Voice band data mode in a universal facsimile engine

An integrated circuit comprising at least one facsimile apparatus, the at least one facsimile apparatus comprising:

• a user interface operative to facilitate communications between the apparatus and at least one user application in operative communication with the apparatus;
• a universal fax engine circuit and a network interface operative to facilitate communications between the apparatus and an analog communications network and an IP communications network, the universal fax engine circuit comprising:
• a command parsing circuit to receive a first command set from the user interface to enable a first mode and to receive a second command set from the user interface to enable a second mode;
• and
• a controller circuit connected to the user interface and network interface, the controller circuit being operative in the first mode to communicate directly with a voice band data-enabled gateway or an analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network using a first facsimile protocol and being operative in at least the second mode in response to the second command set to use said network interface to bypass the voice band data-enabled gateway or the analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network to communicate directly with the IP communications network using the first facsimile protocol, aid using a voice band data protocol, and using a real-time transport protocol (RTP) packet buffer configured to enable communicating RTP packets through the IP communications network.

A method for facilitating facsimile communications using a facsimile protocol and a voice band date protocol, the method comprising steps of:

• facilitating communications between a facsimile device and at least one user application in operative communication with the facsimile device with a user interface;
• facilitating communications between the facsimile device and an analog communications network and an IP communications network with a universal fax engine and a network interface;
• parsing a first command set received at the universal fax engine from the user interface to enable a first mode of operation or parsing a second command set received at the universal fax engine from the user interface to enable at least a second mode of operation;
• communicating in the first mode of operation using a first facsimile protocol, said communicating in the first mode of operation is 1) in response to a command from the first command set, and 2) with a voice band data-enabled gateway or an analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network;
• and
• communicating in at least the second mode of operation using the first facsimile protocol and a voice band data protocol, said communicating in the at least the second mode of operation is 1) in response to a command from the second command set enabling direct communications with the IP communications network, 2) without the voice band data-enabled gateway or the analog telephone adapter of the analog communications network, and 3) with a real-time transport protocol (RTP) packet buffer as an interface to the IP communications network to enable sending and receiving RTP packets.

An electronic system, comprising:

• a first facsimile device of a plurality of facsimile devices, said first facsimile device being adapted for communicating with at least a second facsimile device of the plurality of facsimile devices using a communication protocol, wherein at least the first facsimile device comprises:
• a processor;
• input/output (I/O) circuitry;
• a memory, wherein the memory, I/O circuitry, and the processor are interconnected to:
• facilitate communications between the first facsimile device and at least one user application in operative communications with the first facsimile device using a user interface;
• facilitate communications between the first facsimile device and an analog communications network and an IP communications network using a network interface and a universal fax engine, wherein the network interface comprises at least a public switch telephone network (PSTN) sample buffer and a real-time transport protocol (RTP) packet buffer;
• parse a first command set received at the universal fax engine from the user interface to enable a first mode of operation or parse a second command set received at the universal fax engine from the user interface to enable at least a second mode of operation;
• communicate directly in the first mode of operation in response to a command from the first command set with a voice band data-enabled gateway or an analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network using a first facsimile protocol;
• and
• communicate in at least the second mode to bypass the voice band data-enabled gateway or the analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network to communicate directly with the IP communications network using the first facsimile protocol, a voice band data protocol, and the real-time transport protocol (RTP) packet buffer,
• wherein the PSTN sample buffer is configured to send and receive first pulse-code modulation (PCM) samples when the first facsimile device communicates in the first mode of operation, and the PSTN sample buffer is configured to store second PCM samples for a modem data pump when the first facsimile device communicates in at least the second mode of operation, the second PCM samples derived from RTP packets that are processed by a voice band data (VBD) engine.

An article of manufacture comprising a computer program product, the computer program product in turn comprising a non-transitory tangible computer readable recordable storage medium, storing in a non-transitory manner computer readable program code, the computer program product comprising:

• computer usable program code configured to provide a first interface operative to facilitate communications between a facsimile device and at least one user application in operative communication with the facsimile device;
• computer usable program code configured to provide a second interface operative to facilitate communications between the facsimile device and an analog communications network and an IP communications network;
• computer usable program code configured to parse a first command set to enable a first mode of operation and to parse a second command set to enable at least a second mode of operation;
• and
• computer usable program code configured to receive a command of the parsed first command set to communicate directly with a voice band data-enabled gateway or an analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network using a first facsimile protocol in the first mode of operation and further configured to receive a command of the parsed second command set to communicate in at least the second mode of operation to bypass the voice band data-enabled gateway or the analog telephone adapter (ATA) of the analog communications network and communicate directly with the IP communications network using the first facsimile protocol, using a voice band data protocol, and using a real-time transport protocol (RTP) packet buffer as an interface to the IP communications network to respectively send and receive RTP packets to and from the IP communications network.