Multiple user telephone router
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A communication system comprising:
- a plurality of telephones adapted to provide voice communications, wherein the plurality of telephones include at least a network telephone that is configured to communicate over an Internet-Protocol based network and a conventional telephone that is configured to communicate over a public switched telephone network; and
a router adapted to provide direct coupling and wireless coupling to the plurality of telephones and to select at least one of the direct coupling and the wireless coupling to communicate with the plurality of telephones, wherein the router selectively provides voice communications from the network telephone and voice communications from the conventional telephone over an Internet-Protocol based network connection or a public switched telephone network connection;
wherein the router selectively provides the voice communications from the network telephone over the Internet-Protocol based network connection or the public switched telephone network connection depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing the voice communications from the network telephone over the public switched telephone network connection, and wherein the router selectively provides the voice communications from the conventional telephone over the Internet-Protocol based network connection or the public switched telephone network connection depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing the voice communications from the conventional telephone over the public switched telephone network connection.
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Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed herein to provide telephone communication systems. For example, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a communication system is disclosed having a router capable of supporting multiple telephone handsets and providing their corresponding voice communications over one or more network connections. The router may further support other devices, such as computers, printers, copiers, scanners, and other network-capable devices.
24 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A communication system comprising:
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a plurality of telephones adapted to provide voice communications, wherein the plurality of telephones include at least a network telephone that is configured to communicate over an Internet-Protocol based network and a conventional telephone that is configured to communicate over a public switched telephone network; and a router adapted to provide direct coupling and wireless coupling to the plurality of telephones and to select at least one of the direct coupling and the wireless coupling to communicate with the plurality of telephones, wherein the router selectively provides voice communications from the network telephone and voice communications from the conventional telephone over an Internet-Protocol based network connection or a public switched telephone network connection; wherein the router selectively provides the voice communications from the network telephone over the Internet-Protocol based network connection or the public switched telephone network connection depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing the voice communications from the network telephone over the public switched telephone network connection, and wherein the router selectively provides the voice communications from the conventional telephone over the Internet-Protocol based network connection or the public switched telephone network connection depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing the voice communications from the conventional telephone over the public switched telephone network connection. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A telecommunications device comprising:
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a router having an Internet-Protocol based network interface and adapted to provide direct coupling and wireless coupling and to select at least one of the direct coupling and the wireless coupling to support a plurality of telephones having corresponding voice communications, wherein the plurality of telephones include at least a network telephone that is configured to communicate over an Internet-Protocol based network and a conventional telephone that is configured to communicate over a public switched telephone network; wherein the router is adapted to provide all of the voice communications simultaneously through the Internet-Protocol based network interface and answer an incoming telephone call via the Internet-Protocol based network interface and route the incoming telephone call to an appropriate one of the plurality of telephones, and wherein the router comprises a processor adapted to support a dynamic Internet Protocol address service, a dynamic domain name system service, and/or a network to telephone network service; wherein the router further comprises a public switched telephone network interface, the router adapted to selectively provide the voice communications through the Internet-Protocol based network interface or the public switched telephone network interface; and wherein the router selectively provides each of the voice communications from the network telephone and from the conventional telephone through the Internet-Protocol based network interface or the public switched telephone network interface depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing each of the corresponding voice communications over the public switched telephone network interface. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of providing voice communications via a router, the method comprising:
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receiving voice communications via a direct coupling and a wireless coupling from two or more telephones and selecting at least one of the direct coupling and the wireless coupling to support the telephones, wherein the telephones include at least a network telephone that is configured to communicate over an Internet-Protocol based network and a conventional telephone that is configured to communicate over a public switched telephone network, and wherein the voice communications from the corresponding telephones are occurring simultaneously; routing each of the corresponding voice communications to an Internet-Protocol based network or to a public switched telephone network depending upon a cost associated with providing the corresponding voice communication over the public switched telephone network and whether the public switched telephone network is available for use; receiving associated voice communications from the Internet-Protocol based network or the public switched telephone network; and routing the associated voice communications from the Internet-Protocol based network or the public switched telephone network appropriately to one or more of the telephones. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A communication device system comprising:
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a plurality of telephones adapted to provide voice communications, wherein the plurality of telephones include at least a network telephone that is configured to communicate over an Internet-Protocol based network and a conventional telephone that is configured to communicate over a public switched telephone network; means for communicating to provide direct coupling and wireless coupling to the plurality of telephones and to select at least one of the direct coupling and the wireless coupling; and means for selectively providing the voice communications from the network telephone over an Internet-Protocol based network connection or a public switched telephone network connection depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing the voice communications from the network telephone over the public switched telephone network connection, with the providing means further selectively providing the voice communications from the conventional telephone over the Internet-Protocol based network connection or the public switched telephone network connection depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing the voice communications from the conventional telephone over the public switched telephone network connection. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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29. A router comprising:
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means for receiving voice communications via a direct coupling and a wireless coupling from two or more telephones to select at least one of the direct coupling and the wireless coupling to support the telephones, wherein the telephones include at least a network telephone that is configured to communicate over an Internet-Protocol based network and a conventional telephone that is configured to communicate over a public switched telephone network and wherein the voice communications from the telephones are occurring simultaneously; means for routing each of the voice communications to an Internet-Protocol based network or to a public switched telephone network depending upon availability and a cost associated with providing each of the voice communications from the network telephone and from the conventional telephone over the telephone network; means for receiving associated voice communications from the Internet-Protocol based network or the public switched telephone network; and means for routing the associated voice communications appropriately to one or more of the telephones.
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Specification