Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Including private cordless extension system
Reexamination Certificate
1998-06-30
2001-12-04
Trost, William (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Including private cordless extension system
C455S557000, C455S524000, C455S561000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06327476
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to radio communications. More specifically, the invention provides a system and method for both voice-to-voice and computer-to-computer communication using a wireless link to the public telephone network.
2. Description of the Related Art
For decades, people have been using the public telephone system for voice communications. Traditionally, people have used telephones comprising a handset attached by a cord to a dialing unit. Such telephones connect to the telephone system with a telephone line plugged into the telephone at one end and to a telephone jack (typically wired into a wall) at the other end. To make telephone calls using these telephones, a person generally must stay within a few feet of a telephone jack and cannot roam about freely while conversing on the telephone.
Existing radio-based wireless telephone systems comprising a handset and a base now provide a wireless link to the telephone system. The handset of a wireless telephone system samples and encodes the voice signals generated by a person talking into the handset, and transmits the encoded voice signals to the base, which decodes the voice signals and transmits the decoded voice signals to the telephone system. Radio transceivers in both the handset and base exchange encoded voice signals. Because the wireless handset does not have or need a cord attached to the base, a person can roam about while conversing over the telephone network and need not remain within a few feet of telephone jack. Such handset and base systems have become relatively common in households across the United States.
In addition to telephones, however, people now demand computers connected to the public telephone network. In just the last few years, the number of people using computers to engage in data communications over the public telephone system has increased from merely a few hundred thousand to well into the tens of millions. With the astronomical rise in the usage and popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web, the number of people connecting computers to the public telephone system is growing at a feverish pace.
Computers use modems to communicate with other computers over the telephone system, and each modem generally requires a connection to a telephone line. Thus, people desiring to connect their computers to a telephone line must now locate the computer near a telephone jack in the lab, home or office, and run a telephone line from the telephone jack to the modem connected to the computer. Users now must make a choice whether to connect a telephone or a computer to a telephone jack.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a wireless handset and base which perform both voice communication and efficient data communication.
One aspect of the present invention is a wireless handset. The wireless handset comprises: (1) a communication port; (2) a communication port controller responsive to first data received at the communication port to buffer the first data; (3) an audio input line; (4) a codec responsive to a sampling interrupt to generate an audio sample from audio data received at the audio input line; (5) a wireless modem responsive to a first signal to encode the first data in a first frame, and responsive to a second signal to encode the audio sample in a second frame; and (6) a radio transceiver responsive to the first signal and to a frame interrupt to transmit an RF signal frame representing the first frame, and responsive to the second signal and to the frame interrupt to transmit an RF signal frame representing the second frame.
Another aspect of the present invention is a wireless handset. The wireless handset comprises: (1) a communication port; (2) a communication port controller responsive to first data received at the communication port to buffer the first data; (3) an audio input line; (4) a codec responsive to a sampling interrupt to generate an audio sample from audio data received at the audio input line; (5) a wireless modem responsive to a first signal to encode the first data in first and second frames, and responsive to a second signal to encode the audio sample in a third frame; and (6) a radio transceiver responsive to the first signal and to a frame interrupt to transmit a plurality of RF signal frames representing the first and second frames before receiving an RF frame, and responsive to the second signal and to the frame interrupt to transmit an RF signal frame representing the third frame.
A still further aspect of the present invention is a wireless handset. The wireless handset comprises: (1) a microcontroller; (2) a data memory; (3) a computer communication port; (4) an outgoing data buffer storing data bits received at the computer communication port; (5) an audio input; (6) a codec; (7) a frame buffer storing bits to be represented by an RF signal; (8) a sample transfer routine comprising instructions stored in the data memory, the instructions executable by the microcontroller, the sample transfer routine responsive to a codec interrupt to transfer first audio samples received at the audio input to the codec, and to transfer second audio samples from the codec to the frame buffer; and (9) a data transfer routine comprising instructions stored in the data memory, the instructions executable by the microcontroller, the data transfer routine responsive to the codec interrupt to transfer data from the outgoing data buffer to the frame buffer. In one embodiment, the wireless handset further comprises (10) a radio transceiver; (11) a frame receive buffer storing bits representing RF signals received by the radio transceiver; and (12) an incoming data buffer storing data bits transferred from the frame receive buffer by the data transfer routine in response to the codec interrupt. In another embodiment, the wireless handset further comprises: (13) a data communication establishment routine comprising instructions stored in the data memory, the instructions executable by the microcontroller, the data communication establishment routine responsive to a data communication signal at the computer communication port to disable the sample transfer routine and to enable the data transfer routine. In still another embodiment, the wireless handset further comprises: (14) a jump table associating the address of the sample transfer routine with the codec interrupt, the data communication establishment routine disabling the sample transfer routine and enabling the data transfer routine by replacing in the jump table the address of the sample transfer routine with the address of the data transfer routine.
Another aspect of the present invention is a wireless base. The wireless base comprises: (1) a telephone line interface; (2) a data communication interface; (3) a modem responsive to data communication signals on the telephone line interface to generate a bitstream representing at least a portion of the data communication signals, and to transmit the bitstream to the data communication interface; (4) a communication port controller coupled to the data communication interface responsive to first data received at the data communication interface to buffer the first data; (5) a codec responsive to a sampling interrupt to generate an audio sample from audio data received on the telephone line interface; (6) a wireless modem responsive to a first signal to encode the first data in first and second frames, and responsive to a second signal to encode the audio sample in a third frame; and (7) a radio transceiver responsive to at least one frame interrupt to transmit a plurality of RF signal frames representing the first and second frames before receiving an RF frame, and responsive to another of the frame interrupts to transmit an RF signal frame representing the third frame.
A still further aspect of the present invention is a wireless base comprising: (1) a microcontroller; (2) a data memory; (3) a data communication interface; (4) a data buffer storing data received at the data communication interface; (5) a telepho
Conexant Systems Inc.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Sobutka Philip J.
Trost William
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