Option bus adapter

An option for use with a digital telephone of a type in which options are electrically coupled to the digital telephone by way of a option bus including bus control signals and bus data signals, and wherein the option bus is further coupled to a telephony switch by way of a telephony link and to internal telephone components by way of an internal bus, the option comprising:

• a data communication port accessible by an external computing device;
• means for interfacing with the option bus;
• means, coupled to the means for interfacing, for intercepting original telephony signals enroute between the switch and an internal component;
• transmitting means, coupled to the data communication port and the means for intercepting, for generating data communication signals indicative of the original telephony signals and for providing the data communication signals to the data communication port;
• receiving means, coupled to the data communication port and the means for interfacing, for receiving data indicative of modified telephony signals from the computing device;
• means, coupled to the receiving means, for sending the modified telephony signals to the telephone in place of the original telephony signals.

An option for use with a digital telephone of a type of which is connected to a branch exchange switch and wherein data indicative of telephony commands and information is carried between the switch and internal telephone devices by way of at least one internal bus, the option comprising:

• an externally accessible communication port;
• bus interface means, coupled to the bus, for intercepting the data;
• first processing means, for passing the data back along the bus or passing the data to the externally accessible data communications port in response to a command from an applications program;
• receiver means, coupled to the externally accessible communication port, for receiving modified data indicative of modified telephony commands or modified telephony data from the data communications port;
• and,
• second processing means, coupled to the receiver means, for passing the modified telephony commands or modified telephony data back to the bus in place of the original telephony signals.

A method of operating a digital telephone of a type which is connected to a branch exchange switch and wherein original telephony data indicative of telephony commands and information is carried between the switch and internal telephone devices by way of at least one internal bus, the method comprising the steps of:

• intercepting the original telephony data;
• generating data communication signals indicative of the telephony data;
• providing the data communication signals to an computing device by way of an externally accessible data communication port;
• receiving, from the computing device, signals indicative of modified telephony data;
• and,
• sending the modified telephony data to the bus in place of the original telephony data.