Switching transcoder
AssigneeHughes Electronics Corporation
InventorMichael Lohman
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention switch transcoder (18) provides transcoding of speech for a cellular system in which speech from a plurality of E1 lines (7) may be compressed for outputting to a much smaller number of T1 lines (8) so that multiple conversations greater in number than previously possible can be carried on at the same time. The transcoding and switching of speech between the E1 and T1 lines are effected on a single module (30) which has thereon the control processor (42), voice processors (44) and appropriate interfaces (36, 40).
Claims17
Switching transcoder for a radio transceiver station, the transceiver station supporting a plurality of different voice channels in which voice in each channel is divided into speech bursts, each channel corresponding to a different voice source, the switching transcoder comprising:
- memory means for storing a plurality of different speech bursts associated with different voice channels in different areas thereof the memory means comprising a plurality of buffers each representative of a different area of said memory means for storing speech bursts relating to a corresponding one of said voice channels for a predetermined period of time;
- voice processor means for transcoding speech bursts;
- control processor means for retrieving speech bursts located at different areas of said memory means corresponding to respective ones of said voice channels and routing said retrieved speech bursts to said voice processor means for transcoding.
In a radio transceiver station having a plurality of first voice lines and a plurality of second voice lines, said station providing communication channels for a plurality of voice sources, a first voice source producing speech bursts for communication through one of said first voice lines and a second voice source producing speech bursts for communication through one of said second voice lines, the station including a switching transcoder comprising:
- a plurality of first buffers each connected to a corresponding one of said first voice lines, speech bursts from said first voice source being stored in one of said first buffers;
- voice processor means for transcoding speech bursts provided thereto;
- control processor means for addressing said first buffers and retrieving from said one first buffer only the speech bursts uttered by said first voice source, and routing the retrieved speech bursts to said voice processor means for transcoding.
A method of transmitting a conversation between a first voice source and a second voice source in a radio telecommunication network wherein said first and second voice sources produce speech bursts, the method comprising the steps of:
- storing speech bursts uttered by said first voice source in a corresponding one of a plurality of buffers;
- retrieving the stored speech bursts relating to said first voice source from said one buffer and providing said retrieved speech bursts to a voice processor means;
- transcoding said provided speech bursts;
- and
- retrieving the transcoded speech bursts relating to said first voice source from said voice processor means and providing said retrieved transcoded speech bursts to said second speaker.
Switching transcoder module for a voice communications transceiver station having a plurality of input voice lines to the module and a plurality of output voice lines from the module, the input and output voice lines carrying speech bursts to and from the module respectively, the module comprising:
- a first plurality of buffers coupled to the input voice lines for storing speech bursts carried by the input voice lines;
- a second plurality of buffers coupled to the output voice lines for storing speech bursts carried by the output voice lines;
- a voice processor for transcoding speech bursts;
- a control processor for routing speech bursts stored in the first plurality of buffers to the voice processor for transcoding and for routing speech bursts that have been transcoded to the second plurality of buffers to establish a connection between a specific one of the input voice lines from among the plurality of input voice lines with a specific one of the output voice lines from among the plurality of output voice lines.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.