Access and control system for enhanced audio capabilities in an integrated telephony/high speed data access device

A telephone/data network interface, comprising:

• a digital data network connection point;
• an analog local telephone connection point;
• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder;
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point by requesting a switch from the telephone-grade to the wideband digital audio decoder for local audio output from the digital audio processor;
• and
• a switchable wideband audio output, separate from the analog local telephone connection point, that is selectable by the audio quality selector in response to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point;
• and
• the audio quality selector configured in the two-way audio path between the digital data network connection point and the analog local telephone connection point so that the selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder or the selectable wideband digital audio decoder can be selected to decode data received over the digital data network connection point.

A telephone/data network interface comprising:

• a digital data network connection point;
• an analog local telephone connection point;
• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder, the processor connected between the digital data network connection point and the analog local telephone connection point so that both the selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and the selectable wideband digital audio decoder can each receive a signal from the digital data network connection point and output the received signal to the analog local telephone connection point;
• and
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point by requesting a switch from the selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder to the selectable wideband digital audio decoder for local audio output from the digital audio processor.

A telephone/data network interface comprising:

• a digital data network connection point;
• an analog local telephone connection point;
• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder, the processor connected in a two-way audio path between the digital data network connection point and the analog local telephone connection point;
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point by requesting a switch from the telephone-grade to the wideband digital audio decoder for local audio output from the digital audio processor;
• and
• a switchable wideband audio output, separate from the analog local telephone connection point, that is selectable by the audio quality selector in response to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point, wherein the wideband audio output overrides an audio signal presented to a television receiver.

A telephone/data network interface comprising:

• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder;
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal by requesting a switch from the telephone-grade to the wideband digital audio decoder;
• and
• a multi-rate analog-to-digital audio converter having a first sample rate compatible with telephone-grade audio sampling and a second sample rate compatible with wideband audio sampling, said analog-to-digital converter receiving an analog audio input, outputting digital audio to the digital audio processor, and having a sample rate selector controlled by the audio quality selector.

A telephone/data network interface comprising:

• a digital data network connection point;
• an analog local telephone connection point;
• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder, the processor connected in a two-way audio path between the digital data network connection point and the analog local telephone connection point;
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point by requesting a switch from the telephone-grade to the wideband digital audio decoder for local audio output from the digital audio processor;
• the digital audio processor further comprising at least one telephone-grade digital audio encoder and at least one wideband digital audio encoder, wherein the audio quality selector also responds to a command signal received over the analog local telephone interface by requesting either a telephone-grade or a wideband digital audio encoder for processing of locally-originated audio signals;
• and
• a multi-rate analog-to-digital audio converter having a first sample rate compatible with telephone-grade audio sampling and a second sample rate compatible with wideband audio sampling, said analog-to-digital converter receiving local analog audio input, outputting digital audio to the digital audio processor, and having a sample rate selector controlled by the audio quality selector.

A telephone/data network interface comprising:

• a digital data network connection point;
• an analog local telephone connection point;
• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder, the processor connected in a two-way audio path between the digital data network connection point and the analog local telephone connection point;
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point by requesting a switch from the telephone-grade to the wideband digital audio decoder for local audio output from the digital audio processor;
• and
• said digital audio processor comprising an audio-codec renegotiator that initiates a codec renegotiation with a remote digital audio processor when, at the time of a request for audio quality reselection from the audio quality selector, the current codec does not provide the requested audio quality.

A telephone/data network interface comprising:

• a digital data network connection point;
• an analog local telephone connection point;
• a digital audio processor having at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder, the processor connected in a two-way audio path between the digital data network connection point and the analog local telephone connection point;
• an audio quality selector that responds to a command signal received at the analog local telephone connection point by requesting a switch from the telephone-grade to the wideband digital audio decoder for local audio output from the digital audio processor;
• and
• said digital audio processor comprising a remote input bandwidth detector, said detector responding to an indication from a remote digital audio processor that wideband input audio is available by signaling this availability over said analog telephone interface.

A method of operating an analog telephone/digital data network interface comprising:

• presenting a standard analog telephone line interface to an attached telephone set;
• detecting a signal produced at the standard analog telephone line interface by the attached telephone set by detecting the presence of a signal, on the standard analog telephone line interface, selected from a group of signals consisting of discrete-tone multi-frequency signals, on/off hookswitch conditions, voice commands, and combinations thereof;
• responding to the signal by reconfiguring audio processing between a telephone-grade processing path and a wideband processing path within the telephone/data network interface;
• and
• upon detecting the signal, ignoring an output of locally-originated audio during a time period corresponding to the signal.

A method of operating an analog telephone/digital data network interface comprising:

• means for presenting a standard analog telephone line interface to an attached telephone set;
• detecting a signal produced at the standard analog telephone line interface by the attached telephone set;
• and
• responding to the signal by reconfiguring audio processing between a telephone-grade processing path and a wideband processing path within the telephone/data network interface;
• means for detecting the presence of a transducer separate from the attached telephone set.

A cable modem transceiver comprising:

• a data connection point;
• an analog telephone connection point;
• a switch circuit selectively enabling a wideband audio decoder or a telephone-grade audio decoder to decode audio signals from the data connection point;
• and
• an audio quality selector configured to direct the switch circuit to connect decoded audio signals from the wideband audio decoder or the telephone-grade audio decoder to the analog telephone connection point in response to a command signal received from the analog telephone connection point.

A system for operating an analog telephone/digital data network interface comprising:

• means for presenting a standard analog telephone line interface to an attached telephone set;
• means for detecting a signal produced at the standard analog telephone line interface by the attached telephone set;
• means for responding to the signal by reconfiguring audio processing between a telephone-grade processing path and a wideband audio coding processing path within the telephone/data network interface;
• means for detecting the presence of a signal, on the standard analog telephone line interface, selected from the group of signals consisting of discrete-tone multi-frequency signals, on/off hookswitch conditions, voice commands, and combinations thereof;
• and
• means for removing output of locally-originated audio during a time period corresponding to the signal.

An electronic storage medium containing software for operating an analog telephone/digital data network interface, the electronic storage medium comprising:

• code for presenting a standard analog telephone line interface to an attached telephone set;
• code for detecting a signal produced at the standard analog telephone line interface by the attached telephone set;
• and
• code for responding to the signal by reconfiguring audio processing between a telephone-grade processing path and a wideband audio coding processing path within the telephone/data network interface;
• code for detecting the presence of a signal, on the standard analog telephone line interface, selected from the group of signals consisting of discrete-tone multi-frequency signals, on/off hookswitch conditions, voice commands, and combinations thereof;
• and
• code for removing output of locally-originated audio during a time period corresponding to the signal.

A telephone control circuit, comprising:

• a network connection for receiving a low bandwidth audio signal and a high bandwidth audio/data signal;
• a low fidelity telephone connection;
• a separate high fidelity audio/data interface;
• a switching circuit configured to respond to a command signal received over the low fidelity telephone connection by adapting the control circuit to output the low bandwidth audio signal to the low fidelity telephone connection or separately output the high bandwidth audio/data signal to the high fidelity audio/data interface;
• and
• at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder configured in an audio path between the network connection and the low fidelity telephone connection so that the selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder or the selectable wideband digital audio decoder can selectively decode data received over the network connection.

A telephone control circuit, comprising:

• a network connection for receiving a low bandwidth audio signal and a high bandwidth audio/data signal;
• a low fidelity telephone connection;
• a separate high fidelity audio/data interface;
• a switching circuit configured to respond to a command signal received over the low fidelity telephone connection by adapting the control circuit to output the low bandwidth audio signal to the low fidelity telephone connection or separately output the high bandwidth audio/data signal to the high fidelity audio/data interface;
• and
• a digital audio processor comprising a remote input bandwidth detector, said detector responding to an indication from a remote digital audio processor that the high bandwidth audio/data signal is available by signaling this availability over the low fidelity telephone connection.

A telephone control circuit, comprising:

• a network connection for receiving a low bandwidth audio signal and a high bandwidth audio/data signal;
• a low fidelity telephone connection;
• a separate high fidelity audio/data interface;
• a switching circuit configured to respond to a command signal received over the low fidelity telephone connection by adapting the control circuit to output the low bandwidth audio signal to the low fidelity telephone connection or separately output the high bandwidth audio/data signal to the high fidelity audio/data interface;
• and
• at least one selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder and at least one selectable wideband digital audio decoder connected in a two-way audio path between the network connection and the low fidelity telephone connection so that the selectable telephone-grade digital audio decoder or the selectable wideband digital audio decoder can be selected to decode data received over the network connection.

A telephone control circuit, comprising:

• a network connection for receiving a low bandwidth audio signal and a high bandwidth audio/data signal;
• a low fidelity telephone connection;
• a separate high fidelity audio/data interface;
• a switching circuit configured to respond to a command signal received over the low fidelity telephone connection by adapting the control circuit to output the low bandwidth audio signal to the low fidelity telephone connection or separately output the high bandwidth audio/data signal to the high fidelity audio/data interface;
• wherein the command signal received over the low fidelity telephone connection is a Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) signals or hook-flash signals initiated by a telephone user;
• and
• wherein a notification signal sent over the low fidelity telephone connection audibly notifies the telephone user of the availability of the high bandwidth audio/data signal and the telephone user has to then manually initiate the command signal for switching signals from the network connection from the low fidelity telephone connection to the separate high fidelity audio/data interface by generating the DTMF signals or the hook-flash signals.