecs being connected to one of the ports of the digital signal processor; and

a data access arrangement to act as an interface between a communications channel, the array of modem codecs, and the digital signal processor.

2. The modem of claim 1, wherein the communications channel is a telephone line and wherein the data access arrangement passes a ringing signal from the telephone line to the digital signal processor.

3. The modem of claim 2, wherein the data access arrangement passes a control signal from the digital signal processor to the telephone line.

4. The modem of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processor runs separate code modules for each of the audio codecs and each of the modem codecs.

5. The modem of claim 4, wherein each code module run by the digital signal processor has been loaded from a host.

6. The modem of claim 5, wherein at least one of the code modules is swappable in and out of the digital signal processor.

7. The modem of claim 4, wherein the code modules operate under control of a stream processing operating system capable of managing a plurality of streams of digital information simultaneously.

8. The modem of claim 1, wherein the digital signal processor is resident on a host and is controlled by at least one virtual device driver.

9. A system comprising:

a bus;

a host processor connected to the bus;

a digital signal processor connected to the bus;

an array of audio codecs connected to the digital signal processor, the array of audio codecs being connected to an audio channel;

an array of modem codecs connected to the digital signal processor; and

a data access arrangement, the data access arrangement being an interface between a communications channel, the array of modem codecs, and the digital signal processor.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital signal processor processes a digital stream of audio information transferred through the array of audio codecs and a digital stream of modem information transferred through the array of modem codecs.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein a second host is connected to the communications channel.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the communications channel comprises a telephone line and the data access arrangement passes a ringing signal from the telephone line to the digital signal processor.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data access arrangement passes a control signal from the digital signal processor to the telephone line.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital signal processor runs separate code modules for each of the codecs in the array of audio codecs and the array of modem codecs.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein each code module run by the digital signal processor has been loaded from a host.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the code modules is swappable in and out of the digital signal processor.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the code modules operate under a stream processing operating system capable of managing a plurality of streams of digital information simultaneously.

18. The system of claim 9, wherein the digital signal processor is resident on a host and is controlled by at least one virtual device driver.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the communications channel is a telephone channel and wherein a ringing signal is transferred from the telephone channel to the digital signal processor via the data access arrangement.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein a control signal is transferred from the digital signal processor to the telephone channel via the data access arrangement.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

running separate code modules for each of codecs in the array of audio codecs and the array of modem codecs.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

swapping at least one of the code modules in and out of the digital signal processor.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the processing of signals from the audio channel occurs at least in part concurrently with the processing of signals from the communications channel.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the communications channel is a telephone channel and wherein a ringing signal is transferred from the telephone channel to the digital signal processor via the data access arrangement.

27. The medium of claim 26, wherein a control signal is transferred from the digital signal processor to the telephone channel via the data access arrangement.

28. The medium of claim 27, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

running separate code modules for each of codecs in the array of audio codecs and the array of modem codecs.

29. The medium of claim 28, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

swapping at least one of the code modules in and out of the digital signal processor.

30. The medium of claim 25, wherein the processing of signals from the audio channel occurs at least in part concurrently with the processing of signals from the communications channel.

19. A method comprising:

transferring a first set of signals between an audio channel and a digital signal processor via an audio codec;

transferring a second set of signals between a communications channel and the digital signal processor via a data access arrangement;

transferring a third set of signals between the communications channel and the digital signal processor via the data access arrangement and a modem codec; and

processing signals from the audio channel and processing signals from the communications channel.

25. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

transferring a first set of signals between an audio channel and a digital signal processor via an audio codec;

transferring a second set of signals between a communications channel and the digital signal processor via a data access arrangement;

transferring a third set of signals between the communications channel and the digital signal processor via the data access arrangement and a modem codec; and

processing signals from the audio channel and processing signals from the communications channel.