Method and system for tunneling wideband telephony through the PSTN

• US 20030219009A1
• Filed: 11/21/2002
• Published: 11/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Unger, Kenneth J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,522,586 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: G10L 19/173 Transcoding, i.e. converting between two coded representations avoiding cascaded coding-decoding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/124 where PSTN/ISDN interconnects two networks other than PSTN/ISDN

Abstract

A system for tunneling wideband telephony, comprises a communication device configured to produce a compressed wideband audio signal. The compressed wideband audio signal has (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps. The system also includes an apparatus, such as a voice gateway, coupled to the communication device and a data link, including a transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into a data stream including wideband compressed audio data for transmission over the data link.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to receive a compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps, comprising:

a transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into a 64 kbps compressed wideband audio data stream.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a transcoder for transcoding a received narrowband audio signal into a transcoded PCM data stream when the transcoder bypass is not configured to convert, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio data stream.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

a controller for selectively enabling either the transcoder bypass or the transcoder.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the transcoder bypass is coupled to a data link of the PSTN, and is configured to transmit the compressed wideband audio data stream over the data link.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a portion of a voice gateway.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the compressed wideband audio data stream is one of a TDM data format and a packet data format.

7. An apparatus configured to receive a 64 kbps data stream from the PSTN, the PSTN data stream including a compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps, the apparatus comprising:

a transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the received data stream into a compressed wideband audio signal representative of the compressed wideband audio signal represented in the data stream.

8. A system for tunneling wideband telephony, comprising:

a communication device configured to produce a compressed wideband audio signal, the compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps; and

an apparatus, coupled to the communication device, including a transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into a compressed wideband audio data stream.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the transcoder bypass in configured to convert, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio data stream while maintaining the audio frequency passband of the compressed wideband audio signal.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the apparatus further includes a transcoder for transcoding a narrowband audio signal into a transcoded PCM data stream when the transcoder bypass is not configured to convert, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio data stream.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the compressed wideband audio data stream has a data rate equal to 64 kbps.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the communication device includes an encoder configured to encode a sampled wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio signal, the sampled wideband audio signal having a sample rate greater than 8 kHz.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication device further includes an ADC configured to sample an analog audio signal at the sample rate greater than 8 kHz, to produce the sampled wideband audio signal.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising a PSTN data link coupled to the apparatus, wherein the apparatus is configured to transmit the compressed wideband audio data stream over the data link at 64 kbps.

15. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

a data link coupled to the apparatus, wherein the apparatus is configured to transmit the compressed wideband audio data stream over the data link; and

a second apparatus configured to receive the compressed wideband audio data stream from the data link, the second apparatus including a second transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the received wideband audio data stream into a compressed wideband audio signal representative of the compressed wideband audio signal from the voice gateway coupled to the encoder.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is a portion of a voice gateway.

17. A system for tunneling wideband telephony through the PSTN, comprising:

a first apparatus configured to receive a first compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps, the first apparatus including a first transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the first compressed wideband audio signal into a compressed wideband audio data stream for transmission through the PSTN; and

a second apparatus configured to receive the compressed wideband audio data stream from the PSTN, the second apparatus including a second transcoder bypass configured to convert, without transcoding, the received compressed wideband audio data stream into a second compressed wideband audio signal representative of the first compressed wideband audio signal.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first and second apparatuses are respective portions of first and second voice gateways.

19. In a voice gateway configured to receive a compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps, a method comprising:

(a) converting, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into a 64 kbps compressed wideband audio data stream.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein step (a) comprises converting, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio data stream while maintaining the audio frequency passband of the compressed wideband audio signal.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

(b) transmitting the compressed wideband audio signal to the PSTN.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein step (a) comprises bypassing a transcode operation.

23. In a voice gateway configured to receive a 64 kbps data stream from the PSTN, the PSTN data stream representing a compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps, a method comprising:

converting, without transcoding, the received data stream into a compressed wideband audio signal representative of the compressed wideband audio signal represented in the data stream.

32. The method of claim 23, wherein the compressed wideband audio signal corresponds to an audio signal sampled at 16 kHz, and has a compressed data rate of 32 kbps.

24. A method of tunneling wideband telephony, comprising:

(a) producing a compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to a predetermined data rate; and

(b) converting, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into a compressed wideband audio data stream for transmission at the predetermined data rate.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the predetermined data rate is 64 kbps.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

(c) transmitting the compressed wideband audio data stream through the PSTN.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein step (b) comprises converting, without transcoding, the compressed wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio data stream while maintaining the audio frequency passband of the compressed wideband audio signal.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein step (b) comprises bypassing a transcoder operation.

29. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

(c) transmitting the compressed wideband audio data stream through the PSTN;

(d) receiving the compressed wideband audio data stream from the PSTN; and

(e) converting, without transcoding, the received compressed wideband audio data stream into a compressed wideband audio signal representative of the compressed wideband audio signal produced in step (a).

30. The method of claim 24, wherein step (a) comprises:

(a)(i) encoding a sampled wideband audio signal into the compressed wideband audio signal, the sampled wideband audio signal having a sample rate greater than 8 kHz.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein step (a) further comprises:

(a)(ii) sampling an analog audio signal at the sample rate greater than 8 kHz, to produce the sampled wideband audio signal.

33. A method of tunneling wideband telephony, comprising:

(a) producing a compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps;

(b) transmitting the compressed wideband audio signal;

(c) receiving the transmitted compressed wideband audio signal; and

(b) converting, without transcoding, the received compressed wideband audio signal into a data stream.

34. A method of tunneling wideband telephony through the PSTN, comprising:

(a) receiving a first compressed wideband audio signal having (i) an audio frequency passband greater than that of an 8 kHz sampled audio signal, and (ii) a compressed data rate that is less than or equal to 64 kbps; and

(b) converting, without transcoding, the first compressed wideband audio signal into a data stream;

(c) transmitting the data stream through the PSTN;

(d) receiving the data stream from the PSTN; and

(e) converting, without transcoding, the received data stream into a second compressed wideband audio signal representative of the first compressed wideband audio signal.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising maintaining the audio frequency passband throughout steps (b), (c), (d) and (e).