Method and telephone outlet for allowing telephone and data equipment to be connected to a telephone line via a common connector

Abstract

A telephone outlet simultaneously supporting both standard telephony and data communications over telephone wiring within a residence or other building. The outlet typically contains a low pass filter, connected between the telephone wiring and the telephone connector pins used for telephony (e.g. pins 2 and 3 in typical North-American RJ-11 connectors). In addition, a direct, unfiltered connection to the telephone wiring is supported via two other unused pins (e.g. pins 1 and 6 in typical North American RJ-11 6-pin connectors), thus allowing the connection of modems and high pass filters for access to the high frequency portion of the spectrum for data communications. Benefits include easy and direct connection of a telephone set or data devices to the same outlet, and elimination of the need to modify the telephone with low-pass filters or to provide an external module with a low-pass filter in series with the telephone. The direct, unfiltered connection to the telephone wiring also permits using a modified telephone having a low-pass filter, or an external module if so desired.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.