Telephone communication system over a single telephone line

A device for coupling a telephone device to one or more time-domain multiplexed digitized voice channels carried over a Local Area Network (LAN) in a building, said device comprising:

• a local area network (LAN) modem couplable to the LAN and operative to communicate said voice channels with another modem that is interchangeable with said LAN modem in the building over the LAN;
• a subscriber line interface coupled to said LAN modem and operative to convert a first voice channel to a first analog telephone signal;
• a first telephone connector coupled to said subscriber line interface and couplable to a telephone device to couple the first analog telephone signal to the telephone device;
• and
• a single enclosure housing said LAN modem, said subscriber line interface and said first telephone connector.

A telephone system providing a terminal for a telephone service, for use with a Local Area Network (LAN) in a building carrying at least one time domain multiplexed digitized voice channel, said system comprising:

• a port for coupling to the LAN;
• a local area network modem coupled to said port and operative to communicate over the LAN with one or more mating modems;
• and
• a converter coupled to said LAN modem for converting between the digitized voice channel and analog voice signals, wherein said system is operative for initiating and terminating telephone calls with a telephone service outside the building.

A device for coupling one or more analog telephone sets to multiple digitized voice channels, for use with a telephone wire pair in a building connecting to a telephone service, the telephone wire pair being connected to simultaneously carry an analog telephone signal (POTS) in an analog telephone frequency band and a digital data signal in a digital data frequency band distinct from, and higher than, the analog telephone frequency band, the digital data signal comprising at least first and second time-domain multiplexed digitized voice channels, said device comprising:

• a first telephone connector for connecting to the telephone wire pair;
• a telephone line modem for transmitting and receiving over the telephone wire pair;
• a high pass filter coupled between said first telephone connector and said telephone line modem for substantially passing only signals in the digital data frequency band;
• a first subscriber line interface coupled to said telephone line modem and operative to convert the first digitized voice channel to a first analog telephone signal;
• and
• a second telephone connector coupled to said first subscriber line interface and couplable to a first analog telephone set to couple a first analog telephone signal to the first analog telephone set,
• wherein, in a first state of said device, the first digitized voice channel is passed between said telephone line modem and said first subscriber line interface for coupling the first digitized voice channel to the first analog telephone set, and, in a second state of said device, the second digitized voice channel is passed between said telephone line modem and said first subscriber line interface for coupling the second digitized voice channel to first analog telephone set.

A system for coupling one or more telephone apparatuses in a building to a telephone service provided by a telephone service provider, the system comprising:

• a Wide Area Network (WAN) at least in part outside of a building for coupling to a telephone network carrying one or more time-domain multiplexed digitized voice channels and operated by the telephone service provider;
• a Local Area Network (LAN) in the building for digital data communication between devices located in the building;
• a gateway for coupling between said LAN and WAN, said gateway comprising:
• a WAN port for coupling to said WAN;
• a WAN modem coupled to said WAN port for bi-directional digital data communication over said WAN;
• a first LAN port for coupling to said LAN;
• and
• a first LAN modem coupled between said first LAN port and said WAN modem for bi-directional digital data communication over said LAN;
• and
• a first telephone apparatus comprising:
• a second LAN port for coupling to said LAN;
• a second LAN modem coupled to said LAN port for bi-directional digital data communication over said LAN with said gateway;
• and
• a converter coupled to said second LAN modem for converting between a digitized voice channel and analog voice signals,
• wherein said gateway is operative for passing at least one digitized voice channel between said WAN port and said first LAN port, and said first telephone apparatus is operative for initiating and terminating telephone calls with a telephone service outside the building.

A network for coupling a plurality of analog telephone sets to a plurality of digitized telephone channels, said network comprising:

• a first telephone wire pair comprising at least two conductors and part of a local loop, said first telephone wire pair being connected to carry a first bi-directional serial digital data signal in a first digital data signal frequency band distinct from, and higher than, an analog telephone signal frequency band, the first digital data signal carrying first and second time-domain multiplexed digitized telephone channels;
• a second telephone wire pair at least in part in a wall of the building and comprising at least two conductors, said second telephone wire pair being connected to carry a second bi-directional serial digital data signal in a second digital data signal frequency band distinct from, and higher than, the analog telephone signal frequency band, the second digital data signal carrying the second digitized telephone channel;
• a first device coupled between said first and second telephone wire pairs and constructed to pass the second digitized telephone channel between said first and second telephone wire pairs, said first device being further connectable to a first analog telephone device for coupling the first digitized telephone channel, converted to analog telephony form, to the first analog telephone device;
• and
• a second device coupled to said second telephone wire pair, said second device being further connectable to a second analog telephone device for coupling the second digitized telephone channel, converted to analog telephony form, to the second analog telephone device.

A device for coupling a digitized telephone channel to an analog telephone set, for use with first and second telephone wire pairs, wherein the first telephone wire pair is at least part of a local loop outside of a building and comprises at least two conductors, and the first telephone wire pair is connected to carry a first bi-directional serial digital data signal in a first digital data signal frequency band distinct from, and higher than, an analog telephone signal frequency band, and the first digital data signal carries first and second time-domain multiplexed digitized telephone channels, wherein the second telephone wire pair is at least in part in a wall in the building and comprises at least two conductors, and the second telephone wire pair is connected to carry a second bi-directional serial digital data signal in a second digital data signal frequency band distinct from, and higher than, the analog telephone signal frequency band, and the second digital data signal carries the second digitized telephone channel, said device comprising:

• a first telephone connector connectable to the first telephone wire pair;
• a first transceiver coupled to said first telephone connector for transmitting and receiving the first bi-directional serial digital data over the first telephone wire pair;
• a second telephone connector connectable to the second telephone wire pair;
• a second transceiver coupled to said second telephone connector for transmitting and receiving the second bi-directional serial digital data over the second telephone wire pair;
• a third telephone connector connectable to an analog telephone set;
• a subscriber line interface coupled to said third telephone connector and constructed to conduct a telephone signal to and from the analog telephone set;
• and
• a single enclosure housing said connectors, said transceivers and said subscriber line interface,
• wherein said device is operative to pass the first digitized telephone channel between said first transceiver and said subscriber line interface for coupling the first digitized telephone channel to the analog telephone set, and wherein said device is further operative to pass the second digitized telephone channel between said first transceiver and said second transceiver, for passing the second digitized telephone channel between the first and second telephone wire pairs.