Home office communication system and method

• US 20030036908A1
• Filed: 02/20/2001
• Published: 02/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/1998
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Ameritech Corp. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bossemeyer, Robert Wesley Jr., Bennett, Raymond Walden III, Heinmiller, Wayne Robert, Light, Jordan Howard
• Granted Patent: US 7,116,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/275
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2878 Access multiplexer, e.g. DSLAM generic distributed time multiplexers, e.g. TDM/TDMA H04J3/1694
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/247 Telephone sets including user guidance or feature selection means facilitating their use user interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2478 Telephone terminals specially adapted for non-voice services, e.g. email, internet access centralized arrangements where telephones services are combined H04M7/0024; for recording text messages H04M3/5322; for accessing Internet H04M3/4938
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/715 using two or more extensions per line cordless telephones H04M1/725
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/06 Simultaneous speech and data transmission, e.g. telegraphic transmission over the same conductors
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means voice activated dialling H04M1/271; voice recognition algorithms G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42314 in private branch exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4234 Remote access to features of PBX or home telephone systems-teleworking in a PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/53333 Message receiving aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0054 where the data service is an electronic mail service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

A home office communication system (10) has a control and display system (16). A modem (12) is controlled by the control and display system (16) and connected to a telephone line (14). A multiplexer (18) is connected to the modem (12) and multiplexes a plurality of outgoing data streams in a predefined format and demultiplexes an incoming data stream from the modem (12). A speech encoding system (20) generates a plurality of speech packets to form one of the plurality of outgoing data streams. A telephone line control system (22) generates a plurality of control packets forming one of the plurality of outgoing data streams and an information channel (24) forms one of the plurality of outgoing data streams.

Claims

1. A home office communication system, comprising:

a control and display system;

a modem controlled by the control and display system connected to a telephone line;

a multiplexer is connected to the modem and multiplexes a plurality of outgoing data streams in a predefined format and demultiplex an incoming data stream from the modem;

a speech encoding system generating a plurality of speech packets forming one of the plurality of outgoing data streams;

a telephone line control system generating a plurality of control packets forming one of the plurality of outgoing data streams; and

an information channel forming one of the plurality of outgoing data streams.

2. The home office communication system of claim 1, wherein the information channel includes an email message.

3. The home office communication system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer applies a speech tag to each of the plurality of speech packets.

4. The home office communication system of claim 1, wherein the multiplexer applies a control tag to each of the plurality of control packets.

5. The home office communication system of claim 1, further including a speaker connected to the multiplexer.

6. The home office communication system of claim 5, wherein the multiplexer routes an incoming packet of the incoming data stream to the speech encoding system when the incoming packet includes a speech tag.

7. The home office communication system of claim 5, further including a speech decompression module connected to the speaker.

8. The home office communication system of claim 5, further including a digital to analog converter connected to the decompression module.

9. The home office communication system of claim 1, wherein the speech encoding system is connected to a plurality of telephones.

10. The home office communication system of claim 1, further including a base office system comprising:

a base modem connected through the public switched telephone network to the modem;

a router connected to the base modem;

a telephone interface connected to the router; and

a gateway connected to the router.

11. The home office communication system of claim 10, further including a local area network connected to the gateway.

12. The home office communication system of claim 11, further including an email server connected to the local area network.

13. The home office communication system of claim 11, further including a n integrated messaging center connected to the local area network, the integrated messaging center connected to the email server, a voice mail system and a facsimile server.

14. The home office communication system of claim 13, wherein the integrated messaging center extracts a header information from the email server, the voice mail system and the facsimile server.

15. The home office communication system of claim 14, wherein the header information from the facsimile server includes a sender'"'"'s name and a sender'"'"'s telephone number.

16. The home office communication system of claim 11, further including a user'"'"'s computer connected to the local area network, wherein the user'"'"'s computer and the control and display system are capable of running a shared white-boarding application.

17. The home office communication system of claim 11, further including a project server connected to the local area network.

18. The home office communication system of claim 10, further including a telephone switch connected to the telephone interface.

19. The home office communication system of claim 18, wherein the telephone switch is connected to a voice mail system.

20. The home office communication system of claim 18, wherein the telephone switch is connected to a facsimile server.

21. The home office communication system of claim 10, wherein the router routes a packet of the plurality of outgoing data streams to the telephone interface when the packet includes the speech tag.

22. A method of operating a home office communication system comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a communication link between a home modem and an office modem;

(b) selecting one of a plurality of communication options;

(c) selecting a second of the plurality of communication options;

(d) when the one of the plurality of communication options is a telephone conversation, establishing a voice channel over the communication link;

(e) digitizing a user'"'"'s voice to form a digitized voice signal; and

(f) packetizing the digitized voice signal to form a plurality of voice packets, each of the plurality of voice packets including a speech tag.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein step (e) further includes the step of:

(e1) compressing the digitized voice signal.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein step (d) further includes the steps of:

(d1) requesting a directory listing having a plurality of names;

(d2) selecting one of the plurality of names;

(d3) dialing a telephone number associated with one of the plurality of names.

25. The method of claim 22, further including the steps of:

(g) when the second of the plurality of communication options is an email request, forming an email query packet;

(h) determining if a speech packet is pending;

(i) when the speech packet is not pending sending the email query packet.

26. The method of claim 25, further including the step of:

(j) receiving an email response.

27. The method of claim 22, further including the steps of:

(g) when the second of the plurality of communication options is an incoming telephone call, analyzing a caller'"'"'s speech to recognize the caller

(h) selecting a file associated with the caller.

28. The method of claim 22, further including the step of:

(g) when the second of the plurality of communication options is a second telephone conversation, establishing a second voice channel over the communication link.

29. The method of claim 22, further including the steps of:

(g) when the second of the plurality of communication options is a shared white-boarding application, transmitting a start white-boarding request to a target computer;

(h) receiving an acknowledgment from the target computer.

30. A home office communication system comprising:

a control and display system including a telephone directory, a speech recognition module and a speech synthesis module;

a vocoder connected to the control and display system;

a microphone connected to the vocoder;

a speaker connected to the vocoder;

a multiplexer connected to the vocoder and connected to the control and display system, the multiplexer multiplexing a voice signal from the vocoder and a data stream from the control and display system, the multiplexer attaching a speech tag to each of a plurality of voice packets forming the voice signal, the multiplexer demultiplexing an incoming signal; and

a modem connected to the multiplexer and connected to a telephone line.

31. The home office communication system of claim 30, further including a base office system comprising:

a base modem connected to the telephone line;

a router connected to the base modem, the router applying a speech tag to an outgoing voice packet, the router routing an incoming packet based on whether the incoming packet includes a speech tag;

a telephone interface connected to the router and receiving the incoming packet having a speech tag;

a switch connected to the router;

a voice mail system connected to the switch;

a facsimile server connected to the switch;

a gateway and firewall connected to the router;

a local area network connected to the gateway and firewall;

an email server connected to the local area network;

a project server connected to the local area network;

a user'"'"'s computer connected to the local area network;

an integrated messaging center connected to the local area network and extracting a header information from the voice mail system, the facsimile server and the email server.

32. A method of operating a home office communication system, comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing a communication link between a home modem and an office modem;

(b) selecting one of a plurality of communication options;

(c) selecting a second of the plurality of communication options;

(d) when the one of the plurality of communication options is a telephone conversation, establishing a voice channel over the communication link;

(e) digitizing a user'"'"'s voice to form a digitized voice signal;

(f) packetizing the digitized voice signal to form a plurality of voice packets, each of the plurality of voice packets including a speech tag;

(g) when the second of the plurality of communication options is an email request, forming an email query packet;

(h) determining if a speech packet is pending;

(i) when the speech packet is not pending sending the email query packet; and

(j) receiving an email response.