Telephonic communications – Reception of calling information at substation in wireline... – Having broadband premise equipment
Reexamination Certificate
2002-04-04
2004-12-14
Tran, Quoc (Department: 2643)
Telephonic communications
Reception of calling information at substation in wireline...
Having broadband premise equipment
C379S142010, C379S142170, C379S093230, C370S352000, C725S106000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06831969
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to displaying caller ID information, and more specifically, to displaying caller ID information in an environment with broadband telephony service.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For many years voice telephone service was implemented over a circuit switched network commonly known as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and controlled by a local telephone service provider. In such systems, the analog electrical signals representing the conversation are transmitted between the two telephone handsets on a dedicated twisted-pair-copper-wire circuit. More specifically, each telephone (i.e. one at the end placing the call and the other to the end receiving the call) is coupled to its respective local switching station on a dedicated pair of copper wires known as a subscriber loop. When a telephone call is placed, the circuit is completed by dynamically coupling each subscriber loop through its local switching station to a dedicated pair of copper wires between the two local switching stations. Once it is placed, the call causes a signaling, universally known as “ringing”, in the receiving telephone. As will be discussed below, the signal causing the ringing may also convey certain information. Once the call is answered, the circuit is completed between the calling phone and the receiving phone. This is a classic circuit-switched network. A main advantage of it the circuit is connected and continually capable of carrying information (in this case, a voice audio signal) for as long as the call duration is in progress. A disadvantage is that this is wasteful, inasmuch as resources are constantly used for as long as the circuit is complete, whether or not information is being transmitted (e.g. during periods of silence).
Although over a century old, the PSTN has proven amenable to upgrades and adding new functionality to the extant PSTN. Recently, “caller ID” functionality has been added to PSTN systems. Caller ID, as is well-known, provides means for the recipient of a call to know who is placing that call, without actually answering the call. The PSTN service provider may, for example, provide Caller ID information to the recipient of a call by including frequency shift key (FSK) modulated signals after the second ring signal that includes Caller ID information such as the caller telephone number and the name of the person to which the caller telephone number is assigned.
At the called station, the FSK signals can be decoded by a Caller ID circuit and displayed to the callee. The Caller ID circuit has been embodied in a stand alone unit which would be coupled to the PSTN line between the callee's telephone and the local switching station, ordinarily at a point proximate to the caller's telephone. The stand alone Caller ID unit would include the Caller ID circuit and a means for conveying the Caller ID information, the means being most typically a small screen such an LCD screen.
In an alternative to the stand-alone Caller ID unit, the Caller ID circuit has also been incorporated directly into in a PSTN telephone. In this embodiment, the telephone itself includes the Caller ID circuit and a display screen for displaying the Caller ID information.
In yet another alternative device of the prior art, a stand alone box provides for displaying the Caller ID information on a television. The stand alone box is also coupled to the PSTN line and is simultaneously coupled to the cable line that provides a video signal to the television. Such a unit includes the above-described PSTN Caller ID circuit for decoding the FSK signals and also includes an image overlay circuit for putting a signal representing a text representation of the Caller ID information into the video signal such that the resultant video signal provided to the television includes the text Caller ID information overlaid over the image contained in the original video signal.
The aforementioned equipment has served satisfactorily in the past, in which the television and telephone signals were separately supplied, i.e., the television signals were supplied via coaxial cable, and the telephone signals were supplied via the twisted-pair copper long common to the PSTN network. This arrangement seemed to work well, because voice communications were thought to best benefit from a circuit-switched network, while data communications were thought to best benefit from a packet-switched network. However, advances in packet switched network bandwidth (e.g. advances in data transmission) have made it possible for telephone conversations to be communicated using a packet-switched architecture over networks such as a Hybrid Fiber Cable (HFC) network (or a pure coaxial cable network) that also communicates television programming and Internet traffic along with telephony communications. Thus, new technology has emerged in which the television and telephone signals are jointly supplied via a single broadband line, e.g. coaxial cable. This single broadband line will carry television programming and Internet traffic along with telephony signals. When voice telephony is provided in this manner it is no longer being provided by a circuit-switched network but rather by a packet-switched network. Such packet-switched network equipment is designed to interoperate with classic telephone equipment, by including a customer gateway through which a standard telephone may be connected. The customer gateway will perform functions comprising digital-to-analog conversion, and will digitally generate and output to the telephone a an analog signal signal which is equivalent to that provided by the PSTN; as such, a “virtual PSTN” is provided to the standard telephone equipment. Given the comparative abundance of bandwidth available, most customer gateways will provide a plurality of separate telephone numbers, and will provide separate outputs for each.
In order for Caller ID equipment which is made for use with the circuit-switched network to work with the Virtual PSTN, the customer gateway must replicate the FSK signal on the line corresponding to each telephone number, and each line must be provided with its own Caller ID display. This becomes cumbersome and expensive, particularly when several telephone numbers are provided as standard outputs, as each standard output requires its own unique twisted line pair emerging from the customer gateway (most commonly, each emerges through an RJ-11 modular connection). Even more than cumbersome and expensive, it becomes virtually impossible when the lines are provided as IP telephony lines, as such have no ability to provide Caller ID Data for display using standard Caller ID Data which coupled to the IP telephony lines.
What is needed is a Caller ID display system that provides for a more convenient display of Caller ID information in a system wherein telephone service is provided over a broadband network.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A first aspect of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for display of Caller ID information in a system wherein telephone service is provided over a broadband network. The broadband network may be a packet switched coaxial cable network or a hybrid fiber/cable network. The broadband network may provide to the apparatus both television programming and telephone communication services. The apparatus may have as its input a single coaxial cable connector for coupling to the broadband network.
The apparatus may have as its output both a telephone output means and a video signal output means. The telephone output means may comprise at least one of a plurality of means for providing a telephony signal of at least one type of telephone device. The telephony signal may be a voice-over-IP signal compatible with an IP telephony telephone device or may be an analog or PSTN digital telephony signal compatible with a standard telephone. The video signal output means may comprise circuits for providing an analog or digital video signal for providing an image on a video device such as a television.
The image may include the tele
Innomedia Pre Ltd.
O'Hagan Timothy P.
Tran Quoc
LandOfFree
Caller ID display system for telephony over a packet... does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Caller ID display system for telephony over a packet..., we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Caller ID display system for telephony over a packet... will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3283733