Distributed telephone conference control device

A distributed telephone conference control system for selectively connecting any of a plurality of telephone lines of a telephone network, comprising:

• a telephone conference control device having
• a plurality of voice signal lines each of which is respectively connected to one of said plurality of telephone lines,
• means for converting signals from said telephone lines to signals on said voice signal lines,
• a plurality of two-party conference lines selectively connectable between any two of said voice signal lines,
• a plurality of multiparty conference lines selectively connectable between any three or more of said voice signal lines,
• conference line selection signal decoder means for connecting two or more of said voice signal lines to a selected one of said two-party and multi-party conference lines, in accordance with an incoming signal received from any one of said telephone lines,
• a plurality of exclusion control lines, each of said exclusion control lines indicating a connection status of an associated one of said two-party conference lines,
• operating status detector means for detecting logic values of said exclusion control lines to determine whether an associated one of said two-party conference lines is available for connection between said voice signal lines,
• a voice processor connected to said voice signal lines for outputting message signals to an outgoing one of said voice signal lines, and
• a voice processor connection controller connected to said voice processor for controlling connections between said telephone lines and said conference lines;
• and
• means for connecting a plurality of said telephone conference control devices in parallel.