PACKET TELEPHONY APPLIANCE

• US 20090052439A1
• Filed: 10/31/2008
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bampton Technologies, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chan, Mike, Gopalakrishnan, Raman, Ruedisueli, Laurence W., Sreenan, Cormac John, Cranor, Charles D., Onufryk, Peter Z.
• Granted Patent: US 8,170,007 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 DSP functions, wherein said network processor comprises a serial input port, a serial output port, and a network interface, where said network interface is for communicating with a network;

an output device coupled to said serial output port;

an input device coupled to said serial input port;

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

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

2. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said network processor is a Euphony network processor.

3. The packet telephony appliance of claim 2, wherein said packet telephony appliance is a Euphony Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) telephone.

4. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1,

wherein said network is an ATM network;

and

wherein said network interface is an ATM network interface.

5. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said output device comprises at least one of:

a handset speaker, a case mounted speaker, and an external speaker.

6. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said input device comprises at least one of:

a handset microphone, a case mounted microphone, and an external microphone.

7. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said packet telephony appliance runs a real-time operating system.

8. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said unified buffering mechanism employs IObufs.

9. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said event-based mechanism for intra-appliance communication is an Event Exchange inter-module communication mechanism.

10. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, wherein said unified buffering mechanism and said event-based mechanism support integrated event/data delivery that accommodates new protocols and services.

11. The packet telephony appliance of claim 1, further comprising:

RAM, Flash memory, and a keypad coupled to said network processor via a memory and peripheral bus.

12. The packet telephony appliance of claim 11, further comprising:

a plurality of RS232 serial ports coupled to said network processor via said memory and peripheral bus.

13. The packet telephony appliance of claim 3, wherein said packet telephony appliance employs a single address space operating system kernel.

14. The packet telephony appliance of claim 13, wherein said packet telephony appliance implements a copy reduction technique by using a plurality of IObufs for storing and passing data.