Internet based telephone apparatus and method
First Claim
1. An internet telephone accessory (ITA) dedicated to a respective first telephone to enable the first telephone to call a second telephone over the Internet, the ITA comprising:
- a housing located outside of a personal computer (PC) and including therein a modem for sending and receiving digital information over telephone lines, a memory for including at least one Internet address, a codec for converting analog and digital voice signals to digital and analog signals, respectively, and a control processor;
the housing including not more than three electrical connectors comprising a first telephone jack for connecting to the conventional first telephone and a second telephone jack connecting the ITA to a telephone wall jack;
a first software facility structured to enable dialing of the second telephone via an internet service provider (ISP) and from the ITA of the first telephone and a second software facility for enabling placing a voice call to the conventional second telephone connected to the Internet, whereby a long distance telephone call could be established over an internet telephone channel without use of conventional computer equipment.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An internet related telephone accessory connects directly to conventional home and business telephones and enables the establishment of long distance telephone connections through the internet, realizing substantial savings in long distance telephone tolls. The telephone accessory initiates, in response to dialing of a long distance telephone number, a process which calls that telephone number through the internet. If the receiving telephone is not connected at the time of the call to its internet service provider (ISP), the telephone accessory calls the dialed telephone conventionally, i.e. through a long distance telephone service (MCI, ATT, SPRINT, etc.) and electronically signals it (in the space of less than about a second) to connect itself to the internet. Thereafter, the accessory redials the called telephone over the internet, so that the parties could converse (or transmit fax messages and the like) over the internet at local telephone rates.
342 Citations
22 Claims
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1. An internet telephone accessory (ITA) dedicated to a respective first telephone to enable the first telephone to call a second telephone over the Internet, the ITA comprising:
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a housing located outside of a personal computer (PC) and including therein a modem for sending and receiving digital information over telephone lines, a memory for including at least one Internet address, a codec for converting analog and digital voice signals to digital and analog signals, respectively, and a control processor; the housing including not more than three electrical connectors comprising a first telephone jack for connecting to the conventional first telephone and a second telephone jack connecting the ITA to a telephone wall jack; a first software facility structured to enable dialing of the second telephone via an internet service provider (ISP) and from the ITA of the first telephone and a second software facility for enabling placing a voice call to the conventional second telephone connected to the Internet, whereby a long distance telephone call could be established over an internet telephone channel without use of conventional computer equipment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15)
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12. An Internet telephone accessory which is not part of a personal computer (PC) for facilitating establishing telephone calls over the Internet, comprising:
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a housing essentially including therein a modem, an a/d codec, a memory including at least one Internet address and a processor and defining an interior space of less then about fifteen cubic inches; the housing including a first connector by which the modem is connectable to a telephone wall jack and a second connector for coupling the codec to a first telephone; the processor including software programs which enable placing calls from the first telephone and connecting/interfacing and controlling the modem and the codec to convert analog voice signals to streams of digitized data suitable for being transmitted over an internet line, and for receiving and converting digitized internet-originated voice data to analog voice signals suitable to be converted to sound by the first telephone, so that the first telephone equipped with the telephone accessory could establish a voice path over the internet with a second telephone connected to the Internet. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method for effecting long distance telephone calling over an internet channel, including the steps of:
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providing a first telephone that is connected to a telephone line via a non-PC internet telephone accessory (ITA) which includes; a housing located outside a personal computer (PC) and essentially including therein a modem, an a/d codec, a memory including at least one Internet address and a processor and defining an interior space of less then about twenty cubic inches; providing a second telephone equipped with its respective non-PC internet telephone accessory; causing the first telephone to connect itself to a respective internet service provider; thereafter dialing the second telephone by dialing its conventional telephone number and automatically converting the conventional telephone number to a respective e-mail address thereof to establish a telephone hook-up via the Internet, and transmitting digital voice between the first and second telephones over the Internet.
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20. An Internet telephone accessory (ITA), comprising:
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a housing located outside a personal computer (PC) and including therein a modem for sending and receiving digital information over telephone lines, a codec for converting analog and digital voice signals to digital and analog signals, respectively, a memory including at least one Internet address and a control processor; the control processor including a first software facility structured to enable dialing of an internet service provider (ISP) from the first telephone, a second software facility for enabling placing a voice call to a conventional second telephone connected to a second Internet telephone accessory, and a third software facility for calling the second telephone over a conventional telephone line to prompt the second telephone to connect itself to its respective internet service provider, whereby a long distance telephone call could be established over an internet telephone channel without use of conventional computer equipment. - View Dependent Claims (21)
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22. A method for effecting long distance telephone calling over an internet channel, including the steps of:
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providing a first conventional telephone that is connected to a telephone line via an internet telephone accessory which includes;
a housing located outside a personal computer (PC) and essentially including therein a modem, an a/d codec, a memory including at least one Internet address and a processor and which first telephone is not connected to a personal computer;providing a second telephone equipped with its respective internet telephone accessory and which is also not connected to a personal computer; causing the first telephone to connect itself to a respective internet service provider; thereafter dialing the second telephone via an e-mail address thereof, and transmitting digital voice between the first and second telephones.
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Specification