Telephone system having multiple distinct sources and accessories therefor
First Claim
1. A system in a building for connecting a telephone set to an Internet Protocol (IP)-based telephone network other than a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a home network, for use with a PSTN suitable for providing Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) service, the PSTN being operated by a first telephone service provider and comprising a local loop, and an IP-Based telephone service network external to the building for carrying Voice over IP (VoIP) packets and operated by a second telephone service provider different from said first telephone service provider, said system comprising:
- a telephone wire pair that forms a part of the home network and that is at least in part in walls of the building, connected to the local-loop and accessible at an outlet opening, said telephone wire pair being connected for carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, a voice band, the digital data signal containing one or more digitized telephone signals;
a gateway connected to said telephone wire pair at a first connection point, said gateway being couplable to the PSTN and to the IP-Based telephone service network, said gateway being operative to pass the one or more digitized telephone signals between the IP-Based telephone service network and said telephone wire pair; and
a first adapter housed in a single enclosure connected to said telephone wire pair at a second connection point distinct from said first connection point and connectable to a first telephone set, said first adapter being operative for converting between analog and digital telephone signals and to couple a first digitized telephone signal carried over said telephone wire pair to the first telephone set.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In conjunction with a data communication network carrying multiple telephony signals and allowing for connection of telephone sets, a system and method in which two external feeders connect to the data network at two distinct points via two distinct devices. The data network can be based on dedicated wiring or can use existing in-premises medium such as telephone, powerlines or CATV wiring. In the latter case, the wiring can still carry the original service for which it was installed. The external telephone connections can be based on the traditional PSTN, CATV network, cellular telephone network or any other telephone service provider network, using specific adapter for any medium used. In the case of connection to a POTS telephone signal, VoIP gateway (or any other converter) is required.
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Citations
63 Claims
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1. A system in a building for connecting a telephone set to an Internet Protocol (IP)-based telephone network other than a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a home network, for use with a PSTN suitable for providing Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) service, the PSTN being operated by a first telephone service provider and comprising a local loop, and an IP-Based telephone service network external to the building for carrying Voice over IP (VoIP) packets and operated by a second telephone service provider different from said first telephone service provider, said system comprising:
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a telephone wire pair that forms a part of the home network and that is at least in part in walls of the building, connected to the local-loop and accessible at an outlet opening, said telephone wire pair being connected for carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, a voice band, the digital data signal containing one or more digitized telephone signals;
a gateway connected to said telephone wire pair at a first connection point, said gateway being couplable to the PSTN and to the IP-Based telephone service network, said gateway being operative to pass the one or more digitized telephone signals between the IP-Based telephone service network and said telephone wire pair; and
a first adapter housed in a single enclosure connected to said telephone wire pair at a second connection point distinct from said first connection point and connectable to a first telephone set, said first adapter being operative for converting between analog and digital telephone signals and to couple a first digitized telephone signal carried over said telephone wire pair to the first telephone set. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A device for coupling a digitized telephone signal carried over an existing telephone wire pair to a telephone set, the telephone wire pair being at least in part in walls of a building and being accessible at an outlet opening, the telephone wire pair being coupled to a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a local loop, the PSTN being suitable for providing Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) and being operated by a first telephone service provider, the telephone wire pair being connected for carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, an analog telephone frequency band, the digital data signal containing one or more digitized telephone signals coupled to an IP-Based telephone service network external to the building and connected for carrying Voice over IP (VoIP) packets and operated by a second telephone service provider different from the first telephone service provider, said device comprising:
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a telephone plug for connecting to the telephone wire pair;
a telephone line modem operable for bidirectional digital data communication with one or more additional modems of the same type as said telephone line modem over the telephone wire pair;
a high pass filter coupled between said telephone line modem and said telephone plug for substantially passing only signals in the digital data frequency band;
a telephone connector for connecting to the telephone set;
a multiport unit coupled to pass a digitized telephone signal between said telephone connector and said telephone line modem;
a converter for converting between analog and digital telephony signals coupled between said telephone connector and said multiport unit; and
a single enclosure housing said telephone plug, said telephone line modem, said high pass filter, said telephone connector, said multi-port unit and said converter, wherein said device is operative to connect the telephone set to a telephone service provided by the second telephone service provider. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A gateway in a building for connecting a telephone set in the building to an Internet Protocol (IP)-Based telephone network other than a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) via a home network that includes a telephone wire-pair, for use with a PSTN suitable for providing Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) service, the PSTN being operated by a first telephone service provider and comprising a local loop, and for use with an IP-Based telephone service network external to the building the IP-Based telephone service network being connected for carrying one or more digitized telephone signals in a Voice over EP (VoIP) form and being operated by a second telephone service provider different from the first telephone service provider, the telephone wire pair being at least in part in walls of the building, being connected to the local-loop, being accessible at an outlet opening, and being connected for carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the voice band, and the digital data signal containing one or more digitized telephone signals in a Voice over IP form, said gateway comprising:
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a telephone connector for connecting to the telephone wire pair in the building; and
a port for connecting to the IP-Based telephone service network external to the building to be coupled to one or more digitized telephone signals wherein said gateway is operative to pass one or more digitized telephone signals between the IP-Based telephone service network and the telephone wire pair. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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44. A system for connecting a telephone set in a building to multiple Internet Protocol (IP)-based telephone networks external to the building via a home network, said system comprising:
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a first IP-Based telephone service network external to the building and connected for carrying at least a first digitized telephone signal in a Voice over EP (VoIP) packet form and operated by a first telephone service provider;
a second distinct IP-Based telephone service network external to the building and connected for carrying at least a second digitized telephone signal in a Voice over IP (VoIP) packet form and operated by a second telephone service provider different from said first telephone service provider;
a telephone wire pair that forms a part of the home network and that is at least in part in walls of the building, and accessible at an outlet opening, the telephone wire pair being coupled to said first and second IP-Based telephone service networks for concurrently respectively carrying the first and second digitized telephone signals, said telephone wire pair being connected for carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, a voice band, a first adapter housed in a single enclosure and connected to said telephone wire pair and connectable to a first telephone set, said first adapter being operative for converting between analog and digitized telephone signals, and being operative to couple a first digitized telephone signal carried over said telephone wire pair to the first telephone set and to couple a second digitized telephone signal carried over said telephone wire pair to the first telephone set. - View Dependent Claims (45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63)
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Specification