Voice over data communication system

• US 5,553,063 A
• Filed: 09/12/1994
• Issued: 09/03/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Lison Consulting AG LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: William D. Dickson
• Inventors: Dickson, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Olms, Douglas W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): BLUM, RUSSELL
• Application Number:
  US08/304,403
• Time in Patent Office: 722 Days
• Field of Search: 370/24, 370/29, 370/79, 370/95.1, 370/103, 370/110.1, 379/90, 379/93, 379/96, 379/97, 379/98, 375/220, 375/222, 375/357, 375/358, 371/30, 371/37.1
• US Class Current: 370/294
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/1682 Allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users, e.g. concentrated multiplexers, statistical multiplexers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/004 by using forward error control H04L1/0618 takes precedence; coding, decoding or code conversion, for error detection or correction H03M13/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/1423 for simultaneous baseband signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/143 for modulated signals H04L5/1469 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/041 using special codes as synchronising signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 7/10 Arrangements for initial synchronisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/068 using time division multiplex techniques; integrated services digital networks H04Q11/0428

Abstract

A system for full duplex real time two-way voice and data communication between a pair of computer terminal locations is disclosed. Analog voice signals are converted to digital form at one terminal location and those digital signals are interleaved with other digital information for transmission to the other terminal location. A value for the number of bytes in a data packet is first established, and then values for the number of bytes and the location dedicated to the transmission of voice information, control information, and data transmission within such fixed size data packets is established. Thereafter, a sequence of data packets with synchronization bytes in the voice byte locations is transmitted from each computer terminal location and received by the other of the terminal locations. Upon receipt thereof, an acknowledgement of the receipt is transmitted back to the originating location to indicate the establishment of synchronization between the two locations. Thereafter a sequence of data packets with the voice byte locations thereof dedicated to the transmission of voice information is transmitted from each of the computer terminal locations to the other.

Claims

1. The method of contemporaneous full duplex real time two-way voice and data communication between first and second computer terminal locations comprising:

establishing a value for the number of bytes in a data packet;

establishing, for each communication session values for the number of bytes and the location within each data packet dedicated to the transmission of voice information, control information, and data transmission respectively;

transmitting from each of the first and second computer terminal locations a sequence of data packets with synchronization bytes in certain ones of the voice byte locations, the transmitting step including modulating carrier signal with the data packets and transmitting the modulated carrier signal over a voice transmission path;

receiving at each of the first and second computer terminal locations the transmitted sequence of data packets, and upon verified receipt thereof transmitting an acknowledgement of the receipt to indicate the establishment of synchronization between the two locations, the step of receiving including demodulating the modulated carrier signal to recover the data packets; and

thereafter transmitting from each of the first and second computer terminal locations a sequence of data packets with the voice byte locations thereof dedicated to the transmission of voice information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the acknowledgement of receipt is transmitted within control information locations of a packet.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein synchronization bytes are transmitted in all of the voice byte locations during the step of transmitting a sequence of data packets with synchronization bytes in certain ones of the voice byte locations.

4. The method of claim 1 including the additional step of continually analyzing the control information locations of received packets for an indication of loss of synchronization at the transmitting location and, upon receipt of an indication of such a loss of synchronization at the transmitting location, resuming transmitting from the receiving computer terminal location a sequence of data packets with synchronization bytes in certain ones of the voice byte locations.

5. The method of claim 1 including the additional step of continually analyzing received packets for an indication of loss of synchronization at the receiving location and, upon detecting an indication of loss of synchronization at the receiving location, transmitting from the receiving computer terminal location a sequence of data packets with an indication of loss of synchronization within the control information locations.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of thereafter transmitting includes repeatedly transmitting, within certain ones of the data packets, control bytes including an acknowledgement of continued synchronization on the part of the receiving location, the portion of the packet dedicated to data transmission, and an indication to the transmitting location of the ability of the receiving location to receive further data transmission.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the control information is encoded using an error correcting coding.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the control information includes data packet content information.

9. A communication system comprising:

an audio analog signal source;

an analog to digital converter for converting analog signals from the source to digital signals;

a digital signal source;

means for interleaving the digital signals from the analog to digital converter with digital signals from the digital signal source including means for establishing a data packet length with certain byte locations within each data packet normally reserved for digital signals from the digital signal source and certain other byte locations within each data packet normally reserved for digital signals from the analog to digital converter, and means for generating control signals identifying data packets having certain byte locations containing digital signals from a signal source different from the source for which they are normally reserved;

means comprising a modem and a conventional telephone link for transmitting the interleaved signals to a remote location; and

means at the remote location for separating the interleaved digital signals and reconstructing the audio analog signals.