Multiplexed digital packet telephone system

A method for coupling a plurality of asynchronous digital information packet sources and sinks to a plurality of digital transmitters and receivers each of said transmitters operably coupled to a corresponding one of said receivers, comprising the steps of:

• detecting the presence of digital information packets at at least one of said digital information packet sources;
• transferring said digital information packets from said one digital information packet source to a transmission local memory;
• encoding said digital information packets received from said one packet source with routing information for routing to a predetermined corresponding one of said packet sinks;
• arranging said information packets into a plurality of packet transmission queues within said transmission local memory, each queue being operably coupled with a corresponding one of said digital transmitters;
• determining the respective lengths of said transmission queues;
• appending successive ones of said digital information packets to the shortest one of said transmission queues;
• detecting the availablility of said digital transmitters for transmission of said information packets;
• transferring the digital information packet at the head of one of said transmission queues from said local memory to the corresponding one of said digital transmitters when said corresponding one of said digital transmitters is available for transmission of information packets;
• transmitting said digital information packets from said one of said digital transmitters to the corresponding one of said receivers;
• transferring said digital information packets from said corresponding one of said digital receivers to a receiver local memory;
• examining respective ones of said digital information packets in said receiver local memory;
• and
• routing said digital information packets from said receiver local memory to the respective digital information packet sinks identified by the routing informatiuon of each respective information packet.

A method for communicating information signals from a first location to a second location over a digital communication medium comprising the steps of:

• presenting an information signal as a succession of binary digital samples;
• dividing said succession of binary digital samples into groups of binary digital samples arranged in a temporal sequence;
• transforming at least two of said groups of binary digital samples into corresponding frames of digital compression variables by means of a computational compression algorithm whereby the compression ratio of the number of binary bits in each of said frames to the number of binary bits in the corresponding group of binary digital samples is less than one;
• appending an identifying header to each of said frames of digital compression variables to provide a succession of data packets;
• transmitting said data packets over said digital communication medium;
• receiving said data packets at said second location;
• removing said identifying header from received ones of said data packets to recover said frames of digital compression variables at said second location;
• successively synthesizing groups of binary digital words at said second location from said frames of digital compression variables by means of a computational inverse compression algorithm, said groups of synthesized binary digital words being approximate representations of said groups of binary digital samples;
• arranging said groups of synthesized binary digital words into a queue in a temporal order generally corresponding to said temporal sequence of said groups of binary digital samples;
• periodically removing the synthesized binary digital word at the head of said queue at said predetermined sampling rate to approximately reproduce said information signal at said second location.

A communication system for communicating information signal over a communication medium comprising:

• means for formatting said information signal into successive groups of digital bits;
• means for transforming said groups of digital bits into corresponding frames of digital compression variables comprised of digital bits whereby the ratio of the number of bits in a corresponding frame to the number of bits in the group to which the frame corresponds to is less than one;
• means for appending an identifying header to said frames of digital compression variables to provide information packets;
• and
• means for transmitting said information packets along said communication medium, said communication medium having characteristic bandwidth, said system including means responsive to the average power level of said information signal for inhibiting transmission of information packets along said communication medium when said average power level becomes less than a predetermined value, thereby conserving use of said communication medium bandwidth.

A communication system for communicating an information signal over a communication medium, said information signals being presented by a plurality of information signal sources and said communication medium comprising a plurality of communication channels, comprising:

• means for formatting said information signal into successive groups of digital binary bits;
• means for transforming said groups of digital bits into corresponding frames of digital compression variables comprised of digital bits whereby the ratio of the number of bits in a corresponding frame to the number of bits in the group to which the frame corresponds to is less than one;
• means for appending an identifying header to said frames of digital compression variables to provide information packets;
• means for transmitting said information packets along said communications medium;
• means for accumulating said information packets in transmission queues, each of said queues being operably coupled to an assigned one of said channels;
• means for identifying the shortest one of said transmission queues;
• and
• means for routing said information packets, as they are made available for accumulation, to the transmission queue then identified as the shortest.

A communication system for communicating an analog information signal over a communication medium comprising:

• means for formatting said information signal into successive groups of digital bits;
• means for transforming said groups of digital bits into corresponding frames of digital compression variables comprised of digital bits whereby the ratio of the number of bits in a corresponding frame to the number of bits in the group to which the frame corresponds to is less than one;
• means for appending an identifying header to said frames of digital compression variables to provide information packets;
• means for transmitting said information packets along said communication medium;
• means for periodically sampling said analog information signal to provide a succession of analog signal samples;
• means for transforming said analog signal samples into a digital format thereby providing a succession of digital samples;
• said means for formatting said information signals into successive groups of digital bits comprising means for dividing said succession of binary digital samples into said groups of digital bits.

A communication system for communicating an information signal over a communication medium having a communication medium bandwidth, comprising:

• means for formatting said information signal into successive groups;
• means for transforming said groups into corresponding frames of compression variables thereby defining a compression ratio between a corresponding frame and the group to which the frame corresponds to of less than one;
• means for transmitting said frames along said communication medium;
• means for dynamically adjusting said compression ratio in inverse relation to the amount of said communication bandwidth being used;
• means for appending an identifying header to said frames to provide information packets, said means for transmitting said frames comprising means for transmitting said information packets along said communication medium;
• and
• means for accumulating said information packets in a transmission queue for storing said information packets when said communication medium is unavailable for transmission of said information packets, said system including means for detecting the length of said transmission queue as an indication of the bandwidth of said communication medium being used, said means for dynamically adjusting said compression ratio in inverse relation to the amount of said communication medium bandwidth being used comprising means for adjusting said compression ratio in inverse relation to the length of said transmission queue.