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), the PSTN being operated by a first telephone service provider and comprising a local loop connecting the building to the PSTN, and for use with 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:
- an AC power wiring that forms a part of the home network, is at least in part in walls of the building, and is accessible at an outlet cavity or outlet opening, said AC power wiring being connected to carry an AC power signal at an AC power frequency and to concurrently carry a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the AC power frequency, the digital data signal containing one or more digitized telephone signals;
a gateway connected to said AC power wiring 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 AC power wiring; and
a first adapter housed in a single enclosure connected to said AC power wiring 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 for coupling a first digitized telephone signal carried over said AC power wiring to the first telephone set.
14 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
59 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), the PSTN being operated by a first telephone service provider and comprising a local loop connecting the building to the PSTN, and for use with 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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an AC power wiring that forms a part of the home network, is at least in part in walls of the building, and is accessible at an outlet cavity or outlet opening, said AC power wiring being connected to carry an AC power signal at an AC power frequency and to concurrently carry a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the AC power frequency, the digital data signal containing one or more digitized telephone signals;
a gateway connected to said AC power wiring 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 AC power wiring; and
a first adapter housed in a single enclosure connected to said AC power wiring 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 for coupling a first digitized telephone signal carried over said AC power wiring 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)
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20. A device for coupling a digitized telephone signal carried over an existing AC power wiring to a telephone set, the AC power wiring being at least in part in walls of a building and being accessible at an outlet cavity or outlet opening, and the AC power wiring 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 AC power wiring further being connected to carry an AC power signal at an AC power frequency and for concurrently carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the AC power frequency, 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, the IP-Based telephone service network being operated by a second telephone service provider different from the first telephone service provider, said device comprising:
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an AC power plug for connecting to the AC power wiring;
a powerline modem operable for bidirectional digital data communication with one or more additional modems of the same type as said powerline modem over the AC power wiring;
a high pass filter coupled between said powerline modem and said AC power 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 powerline 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 AC power plug, said powerline 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 (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. 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 an AC power wiring, 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 connected to the building, said gateway being 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 Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone signals and being operated by a second telephone service provider different from the first telephone service provider, the AC power wiring being at least in part in walls of the building and being accessible at an outlet cavity or outlet opening, and being connected for carrying an AC power signal at an AC power frequency and for concurrently carrying a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the AC power frequency, and the digital data signal containing one or more digitized VoIP telephone signals, said gateway comprising:
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an AC power plug for connecting to the AC power wiring in the building; and
a port adapted to be connected to the IP-Based telephone service network external to the building and to be coupled to one or more digitized telephone signals, wherein said gateway is operative to pass the one or more digitized telephone signals between the IP-Based telephone service network and the AC power wiring. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. 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 Voice over IP (VoIP) packets 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 Voice over IP (VoIP) packets and operated by a second telephone service provider different from the first telephone service provider;
an AC power wiring that forms a part of the home network and that is at least in part in walls of the building and is accessible at an outlet cavity or outlet opening, the AC power wiring being coupled to said first and second IP-Based telephone service networks for concurrently carrying the first and second digitized telephone signals, said AC power wiring being connected to additionally carry an AC power signal having an AC power frequency and to concurrently carry a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band that is distinct from, and higher than, the AC power frequency; and
a first adapter housed in a single enclosure and connected to said AC power wiring and connectable to the telephone set, said first adapter being operative for converting between analog and digitized telephone signals and to couple the first digitized telephone signal carried over said AC power wiring to the telephone set and to couple the second digitized telephone signal carried over said AC power wiring to the first telephone set. - View Dependent Claims (42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59)
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Specification