Packet telephony appliance

• US 8,170,007 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Bampton Technologies, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chan, Mike, Cranor, Charles D., Gopalakrishnan, Raman, Onufryk, Peter Z, Ruedisueli, Laurence W., Sreenan, Cormac John
• Primary Examiner(s): Scheibel, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tsegaye, Saba
• Application Number:
  US12/262,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20090052439A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,278 Days
• Field of Search: 370352-356, 370/395.1, 370/395.52, 370/395.7, 370/395.71, 370/395.72, 370/401, 370/428, 370/429, 370/463, 370/465, 370/466
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport

Abstract

A packet telephony appliance includes a Euphony network processor that integrates networking and DSP functions to provide a low cost and efficient solution in building a networked appliance. In particular, a Euphony ATM Telephone (EAT) is built around the Euphony network processor. The EAT uses a real-time operating system to provide predictable processing and networking support. The EAT implements IObufs, which provides a unified buffering scheme that allows zero-copy data movement. Furthermore, the EAT uses an Event Exchange (EVX), which provides a flexible mechanism for event distribution, allowing software modules to be composed together in an extensible manner. EVX and IObufs are used together to provide highly efficient intra-appliance communication. The EAT provides a platform that can evolve gracefully to support new protocols, advanced telephony services and enhanced user interfaces.

Claims

1. A packet telephony appliance, comprising:

a network processor for integrating networking and digital signal processing functions, wherein the network processor comprises a serial input port, a serial output port, and a network interface, where the network interface is for communicating with a network, wherein the network processor is an Euphony network processor, wherein the packet telephony appliance is an Euphony asynchronous transfer mode telephone;

an output device coupled to the serial output port;

an input device coupled to the serial input port;

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements a unified buffering mechanism that provides zero-copy data movement; and

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements an event-based mechanism for intra-appliance communication, wherein the packet telephony appliance employs a single address space operating system kernel.

2. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein the packet telephony appliance implements a copy reduction technique by using a plurality of input-output buffers for storing and passing data.

3. A packet telephony appliance, comprising:

a network processor for integrating networking and digital signal processing functions, wherein the network processor comprises a serial input port, a serial output port, and a network interface, where the network interface is for communicating with a network;

an output device coupled to the serial output port, wherein the output device comprises a case mounted speaker;

an input device coupled to the serial input port;

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements a unified buffering mechanism that provides zero-copy data movement; and

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements an event-based mechanism for intra-appliance communication.

4. A packet telephony appliance, comprising:

a network processor for integrating networking and digital signal processing functions, wherein the network processor comprises a serial input port, a serial output port, and a network interface, where the network interface is for communicating with a network;

an output device coupled to the serial output port, wherein the output device comprises an external speaker;

an input device coupled to the serial input port;

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements a unified buffering mechanism that provides zero-copy data movement; and

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements an event-based mechanism for intra-appliance communication.

5. A packet telephony appliance, comprising:

a network processor for integrating networking and digital signal processing functions, wherein the network processor comprises a serial input port, a serial output port, and a network interface, where the network interface is for communicating with a network;

an output device coupled to the serial output port;

an input device coupled to the serial input port, wherein the input device comprises a case mounted microphone;

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements a unified buffering mechanism that provides zero-copy data movement; and

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements an event-based mechanism for intra-appliance communication.

6. A packet telephony appliance, comprising:

a network processor for integrating networking and digital signal processing functions, wherein the network processor comprises a serial input port, a serial output port, and a network interface, where the network interface is for communicating with a network;

an output device coupled to the serial output port;

an input device coupled to the serial input port, wherein the input device comprises an external microphone;

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements a unified buffering mechanism that provides zero-copy data movement; and

wherein the packet telephony appliance implements an event-based mechanism for intra-appliance communication.