Two-line telephone controller with hold feature
Contents
1. ov LE fido OG 5 960 065 Sheet 3 of 13 Sep 28 1999 U S Patent Sls 21 l Ov HIMVIdS INOHAOYDIN QuVO8 NOLLYVOINNNNOD I I 4 ZH 24 3NOHd3131 139dIHO 1Naw3SNvuuv H31H3ANOO 2 L SS3O9OV VIVA 3JOIOA W3QOW XV3 3NoHd331 02 Lt 21901 JOYLNOD Sp ev 13SQNVH LE 3NOHd3 13L sng YIaLNANOD 5 960 065 Sheet 4 of 13 Sep 28 1999 U S Patent EE PTS va VE t i Lug QON 1 007 3000 9 d lz T e 193130 L P ii m ONIH H 89 TTE UNUM i t TAL 1 227 I 3910A B anv 13SdlHO 9 1031309NIH 17 i i AN3GON I 193130 RS Hog ml i 7 ai mi MET 96 i I viva W3QON YUILYIANOD viz I3SQNVH 3NOHd OUINOO I t I I I I I I I l I I I I I I I I I I I l I l I I 1 I I SNE YALNdWOD ie 5 960 065 Sheet 5 of 13 Sep 28 1999 U S Patent OL LASGNVH LINN OL LASGNVH 29 ZINT MOOH430 L3NI13400H430 0 OLSLIG 3LIHM 1O313S3NI1 HO 1o313saNn zx Gr U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 6 of 13 5 960 065 5601 CONNECT TELEPHONE HANDSET TO ACTIVE LINE S602 DETECT INCOMING CALL ON INACTIVE TELEPHONE LINE 2 YES S603 CLOSE LINE S2. ordinary voice telephone handset 19 First Embodiment FIG 3 is a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of communication board 40 As shown in FIG 3 commu nication board 40 includes a communication device such as the aforementioned fax modem voice chipset 41 and a 2 4 converter 42 The 2 4 converter 42 converts a four wire signal from the fax modem voice chipset 41 into a two wire signal for connection to ordinary voice telephone lines The two wire signal from 74 converter 42 is fed to data access arrangement DAA 44 The data access arrangement under control via control logic 45 from chipset 41 and computing equipment 10 switchably connects one of multiple tele phone lines such as telephone lines 20 and 21 to the chipset via the 74 converter 42 Additionally DAA 44 includes handset switches for each telephone line for switchably connecting under control via control logic 45 from chipset 41 and computing equipment 10 one of the telephone lines to telephone handset 19 Preferably and as depicted in FIG 3 the communication board 40 is arranged on a single multiple layer circuit board provided with an edge connector 43 for connection to computer bus 31 as well as suitable RJ 14 connectors for connection to handset 19 and telephone lines 20 and 21 The single board construction allows board 40 to be inserted into the housing of conventional PC type computing equipment Of course while a single board construction
3. when telephone handset 19 is lifted it is connected to one of telephone lines 20 or 21 in accordance with the setting of handset switches 70 and 71 Manual outgoing dialing and voice communication may then occur For computer controlled outgoing dialing computing equipment 10 first causes modem controller 50 to select the desired lines 20 or 21 via line select switch 61 The appro priate one of off hook switches 63 or 64 is then closed and the modem controller 50 causes modem data pump 52 to initiate telephone dialing such as DTMF or pulse dialing over the selected line Handset switches 70 and 71 are set in accordance with the selected line and the user is then instructed to lift the handset from telephone handset 19 As soon as loop current detect LCD signal is detected indi cating the presence of loop current between the tip and ring wires of telephone handset 19 modem controller 50 discon nects both of off hook switches 63 and 64 to permit the user to conduct ordinary voice communication If the user does not lift the handset from telephone handset 19 then the LCD signal will not be detected and when the called party answers the fax modem voice chipset 41 will operate in accordance with its ordinary programming For incoming calls ring detect circuits 65 and 66 detect that one of the telephone lines carries a ringing signal and signals that detection to modem controller 50 via AND gate 68 Computing equipment 10 reads its unsho
4. busy resistor 78 from the again active line 1 In step S720 the user completes the call on line 1 and hangs up whereupon flow advances to step S721 in which the computer reverts to its idle loop Second Embodiment FIG 8 is schematic diagram illustrating a second embodiment of a communication control board for use with the invention Using the communication board of FIG 8 it is possible to place a currently active telephone line on hold and to play out audio information such as music over the held line thereby allowing the held caller to listen to music while on hold The communication board of FIG 8 is identical in all respects with the communication board of FIG 4 with the exception of audio in input 102 Imput 102 allows fax modem voice chipset 41 while in the voice mode to mix pre recorded audio information through 74 converter 42 for playout A suitable communication board which includes an audio input such as that illustrated at 202 is described in application No 08 341 165 filed Jan 19 1993 Commu nication Control Board With Audio Function Inasmuch as the communication board of FIG 8 is identical in all respects with FIG 4 with the exception of added audio input 202 the processes of FIGS 6 and 7 are completely usable with the communication board of FIG 8 and they are incorporated here again without repetition FIG 9 is a flow diagram showing use of the FIG 8 communication board to put an active line on h
5. further shown in FIG 4 DAA 44 includes a trans former 60 for impedance matching the two wire signal from 2 4 converter 42 to the impedance of an ordinary voice telephone line A line select switch 61 is provided to select one of multiple telephone lines here two lines designated 20 and 21 respectively The line selector switch 61 is operated under control from modem control logic 45 so as to select either of the two lines Each of the telephone lines has connected in series therewith a modem off hook switch specifically modem off hook switch 63 for line 20 and 64 for line 21 Under control from control logic 45 each of those switches may be activated so as to cause the selected line to go off hook with respect to fax modem voice chipset 41 when line select switch 61 has selected that line Ring detect circuits 65 and 66 detect ringing signals on each of lines 20 and 21 respectively In response to a ringing signal each ring detect circuit sets a bit in an unshown computer register indicating which of the lines 20 and 21 is ringing In addition the ring detect signals are ORed together via OR gate 67 and the resultant ORed signal sent to AND gate 68 The resultant ring detect signal is sent to modem controller 50 whereby modem controller 50 can recognize when one of line 20 and 21 is ringing In this regard AND gate 68 is provided so that a ring detect signal is blocked when modem controller 50 is engaged in modem operations Thus whe
6. to the ringing line via handset select switch 270 or 271 corresponding to which of the telephone lines 20 and 21 is ringing whereafter the user attends to the incoming call using the telephone handset 19 step S914 After completing the incoming voice call step S915 the handset is moved back to the held active line step S916 by closing whichever of handset select switches 270 or 271 corresponds to the held active line Step S917 stops playing audio input to the active line and the user continues his voice call on the active line using the telephone handset step S918 If desired whichever one of the modem off hook switches 263 or 264 that had been closed in step S910 may now be opened so as to disconnect fax modem voice chipset 241 from the active telephone line In either event flow then returns to the idle loop step S902 so as to await detection of additional incoming calls on the inactive telephone line The invention has been described with respect to particu lar illustrative embodiments It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the above described embodiments and that various changes and modifications may be made by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention What is claimed is 1 In a telephone controller having a line select switch which connects computerized telephone communication equipment to a selected one of at least two telephone lines through of
7. 34 11 1973 Huettner et al 395 325 3 879 579 4 1975 Fretwell et al 379 93 05 3 920 928 11 1975 379 163 4 578 537 3 1986 Faggin et al 379 03 4 628 153 12 1986 Daly vee 379 163 4 640 989 2 1987 Riner et al 379 94 4 825 461 4 1989 Kurita et al 379 03 07 4 852 153 7 1989 Streck 379 100 4 924 494 5 1990 Shung 379 100 5 048 073 9 1991 Weiser et al 379 90 01 5 056 132 10 1991 Coleman et al 379 95 5 056 133 10 1991 Tida 00022222222 379 98 OTHER PUBLICATIONS ALS User Manual Version 1 0 BICOM Computer and Communications Systems pp 1 5 RC96ACL RC144ACL Modem Designer s Guide Rock well International Digital Communications Division pub lished 1993 DAA Designers Guide Duane Marcroft Sep 1989 Primary Examiner Vivian Chang Assistant Examiner George Eng Attorney Agent or Firm Fitzpatrick Cella Harper amp Scinto 57 ABSTRACT In a two line telephone controller which includes a line select switch which operates complementarily to a force busy relay that allows an unselected telephone line to be forced to a busy state a method for using the force busy relay also to place an active line on hold The method includes detecting an incoming call on an inactive line switching the line select switch to the inactive line receiving an instruction to place t
8. A 44 further includes a voice relay 75 for setting DAA 44 to a voice local mode In the voice local mode voice relay 75 is activated to disconnect DAA 44 from all telephone lines and to connect the DAA to a V voltage supply In the voice local mode the communication board can be used to play out sound over either speaker 12 or the speaker in telephone handset 19 or to record sound either from micro phone 13 or from the microphone in telephone handset 19 More specifically when the voice local mode is desired a voice local mode signal is sent from modem controller 50 5 960 065 7 to voice relay 75 thereby disconnecting DAA 44 from all telephone lines and reconnecting it to V Thereafter sound from modem data pump 52 may be heard over speaker 12 or the speaker in telephone handset 19 At the same time sound may be recorded from either microphone 13 or from the microphone in telephone handset 19 In this regard using loop current detect signal LCD AND gate 57 will block recordal of sound from microphone 13 in the case that the handset has been lifted from the telephone handset 19 thereby preventing sound from being recorded from both the telephone handset and microphone 13 at the same time Relay 76 operates to force a busy signal on unselected ones of the multiple telephone lines Thus as shown in FIG 4 relay 76 is connected to each of the telephone lines between the line select switch 61 and off hook switches 63 and 64 The rel
9. ELECT SWITCH BETWEEN FAX MODEM VOICE CHIPSET AND RINGING LINE S604 CONNECT FORCE BUSY RELAY TO ACTIVE LINE S605 HOLD NO INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACTIVE LINE S606 CLOSE MODEM YES OFFHOOK SWITCH TO S608 RINGING LINE CLOSE MODEM OFFHOOK SWITCH TO ACTIVE LINE S607 S609 COMPUTER EQUIPMENT ATTENDS DISCONNECT TELEPHONE TO INCOMING CALL HANDSET FROM ACTIVE LINE S610 CONNECT TELEPHONE HANDSET TO RINGING LINE S611 USER ATTENDS TO INCOMING CALL ON TELEPHONE HANDSET FIG 6 U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 7 of 13 5 960 065 S701 INCOMING IDLE RING DETECTED LOOP YES S702 S703 MOVE MODEM TO LINE 1 MOVE HANDSET TO LINE 1 S704 ANSWER CALL WITH MODEM MODEM CLOSES OFFHOOK RELAY LINE 1 5705 HANDSET PICKUP DETECTED YES 5706 MODEM ALLOWS USER HANDSET TO TAKE OVER CALL MODEM OPENS OFFHOOK RELAY LINE 1 S707 INCOMING RING DETECTED S708 ES 5709 MOVE MODEM SELECT LINE 2 FIG 7 FIG 7A U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 8 of 13 5 960 065 CLOSE OFFHOOK RELAY ON LINE 1 UNSELECTED LINE TO MAINTAIN LOOP CURRENT WHEN HANDSET SELECTION MOVES S710 8711 USER HANGS UP HANDSET MAKING IT AVAILABLE FOR INCOMING CALL MOVE HANDSET TO LINE 2 MODEM ANSWERS CALL ON LINE 2 MODEM CLOSES OFFHOOK RELAY LINE 2 6712 S713 5714 HANDSET PICKUP DETECTED YES 715 MODEM ALLOWS USER HANDSET TO COMPLETE CALL USER TALKS ON HANDSET C
10. LOSING HANDSET OFFHOOK RELAY MODEM OPENS OFFHOOK RELAY LINE 2 S716 CALL ON LINE 2 COMPLETES USER HANGS UP HANDSET OPENS HANDSET OFFHOOK RELAY S717 FIG 7B Q U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 9 of 13 5 960 065 USER PICKS UP HANDSET ON LINE 1 TO FINISH VOICE CALL ON LINE 1 5718 5719 OPEN MODEM OFFHOOK RELAY LINE 1 LINE 1 IS THE MODEM S UNSELECTED LINE USER COMPLETES CALL BY HANGING UP OPENS HANDSET OFFHOOK RELAY 5721 5720 GO BACK TO IDLE LOOP STEP 701 FIG 7C 5 960 065 Sheet 10 of 13 Sep 28 1999 U S Patent ADIOA L 119 3GON 1V2O1 3910 I I I p ONIH HO 892 I 199 103130 ONIH 9 2 au 822 i s LH Q e LT esl 124145 2 OL LASGNVH LINN OL LASGNVH INN L INN MOOH44O W3GOMW Q97 193130 LNAYYND dOOT ove HILHIANOD r 31901 vee SLIG OGG 921 LASdIHO WA0OW Xv3 42 9Sc Olav vasz dnd Viva GST 998 a v sng YILNdNOO LE U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 11 of 13 5 960 065 901 CONNECT TELEPHONE HANDSET TO ACTIVE TELEPHONE LINE IDLE LOOP 902 DETECT INCOMING CALL ON INACTIVE TELEPHONE LINE YES S903 CLOSE LINE SELECT SWITCH BETWEEN FAX MODEM VOICE CHIPSET AND RINGING LINE 5904 CONNECT FORCE BUSY RELAY ACTIVE LINE 5905 HOLD INSTRUCTION
11. S FOR ACTIVE LINE NO 906 YES CLOSE MODEM OFFHOOK SWITCH TO RINGING LINE 5908 CLOSE LINE SELECT SWITCH BETWEEN FAX MODEM VOICE CHIPSET AND ACTIVE LINE 907 COMPUTER EQUIPMENT ATTENDS TO INCOMING CALL FIG 9A FIG 9 U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 12 of 13 5 960 065 S909 CONNECT FORCE BUSY RELAY TO RINGING LINE 5910 CLOSE MODEM OFFHOOK SWITCH TO ACTIVE LINE 5911 MODEM IS PUT IN VOICE MODE AND AUDIO IN IS PLAYED ON ACTIVE LINE S912 DISCONNECT TELEPHONE HANDSET FROM ACTIVE LINE 5913 CONNECT TELEPHONE HANDSET TO RINGING LINE 5914 USER ATTENDS TO INCOMING CALL ON TELEPHONE HANDSET FIG 9B U S Patent Sep 28 1999 Sheet 13 of 13 5 960 065 USER COMPLETES INCOMING VOICE CALL ON TELEPHONE HANDSET 5916 MOVE HANDSET TO ACTIVE LINE 5915 5917 STOP PLAYING AUDIO IN TO ACTIVE LINE S918 USER CONTINUES VOICE CALL ON ACTIVE LINE WITH TELEPHONE HANDSET 5919 GO TO IDLE LOOP STEP 5902 FIG 9C 5 960 065 1 TWO LINE TELEPHONE CONTROLLER WITH HOLD FEATURE RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation in part of prior U S application No 08 160 824 filed Dec 3 1993 entitled Two Line Telephone Controller which issued as U S Pat No 5 515 423 BACKGROUND 1 Field of the Invention present invention concerns a method for operating a two line telephone controller so as to obtain a hold feature by which a currently active one of at
12. US005960065A United States Patent 11 Patent Number 5 960 065 Beck et al 4 Date of Patent Sep 28 1999 54 TWO LINE TELEPHONE CONTROLLER 5131026 7 1992 Park rete 379 100 WITH HOLD FEATURE 5 142 567 8 1992 Watanabe 379 100 5 151 972 9 1992 Lorenz et al 379 93 75 Inventors Gregory F Beck Laguna Hills 4122 Pr gs Douglas L Palmer Foothill Ranch 5 408 525 4 1995 Eldering 2 379 162 James A Fontana Mission Viejo 5 590 185 12 1996 Sandler et al 379 163 Richard D Ray Mountain View all of Calif FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS dr 282628 4 1983 European Pat Off 73 Assignee Canon Kabushiki Kaisha Tokyo 666680 8 1995 European Pat Off Japan 2650141 1 1991 France 2249240 4 1992 United Kingdom Notice This patent issued on a continued pros 9004299 4 1990 WIPO ecution application filed under 37 CFR 1 53 d and is subject to the twenty year patent term provisions of 35 U S C 154 2 21 Appl No 08 615 777 22 Filed Mar 14 1996 Related U S Application Data 63 Continuation in part of application No 08 160 824 Dec 3 1993 Pat No 5 515 423 51 Int CE es H04M 11 00 HO4M 1 00 32 UIS CL cett 379 93 07 379 162 379 163 379 100 12 58 Field of Search 375 222 379 90 01 379 93 05 93 07 156 162 163 423 100 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 3 771 1
13. awings BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a perspective view of the outward appearance of an apparatus illustrative of a communication arrangement for personal computing equipment in which the present invention is incorporated FIG 2 is a block diagram of the FIG 1 apparatus FIG 3 is a functional block diagram of a first embodiment of a communication board for use with the invention FIG 4 is a schematic circuit diagram of the communica tion board shown in FIG 3 FIG 5 is a schematic circuit diagram of the control logic shown in FIG 4 FIG 6 is a flow diagram showing operation of the communication board to place a currently active telephone line on hold FIG 7 is a flow diagram showing a representative example of the hold feature in which an active voice call on line 1 is put on hold to permit answering an incoming call on line 2 FIG 8 is a schematic circuit diagram of a second embodi ment of a communication board for use with the invention FIG 9 is a flow diagram showing operations to put a currently active telephone line on hold DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT FIG 1 is a view showing the outward appearance of a representative embodiment of the invention Shown in FIG 1 is computing equipment 10 such as an IBM PC or PC compatible computer having an operating system such as a Microsoft Windows operating system The computing equipment 10 is provided with a display screen 11 su
14. ay 76 is actuated through inverter 77 by the line select signal from control logic 45 and thus operates complementarily to the line select switch so as to connect the unused telephone line to resistor R1 Force busy is obtained by closing the off hook switch for the unselected telephone lines thereby connecting the telephone line to resistor R1 which has a value e g 100 low enough to indicate to the telephone central office that the unused telephone line is busy As an operational example if line select switch 61 is set to select line 1 then because of inverter 77 force busy relay 76 connects resistor R1 to line 2 To force busy on line 2 control logic 45 causes modem off hook switch 64 corresponding to line 2 to close The telephone central office sees resistor R1 and interprets that resistor as an indication that line 2 is busy Thus callers calling into line 2 will receive a busy signal even though no physical telephone equipment e g telephone handset 19 or chipset 41 is connected to line 2 As mentioned above control of the communication board is accomplished through bit settings in an unshown com puter register The following tables I and II show those bit settings TABLE I I O WRITE TO CONFIGURATION REGISTER BASE 0 comm port setting 0 don t force busy on unselected lines force busy on unselected lines 0 handset to line 1 1 handset to line 2 0 line select to line 1 1 li
15. busy switch is switched so as to ready at least the first telephone line for connection to the common force busy means receiving an instruction to place the first telephone line on hold and responding to the hold instruction by closing an off hook relay for the first telephone line so as to connect the common force busy means across the first telephone line opening the first handset select switch and closing the second handset select switch so as to connect the telephone handset interface to the second telephone line 2 A method according to claim 1 wherein until receipt of the instruction to place the first telephone line on hold further comprising the steps of closing an off hook relay for the second telephone line thereby connecting the comput erized telephone communication equipment to the ringing telephone line 3 A method according to claim 2 wherein said respond ing step further includes the step of opening the off hook relay for the second telephone line 4 A method according to claim 3 wherein in response to termination of voice communication on the second tele phone line via the telephone handset interface further com prising the steps of opening the second handset select switch closing the first handset select switch and opening the off hook relay for the first telephone line 5 A method according to claim 4 wherein in response to termination of voice communication on the first telephone line via the telepho
16. ch as a color monitor a speaker 12 and a microphone 13 Com puting equipment 10 further includes a mass storage device such as a computer disk drive 14 for storing data files such as bitmap image data files text data files sound e g PCM 5 960 065 3 or pulse code modulation data files animation data files and digital motion video data files in compressed or uncom pressed format and for storing application program files such as a multimedia message management program that can send and receive the aforementioned types of data files or other information processing program files which contain stored program instruction steps by which computing equip ment 10 manipulates data files presents data in those files to an operator via display screen 11 or speaker 12 or transmits data via telephone lines or network interfaces or the like Keyboard 15 is connected to computing equipment 10 to permit input of text data and to permit operator selection and manipulation of objects displayed on display screen 11 Likewise pointing device 16 such as a mouse or the like is connected to permit selection and manipulation of objects and graphical user interfaces on the display screen Scanner 18 scans documents or other images and provides bitmap images of those documents to computing equipment 10 Network interface line 22 connects computing equipment 10 to an unshown local area network and printer 24 is provided for outputting information proce
17. e 2 is selected ie bit 4 1 and also if line 1 is selected i e bit 4 0 and bit 2 is set to force busy on unselected lines In operation and in response to an incoming call on any of the phone lines the system preferentially activates the data communication device here the modem fax voice chipset while activating the handset when the communica tion device is busy In addition the communication device is protected from unwanted interruptions while allowing a user manually to respond to incoming phones via the telephone handset 19 It is also possible to block incoming calls by forcing unused lines to a busy state Such functionality is preferred in an unattended state where a user is unable to respond manually to incoming telephone calls while the communication device is in use The reason why such functionality is desirable is because a caller calling an unattended station may become aggravated at an unan swered telephone line and will be less aggravated if a busy signal is instead obtained In addition automatic message dialing systems such as remote facsimile machines ordi narily have re try modes for message dialing and those re try modes are activated only if a busy signal is obtained Of course it is possible to replace telephone handset 19 with an ordinary voice telephone answering machine to accom modate unattended operation In general after detecting a ring detect signal computing equipment 10 performs an I O read
18. ep 5601 shows the telephone handset connected to an active telephone line using an appropriate one of handset select switches 70 or 71 in accordance with which of line 20 or 21 is the active telephone line Until an incoming call is detected on an inactive telephone line flow remains at step S602 It should of course be realized that the process steps shown in FIG 6 are directed to the hold feature only and that other processes including communication processes are ongoing and do not result in the apparent infinite loop shown at step S602 When an incoming telephone call is detected on an inactive telephone line flow advances to step 603 in which line select switch 61 is operated so as to ready the comput erized telephone equipment to answer the incoming call on the ringing line Specifically line select switch 61 is closed so as to connect between fax modem voice chipset 41 via 2 converter 42 and the ringing line At this point however since neither one of modem off hook switches 63 or 64 is closed the fax modem voice chipset 41 is not actually connected to the ringing line Flow then advances to step S604 in which force busy relay 76 is connected to the active line This step happens automatically in view of the complementary relation estab lished by inverter 77 between line select switch 61 and force busy relay 76 Flow then advances to step S605 which determines whether an instruction has been received to place the acti
19. f hook relays respectively provided between the line select switch and each such telephone line and a force busy switch which operates complementarily to the line select switch and by which a common force busy means that is common to at least first and second telephone lines is connectable across unselected ones of the telephone lines through the respective off hook relays so as to maintain loop current in the unselected ones of the telephone lines said telephone controller further having at least first and second handset select switches respectively provided for said first and second telephone lines so as to connect a telephone handset interface to any one of the telephone lines a method for controlling the line select switch the force busy switch the off hook relays and the first and second handset select Switches so as to place and maintain a currently active one of the telephone lines in a hold state the method comprising the steps of closing the first handset select switch so as to connect the telephone handset interface to the first telephone line which is currently active 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 detecting an incoming call on the second telephone line switching the line select switch to the second telephone line so as to ready the computerized telephone com munication equipment for connection to the second telephone line whereby by virtue of its complementary operation the force
20. he active line on hold and respond ing to the hold instruction by closing an off hook relay so as to connect the force busy switch across the active telephone line opening a first handset select switch for the active telephone line and closing a second handset select switch so as to select the incoming call on the ringing line Because the force busy switch is connected across the formerly active telephone line loop current is maintained thereby placing and maintaining the formerly active call on hold 12 Claims 13 Drawing Sheets LOOP CURRENT DETECT LCD D Fi INE 1 MODEM L MODEM OFFHOOK LINE CONTROLLER 1 HANDSET TO LINE 1 1 HANDSET TO LINE 2 U S Patent TO NETWORK Sep 28 1999 TO TELEPHONE LINE 2 TO TELEPHONE LINE 1 Sheet 1 of 13 5 960 065 FIG 1 5 960 065 Sheet 2 of 13 Sep 28 1999 U S Patent I L IN SANOHdS TAL 13SQNVH INOHdITIL et L YIMV3dS 3NOHdOHOINW HOLIMS 193135 SNIGNTONI LN3A3ONVHHV SS302V VIVA 39ION W3GOW XV3 quvog NOLLVOINDAWOO 59715 39VMWI Saa OIGNV SIF 14 1X3 S39VSS3MW VIGAWILINW vi Quvo8 NOLIVOINnIWINOO S3ON3 O3S TOHLNOD S3ON3noas NOILONYLSNI WVHOOHd GAYOLS Lv Sna8 YILNdNOD JDIAIG JOV3YILNI AOVAYSLNI JOV4YILNI AOVAYALNI 3OV3tI31NI ONILNIOd GuvogA3x MYOMLAN AV 1 51 H3NNVOS 86
21. hen com puting equipment 10 moves telephone handset 19 to line 1 for attended voice operation Alternatively by setting bit 2 of BASE 0 which causes unselected lines to appear busy to the telephone central office it is possible to force busy on line 1 for unattended operation If both the modem and the phone handset are conducting communication on line 2 then line 1 is forced busy by setting bit 2 as described above Incoming Call On Line 2 If neither chipset 41 and telephone handset 19 are in use computing equipment 10 connects both chipset 41 and telephone handset 19 to line 2 If chipset 41 is conducting communication on line 1 and telephone handset 19 is not in use then computing equip ment 10 connects telephone handset to line 2 for attended operation Alternatively it is possible to force busy on line 2 by setting bit 2 of BASE 0 register for unattended operation If chipset 41 is not in use but telephone handset 19 is in use with line 1 then computing equipment 10 connects chipset 41 to line 2 If both chipset 41 and telephone handset 19 are conduct ing communication on line 1 then line 2 is forced busy by setting bit 2 of BASE 40 register Outgoing Calls From Chipset 41 For an outgoing call by chipset 41 then computing equipment 10 preferentially connects chipset 41 to the first available line i e first line 1 or if line 1 is in use then to line 2 Alternatively it is possible for comput
22. hines have an automatic re dial feature which calls back later automatically SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention obtains a hold feature in a tele phone control board which like that in application No 08 160 824 includes a force busy relay According to the invention the same force busy relay by which an unused telephone line is forced busy is also used to place an active call on hold Thus one aspect the invention is a method for operating a telephone control board having a line select switch which connects to computerized telephone communication equip ment to a selected one of multiple telephone lines through off hook relays respectively provided for each telephone line a force busy switch which operates complementarily to the line select switch and by which force busy means is connectable across unselected ones of the multiple telephone lines through the respective off hook relays so as to maintain loop current in the unselected ones of the multiple telephone lines and handset select switches respectively provided for each of the multiple telephone lines so as to connect a telephone handset interface to any one of the multiple telephone lines According to the invention the line select switch the force busy switch the off hook relays and the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 handset select switches are controlled so as to place and maintain a currently active one of the m
23. hose instruction sequences from disk 14 or other program storage media to main memory 42 and executes those stored program instruc tion sequences out of the main memory A communication board 40 which includes a data com munication device is connected to computer bus 31 so as to provide computing equipment 10 with access to and control over multiple telephone lines and an ordinary telephone handset The communication board device on 40 preferably includes a combined fax modem voice chipset such as the type described in the RC96ACL RC144ACL Modem Designer s Guide Rockwell International Digital Commu nications Division published 1993 the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference Such a fax modem voice chipset provides a facsimile modem for automatic facsimile transmission and reception a data modem for automatic data transmission and reception and a digital voice communication capability for digitizing incoming voice communications and storing the digitized voice in a computer file and or converting a digitized voice in com puter files into analog form for play out over voice telephone lines communication board 40 further includes a data access arrangement DAA which includes a line select switch for selecting any one of multiple telephone lines for connection to the fax modem voice chipset The DAA fur ther includes the capability for connecting to external speaker 12 or microphone 13 as well as for connecting to
24. ing equipment 10 to override this automatic selection by appropriate writes to bits in the BASE 0 register Outgoing Calls From Handset 19 For outgoing calls on telephone handset 19 then if neither telephone line is in use computing equipment 10 connects telephone handset 19 in reverse preferential order to that of chipset 41 Thus computing equipment 10 first connects telephone handset to line 2 or if line 2 is in use by chipset 41 then to line 1 In the event of an outgoing call from the telephone handset while line 1 or line 2 is in use by chipset 41 it is 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 possible for computing equipment 10 to allow the user to break into the phone call by chipset 41 In this instance computing equipment 10 forces handset switches 70 and 71 into their appropriate state and allows the user to break into the line by lifting the handset In summary for the above situation the preferential order for selecting one of the telephone lines for connection to the data communication device is line 1 followed by line 2 Accordingly the reverse preferential order for selecting one of the telephone lines for connection to the telephone handset is line 2 followed by line 1 Hold Feature FIG 6 is a flow diagram showing process steps by which the same force busy relay 76 that is used to force a busy signal on an unused line can also be used to implement a hold feat
25. is preferred the communication board 40 may in fact be comprised by multiple interconnected circuit boards FIG 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the communi cation board of FIG 3 As shown in FIG 4 the fax modem voice chipset 41 includes a modem controller 50 connected via modem bus 51 to a modem data pump 52 Also con 5 960 065 5 nected to modem bus 51 are EPROM 54 and local RAM 55 which serve as memories for programming and processing operations of the modem and which may have a capacity of 128K bytes each An audio path in chipset 41 includes an audio output interface portion 52a of the modem data pump which is connectable to speaker 12 as well as an audio in switch 56 which permits connection to microphone 13 so as to provide the modem data pump 52 with an audio input interface under control of AND device 57 In operation modem controller 50 via commands and data sent from computing equipment 10 on computer bus 31 sets its state and the state of the modem data pump to one of audio in audio out fax modem data modem or voice Then modem controller 50 causes modem data pump 52 either to output audio signals to speaker 12 to input audio signals from microphone 13 or to transmit or receive fax modem or voice information via a four wire connection to 2 4 con verter 42 2 4 converter 42 converts the four wire connection from modem data pump 52 into a two wire connection to data access arrangement DAA 44 As
26. least two telephone lines is placed and maintained in a hold state 2 Description of the Related Art Application No 08 160 824 describes a computer con trollable telephone control board which interfaces between a computer and multiple telephone lines so as to provide the computer with control over multiple telephone lines In the embodiment described in application No 08 160 824 two telephone lines are controlled with the board allowing the telephone lines to be connected to the computer via a fax modem voice chipset so as to permit computer controlled fax and modem data transfers as well as to permit ordinary voice communication using a microphone and speakers connected to the computer or to be connected to a conventional telephone handset via a telephone handset interface so as to permit ordinary voice communication over the handset The telephone control board of application No 08 160 824 includes a force busy relay which causes an unused telephone line to appear busy when the active telephone line is connected to the computer such as for modem transfers As described in application No 08 160 824 this force busy feature is advantageous especially when the com puter is not attended by the user since the caller will be confronted by a busy signal rather than a ringing signal that is never answered When confronted by a busy signal most callers will simply call back later in fact most conventional facsimile mac
27. lect switch 261 and force busy relay 276 Flow then advances to step S905 which determines whether an instruction has been received to place the active line on hold The instruction may be received from an 5 960 065 13 unshown interface on telephone handset 19 or may be issued by the user via a graphical user interface on screen 11 Whatever its source if the hold instruction is not issued flow advances to step S906 for example after a predeter mined number of rings in which the modem off hook switch corresponding to the ringing telephone line is closed and thence to step S907 in which the computer equipment attends to the incoming call On the other hand if step S905 determines that a hold instruction has been received then flow advances to step S908 in which the line select switch 261 is closed between fax modem voice chipset 241 and the active telephone line This automatically re connects the force busy relay 276 to the ringing line step S909 The modem off hook switch 263 or 264 which corresponds to the active line is then closed step 5910 which completes loop current and causes the active line to be placed on hold Step S911 puts the modem into voice mode and audio in is thereafter played on the held active line via audio input 202 Meanwhile the telephone handset is disconnected from the active telephone line step S912 which in step S910 had been placed into a hold state Step S913 connects the telephone handset
28. lephone call is received on line 1 and a second telephone call is then received on line 2 Thus in step S701 an incoming ring is detected and after determining that the incoming ring is on line 1 step S702 flow advances to step S703 in which line select switch 61 is moved so as to connect between fax modem voice chipset 41 and line 1 and in which handset select switch 70 is closed so as to also connect telephone handset 19 to line 1 After a predetermined number of rings in which the user does not lift telephone handset 19 modem off hook switch 63 is closed so that the computerized telephone equipment answers the incoming call step S604 Upon detecting that the user has lifted the telephone handset in step S705 flow advances to step 5706 in which modem off hook switch 63 is opened so as to allow the user to take over the active telephone line using telephone handset 19 In step S707 an incoming ring is detected on the inactive line and upon determining that the ringing line is line 2 step S708 line select switch 61 is operated so as to connect between fax modem voice chipset 41 and the ringing line step 709 Because of the complementary relation established by inverter 77 force busy relay 76 connects force busy resistor 78 across the active line At this point however since modem off hook switch 64 is not closed the ringing line remains unanswered Upon receipt of a hold instruction flow advances to step 710 in which off ho
29. n either of lines 20 or 21 is off hook via off hook switches 63 and 64 an off hook signal OH is generated by modem controller 50 The OH signal blocks a ring detect signal in the event that either line is off hook thereby preventing modem controller 50 from being inter rupted from its modem operations when one of the lines is off hook and engaged in modem operations The DAA further includes for each telephone line a handset switch 70 and 71 for connecting lines 20 and 21 respectively to telephone handset 19 via handset interface 100 The handset switches 70 and 71 are operated under control of control logic 45 via handset to line 1 and handset to line 2 control signals These signals are set such that only one telephone line is connected to telephone handset 19 at any one time and preferably they are set such that if data communications are being conducted on one telephone line the handset is not connected to that line A loop current detect device 74 is positioned between the ring and tip wires of telephone handset 19 so as to sense a loop current when the handset in telephone handset 19 is lifted 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 If a loop current is detected then loop current detect device 74 sends a loop current detect LCD signal to modem controller 50 and to AND gate 57 Telephone handset 19 is operable in either a manual mode or a computer controlled mode In the manual mode
30. ne select switch and by which a common force busy means that is common to at least first and second telephone lines is connectable across unselected ones of the telephone lines through the respective off hook relays so as to maintain loop current in the unselected ones of the telephone lines said telephone controller further having at least first and second 5 960 065 15 handset select switches respectively provided for said first and second telephone lines so as to connect a telephone handset interface to any one of the telephone lines a method for controlling the line select switch the force busy switch the off hook relays and the first and second handset select Switches so as to place one of the telephone lines in one of a plurality of states including a hold state and a force busy state the method comprising the steps of closing the first handset select switch so as to connect the telephone handset interface to the first telephone line which is currently active placing the first telephone line in the hold state using the common force busy means upon receipt of an instruc tion to place the first telephone line in the hold state and placing the second telephone line in the force busy state using the common force busy means upon receipt of an instruction to place the second telephone line in the force busy state 11 The method of claim 10 wherein placing the first telephone line in the hold state further comprises the ste
31. ne handset interface further comprising the step of opening the first handset select switch 6 A method according to claim 1 wherein in response to termination of voice communication on the second tele phone line via the telephone handset interface opening the second handset select switch closing the first handset select switch and opening the off hook relay for the first telephone line 7 A method according to claim 6 wherein in response to termination of voice communication on the first telephone line via the telephone handset interface further comprising the step of opening the first handset select switch 8 A method according to claim 1 wherein the step of switching the line select switch to the second telephone line and the step of receiving an instruction to place the first telephone line on hold occur in response to user commands input via a graphical user interface displayed on the com puterized telephone communication equipment 9 A method according to claim 1 wherein the line select switch connects computerized telephone communication equipment to a selected one of two telephone lines 10 In a telephone controller having a line select switch which connects computerized telephone communication equipment to a selected one of at least two telephone lines through off hook relays respectively provided between the line select switch and each such telephone line and a force busy switch which operates complementarily to the li
32. ne select to line 2 IRQ setting 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 TABLE II I O READ CONFIGURATION REGISTER 42 BASE 42 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 line 1 ringing line 2 ringing FIG 5 is a detailed schematic diagram of control logic 45 As shown in FIG 5 control logic 45 accepts the off hook signal OH from modem controller 50 and combines it using OR and AND gate logic circuitry with control bits 2 3 and 4 from BASE 40 register so as to obtain the line select signal for line select switch 61 the modem off hook signals for off hook switches 63 and 64 and the handset signals for handset switches 70 and 71 The logic circuitry implements the following boolean equations LINE SELECT BIT4 OFFHOOK LINE 1 OH BIT4 BIT2 BIT4 OFFHOOK LINE 2 OH BIT4 BIT2 BIT4 HANDSET TO LINE 1 BIT3 HANDSET TO LINE 2 BIT3 More simply as shown in Table I above bit 3 controls handset switches 70 and 71 and bit 4 controls line select switch 61 As for off hook switches 63 and 64 off hook switch 63 corresponding to line 1 is closed if modem controller 50 signals to go off hook by raising off hook signal OH and if line 1 is selected i e bit 4 0 and also if line 2 is selected i e bit 4 1 and bit 2 is set to force busy on unselected lines Likewise off hook switch 64 corresponding to line 2 is closed if modem controller 50 signals to go off hook by raising off hook signal OH and if lin
33. of its BASE 2 5 960 065 9 register to determine which line is ringing As shown in the above Table II if bit 0 is set then line 1 is ringing while if bit 1 is set then line 2 is ringing After determining which line is ringing the handset is moved to the ringing line by setting the appropriate one of handset switches 70 and 71 Then by performing an I O write to bit 4 of the BASE 0 register as shown in the above Table I line select switch 61 is set to the ringing line and by performing an I O write to the BASE 0 register the appropriate one of modem off hook switches 63 and 64 is set to the ringing line The call is then answered via chipset 41 or by the user lifting the handset of telephone handset 19 which action is detected by modem controller 50 through the loop current detect LCD signal as described hereinabove Specific operations taking into consideration the current state of the telephone handset and the fax modem voice chipset are described as follows Incoming Call On Line 1 If neither the fax modem voice chipset 41 nor telephone handset 19 is in use then computing equipment 10 connects both chipset 41 and telephone handset 19 to line 1 as described hereinabove If chipset 42 is not in use but line 2 is in use by telephone handset 19 then computing equipment 10 connects chipset 41 to line 1 If chipset 41 is currently conducting communications on line 2 and telephone handset 19 is not in use t
34. ok relay 63 corresponding to the active line 1 and not the ringing line 2 is closed so as to connect force busy resistor 78 to the active line The user then hangs up the handset step S711 and handset select switch 70 for the active line is opened However because force busy resistor 78 is connected to the active line loop current is maintained In step S712 handset select switch is closed so as to connect telephone handset 19 to the ringing line At the same time in step 5713 off hook relay 64 also corresponding to the ringing line is closed so as to connect fax modem voice chipset 41 to the ringing line and to permit the computerized telephone equipment to answer the incoming call In step 714 upon detection that the user has picked up the handset for telephone handset 19 flow advances to step 715 in which the modem allows the user to complete the 5 10 15 20 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 call Specifically off hook switch 64 is opened so as to disconnect the modem from the incoming call thereby allowing a user to carry on a voice communication over the telephone handset In step 716 when the user completes his call and hangs up his handset handset select switch 71 is opened and handset select switch 70 is closed thereby allowing the user to complete the call on line 1 step 5718 At the same time in step S719 modem off hook relay 63 corresponding to line 1 is opened so as to disconnect force
35. old and to play out audio information such as music on the held line using audio input 202 Step S901 shows a telephone handset connected to an active telephone line using an appropriate one of handset select switches 270 or 271 in accordance with which of lines 20 or 21 is the currently active telephone line Until an incoming telephone call is detected on an inactive telephone line flow remains in an idle loop at step S902 It should of course be realized that the process steps shown in FIG 9 are directed to the hold feature only and that other processes including communication processes are still on going and do not result in the apparent infinite loop shown at step S902 When an incoming telephone call is detected on an inactive telephone line flow advances to step 5903 in which line select switch 261 is operated so as to ready the com puterized telephone equipment to answer the incoming call on the ringing line Specifically line select switch 261 is closed so as to connect between fax modem voice chipset 241 via 2 4 converter 242 and the ringing line At this point however since neither one of modem off hook switches 263 or 264 is closed the fax modem voice chipset is not actually connected to the ringing line Flow then advances to step S904 in which force busy relay 276 is connected to the active line This step happens automatically in view of the complementary relation estab lished by inverter 277 between line se
36. ps of switching the line select switch to the second telephone line so as to ready the computerized telephone com munication equipment for connection to the second 10 15 20 16 telephone line whereby by virtue of its complementary operation the force busy switch is switched so as to ready at least the first telephone line for connection to the common force busy means and closing an off hook relay for the first telephone line so as to connect the common force busy means across the first telephone line opening the first handset select switch and closing the second handset select switch so as to connect the telephone handset interface to the second telephone line 12 The method according to claim 10 wherein placing the second telephone line in the force busy state further comprises the steps of maintaining the line select switch switched to the first telephone line so as to maintain the telephone handset interface connected to the first telephone line whereby by virtue of its complementary operation the force busy switch maintains at least the second telephone line ready for connection to the common force busy means and closing an off hook relay for the second telephone line so as to connect the common force busy means across the second telephone line
37. ssed by computing equip ment 10 An unshown communication board which is described in considerable detail below connects computing equipment 10 to an ordinary telephone handset 19 as well as to multiple telephone lines here two telephone lines 20 and 21 In accordance with operator instructions stored applica tion programs are activated and permit processing and manipulation of data For example any of a variety of application programs such as a multimedia message man agement program a word processing program an image editing program spreadsheet programs and similar infor mation processing programs may be provided for operator selection and use Thus a word processing program may be activated to permit an operator to create view manipulate and print documents and to send or receive documents via a communication board and one of the multiple telephone lines Likewise a multimedia message management pro gram may be activated to permit an operator to create manipulate and view multimedia documents which contain a variety of objects such as text objects bitmap objects computer graphic objects sound objects and motion video objects and to send and to receive such multimedia docu ments via the communication board on one of the multiple telephone lines The multimedia message management pro gram may also be provided with telephone handset control capabilities with which an operator through manipulation and use of a computeri
38. ultiple telephone lines in a hold state Specifically a first handset select switch is closed so as to connect the telephone handset interface to a first telephone line which is currently active An incoming call is detected on a second telephone line and the line select switch is switched so as to ready the computerized telephone communication equipment for connection to the second telephone line thereby switching the force busy switch so as to ready others of the multiple telephone lines for connection to the force busy means An instruction to place the first telephone line on hold is then received such as from a user operating a graphical user interface on the computer In response to the hold instruction an off hook relay for the first telephone line is closed thereby connecting the force busy means across the first telephone line the first handset select switch is opened and a second handset select switch is closed so as to connect the telephone handset interface to the second telephone line Because the force busy means is connected across the first telephone line loop current is maintained and the first telephone line is maintained in a hold state This brief summary has been provided so that the nature of the invention may be understood quickly A more com plete understanding of the invention can be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the pre ferred embodiment thereof in connection with the attached dr
39. ure Briefly according to FIG 6 in a case where telephone handset 19 is currently being used for voice communication on an active telephone line and an incoming call is detected on an inactive telephone line the active telephone line can be put on hold by 1 switching the line select switch to the ringing line so as to ready the comput erized telephone equipment for connection to the ringing line thereby switching the force busy switch to the active line in view of the complementary operation of the line select switch and the force busy relay via inverter 77 2 responding to a hold instruction by closing the modem off hook relay 63 or 64 corresponding to the active tele phone line thereby connecting the force busy means across the active telephone line 3 disconnecting the telephone handset from the active telephone line and 4 connecting the telephone handset to the ringing line Because the force busy resistor 78 is now connected across the formerly active telephone line even though the telephone handset has been disconnected from that formally active telephone line loop current is maintained thereby keeping the formerly active telephone line on hold while the user attends to the incoming call on the ringing telephone line via the telephone handset Referring specifically to the process steps shown in FIG 6 since it is assumed that a user is conducting a voice telephone communication with a currently active telephone line st
40. ve 5 960 065 11 line on hold The instruction may be received from an unshown interface on telephone handset 19 or may be issued by the user via a graphical user interface on screen 11 Whatever its source if the hold instruction is not issued flow advances to step S606 for example after a predeter mined number of rings in which the modem off hook switch corresponding to the ringing telephone line is closed and thence to step S607 in which the computer equipment attends to the incoming call On the other hand if step S605 determines that a hold instruction has been received then flow advances to step S608 in which the modem off hook switch for the active line is closed Closing the modem off hook switch for the active line causes the force busy resistor 78 to be connected across the active telephone line Thereafter in step S609 the telephone handset is disconnected from the active telephone line However because force busy resistor 78 is now con nected across the active line loop current is maintained in the active line thereby placing and maintaining the currently active telephone line in a hold state Flow then advances to step S610 in which the telephone handset is connected to the ringing line via the appropriate one of handset switches 70 and 71 The user is then free to attend to the incoming call on telephone handset 19 step S611 FIG 7 shows a representative example of the above process in a case where a first te
41. wn computer register to determine which line is ringing and control logic 45 then switches line select switch 61 to the appropriate line In addition control logic 45 sets handset select switches 70 or 71 to the ringing line If after a predetermined period such as two rings the LCD signal is not detected indicating that the user has not lifted the handset then control logic 45 causes the ringing line to go off hook by setting modem off hook switches 63 or 64 as appropriate The fax modem voice chipset then operates in accordance with its pre programmed instructions Ordinarily computing equipment 10 is programmed such that if the LCD signal is detected by the user lifting the handset from telephone handset 19 off hook switches 63 and 64 are both disconnected leaving the user in ordinary voice communication with the calling party As mentioned above if the fax modem voice chipset 41 is engaged in data communications via one of telephone lines 20 or 21 then the ring detect signal to chipset 41 is blocked via AND gate 68 because of the existence of the OH signal Because the ring detect signal is blocked chipset 41 will not be interrupted in its fax or modem or voice communications At the same time because handset switches 70 and 71 are ordinarily set to the unused telephone line any incoming calls on that line will activate the ringer in telephone handset 19 thus alerting the user aurally to the presence of such a ringing signal DA
42. zed address list may instruct the computer to cause a selected telephone line to go off hook a selected telephone number to be dialed and indicate to the operator that the called party has answered Incoming calls may also be handled by the computer and a telephone usage log may be maintained FIG 2 is a detailed block diagram showing the internal construction of computing equipment 10 As shown in FIG 2 computing equipment 10 includes central processing unit CPU 30 such as an 80386 or a reduced instruction set computer RISC interfaced to computer bus 31 Also inter faced to computer bus 31 is scanner interface 32 for inter facing to scanner 18 display interface 34 for interfacing to display 11 network interface 35 for interfacing to network line 22 printer interface 37 for interfacing to printer 24 keyboard interface 36 for interfacing to keyboard 15 and pointing interface 38 for interfacing to pointing device 16 Read only memory ROM 41 interfaces with computer bus 31 so as to provide CPU 30 with specialized and 10 15 20 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 invariant functions such as start up programs or BIOS programs Main memory 42 which includes random access memory RAM provides CPU 30 with memory storage both for data and application programs as required In particular when executing stored program instruction sequences such as multimedia message management programs CPU 30 normally loads t
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