Integrated communication system of voice and data

Details Integrated communication system of voice and data Integrated communication system of voice and data

1998-07-22

2001-06-12

Hsu, Alpus H. (Department: 2662)

Multiplex communications

Pathfinding or routing

Combined circuit switching and packet switching

C370S395430, C370S404000, C370S524000, C379S088170, C379S093070

Reexamination Certificate

active

06246679

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated communication system of voice and data, and in particular to an integrated communication system of voice and data which connects an Ethernet LAN to an external communication network.
Communication arts for a voice signal which is an analog signal and for data which is a digital signal have been developed individually. In the mean time, the voice signal has been able to be processed as voice data by converting the analog signal into the digital signal. Accordingly, in view of the advantages, a communication system which can process both signals in an integrated unit has been required.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional office, as shown in
FIG. 22
, voice communication has been realized between a telephone terminal equipments TE and PBX (Private Branch exchange machine).
Data communication such as a mail or the like in the office has been realized by a LAN system of a client-server type in which a personal computer (PC)
2
, a server
5
, and a router
6
are mutually connected through an Ethernet LAN.
Outside the office, a voice signal is transferred from the PBX to a narrow band switching network (NBW NW)
10
through a pair of telephone stations circuits
9
.
Also outside the office, the data communication has been realized by leading in a leased line network (LL NW) or a frame relay network (FR NW)
12
connected to other offices or internet network
14
into the office through the server
5
or the router
6
. It is to be noted that the leased line network or the frame relay network
12
can be substituted by a narrow band switching network in case that data communication quantity outside the office is very little.
As a result, a personal computer and a telephone for voice communication to be connected to the LAN are required on a desk in the office, thereby narrowing an effective space on the desk. Also, a number of lines creep over the floor in the office. Although having been made smaller in size, the PBX accommodating several tens or hundreds of telephones is still large in size so that the office floor space for the PBX has to be wide.
Moreover, a lead-in wire from the outside of the office requires several pair wires or coaxial wires for the data communication in addition to voice pair wires.
Also, there has been increasing a case where a large quantity of data is taken in from a personal computer through internet WWW (World Wide Web) or the like. Therefore, the band of a communication circuit (line) which has been used for the conventional data communication will be narrowed, resulting in a long data communication time.
It is accordingly necessary to set up a new high-speed leased line after the abandonment of the conventional line and the peripheral system thereof so that the lead-in cost is increased burdening final users.
As a means for solving these problems, a skilled person in the art can conceive a method for making the whole including the office in the form of a wide band, as shown FIG.
23
.
For example, in the office, an ATM switchboard (ATM-SW)
50
is provided having a function of LANE (LAN Emulation) such as LECS (LAN Emulation Configuration Server)
51
, LES (LAN Emulation Server )
52
, BUS (Broadcast & Unknown Server)
53
and a function of MPOA such as an MPOA (Multi-Protocol Over ATM) servers
54
, and leads in a personal computer PC using DS1 or ATM-25 interface (IF).
Circuits outside the office are led in a wide band public network (WB PUBLIC NW)
55
with an optical link through an ATM interface such as STS-1, DS3, or DS1, which forms a concept of B (broad band)-ISDN.
Also, as shown in
FIG. 24
, a skilled person in the art can conceive a method by which the data communication is carried out by using a high-speed LAN
60
in the office and by connecting the office to a wide band public network
55
outside the office with an optical link through a high-speed router
61
in the same as FIG.
23
.
With regard to voice in these wide band systems, there is an idea achieved by VTOA (Voice Tele phony Over ATM) or the like.
However, in order to operate these systems, there costs a great deal of expense and remain technologically unsettled problems.
Furthermore, the public network also has a considerable difficulty in respect of technology and cost to contain the corresponding system, requiring a long term for the achievement.
Furthermore, it is necessary to abandon an existing system (such as a LAN system, a PBX, lead-in circuits, and a voice switchboard as well as the communication network on the public network side) or to invalidate the utilization for the system change.
Therefore, at the moment, those systems are impractical for a number of offices except big enterprises having a huge capital.
On the other hand, an internet telephone has been recently paid to attention as an art which transfers voice by incorporating a telephone in a personal computer to use an existing data communications system. As shown in
FIG. 25
, this art is to transfer voice data by using the protocol of TCP/IP for the internet where a connectionless UDP is actually used so that adverse effects on the existing system are little.
However, it is also necessary to set up a LAN system connected to the internet network
14
through an IP router
62
or the like to support the protocol of TCP/IP. In addition, the relay/DSP conversion process in a voice codec (CODEC) is mostly carried out by a processor (&mgr; P), and therefore the personal computer is required to have a high-speed processor.
Moreover, the call quality depends on the status of data traffic in the internet network, and is not necessarily good as the evaluation is various. Because of the jammed condition caused, a condition may occur where the call is difficult to be made.
In any case, the internet telephone is poor concerning traffic managements in comparison with the conventional public telephone network while it is effective for a simple voice communication system. It is expected that a long term is required for the improvement including the solution of a basic problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide an integrated communication system of voice and data which connects an Ethernet LAN to an external network by using a conventional communication system used so far.
For the achievement of the above object, an integrated communication system of voice and data according to the present invention comprises; a personal computer connected to the LAN and having an interface stored therein for transferring a voice signal at a data link level without processors; an ISDN voice interface connected to the LAN and for connecting the personal computer to the external communication network with a voice channel; various routers for performing data communication on the LAN and having an interface with the external communication network; a multiplexer for multiplexing/demultiplexing input/output data of the ISDN voice interface and the routers in a plurality of channels; and an access network having a user interface for connecting input/output data of the multiplexer to the external communication network.
This integrated communication system of voice and data will be described referring to the schematic diagram shown in FIG.
1
.
As a system on a user side, between an existing office LAN
1
and a narrow band switching network
10
, a frame relay network
12
, or an internet network
14
which is an existing network outside the office, an access network
8
is set up.
As for the LAN
1
, a conventional Ethernet LAN, various routers, and personal computers (PC)
2
are used as they are. However, as for voice a communication channel circuit (interface) is provided in the personal computer
2
so that the voice signal may be transmitted from and received by the personal computer
2
.
This voice channel circuit on the side of the personal computer
2
is adapted such that the voice signal can access the ISDN line directly connected to the LAN
1
or other personal c

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Integrated communication system of voice and data does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Integrated communication system of voice and data, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Integrated communication system of voice and data will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2535826