Personal computer having a sound card

• US 6,381,309 B1
• Filed: 03/17/2000
• Issued: 04/30/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Auristar Technologies Inc.
• Original Assignee: Auristar Technologies Inc.
• Inventors: Tremblay, Jacques
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Huyen
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ramakrishnaiah, Melur
• Application Number:
  US09/527,588
• Time in Patent Office: 774 Days
• Field of Search: 379/52, 379/38, 379/93.26, 379/90.01, 379/93.05, 379/93.08, 375/343, 704/216, 704/218
• US Class Current: 379/52
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42391 where the subscribers are hearing-impaired persons, e.g. telephone devices for the deaf

Abstract

Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD transitive) for a computing system and method of encoding and decoding TDD signals are described. The apparatus includes a sound card enabled to transmit and receive TDD coded Frequency Keying modulated audio signals. In extracting characters from a received audio signal, the sound card is used to sample the received audio signal. In extracting data bits from the received audio signal, groups of samples representing portions of the received signal are correlated against two frequencies.

Claims

1. A Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD) transitive adapted for TDD signaling and associated with a computer, the TDD transitive comprising:

a) a sound processor adapted to receive a digital audio signal and generate a transmit audio signal, wherein said sound processor is a sound card adapted to sample an analog signal to generate said digital audio signal and interface with a computing system, said sound card having a first audio input and a first audio output;

b) a correlator provided in the computer and adapted to discriminate between at least two audio tone states found in said digital audio signal and to output a received data stream signal, wherein said correlator discriminates between said at least two audio tone states a number of times per bit time slot, said correlator determining bit values based on a count of said audio tone states discriminated; and

c) a Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) connector adapted to connect said first audio input and said first audio output to a local loop and to match an impedance of a local loop to an impedance of said first audio input and to an impedance of said first audio output.

2. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the computing system further comprises a personal computer.

3. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the computing system further comprises a Remote Access Server (RAS).

4. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sound processor is further adapted to sample the received audio signal at a rate of 8 kHz.

5. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein discriminating between at least two states, the correlator is further adapted to discriminate a third state representing silence.

6. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the TDD signaling includes Frequency Keying discriminating between at least two states, and the correlator is further adapted to associate a logic state with corresponding group of samples derived from the received audio signal.

7. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 6, wherein associating a logic state with a corresponding group of samples, the correlator is further adapted to associate a first logic state with a group of samples representing a portion of the received audio signal having a high frequency.

8. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the TDD signaling comprises asynchronous transfer of characters and TDD transitive further comprises a character extractor operatively connected to the correlator adapted to compile a character from a sequence of states provided by the correlator.

9. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 8, wherein the character extractor is further adapted to detect a start of a, character transfer from a particular sequential combination of states.

10. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 8, wherein the character extractor is further adapted to detect an end of a character transfer from a particular sequential combination of states.

11. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the POTS adapter further comprises:

a) an audio input connector adapted to receive audio signals;

b) an audio output connector adapted to provide audio signals; and

c) a first switch, the first switch being adapted to connect the audio input connector and the audio output connector to the sound processor via the second audio output and the second audio input, respectively and the switch being further adapted to disconnect the audio input connector and the audio output connector otherwise.

12. A TDD transitive as claimed in claim 1, wherein the POTS adapter further comprises:

a) an audio coupler adapted to interface with and convey audio signals to and from a telephone handset; and

b) a second switch, the second switch being adapted to connect the audio coupler to the audio signal conditioning component and the switch being further adapted to disconnect the audio coupler otherwise.

13. A method for communicating with a Telephone Device for the Deaf (TDD), said method comprising:

establishing point to point communication between said TDD and a second terminal;

determining according to a protocol a sequence of at least two tones representing an outgoing character data stream;

preparing a digital audio signal using tone data corresponding to said sequence;

transmitting a data stream corresponding to said digital audio signal to said TDD;

receiving an audio signal from said TDD;

providing a digital representation of said received audio signal to a correlator;

correlating said digital signal with at least two audio tone states;

outputting a correlation result signal; and

analyzing said correlation result signal according to a protocol to generate a received data stream.

14. A method as claimed in claim 13, further comprising providing a sound card and a POTS connector adapted to receive a local loop, wherein said step of receiving an audio signal from said TDD further comprises converting an analog signal into said digital representation, and said step of transmitting a data stream further comprises converting said data stream into a transmit analog signal.

15. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said receiving an audio signal from said TDD further comprises receiving said audio signal from a data network and said transmitting a data stream further comprises transmitting said data stream through a date network.