Home

System and method for providing a universal communications port

1. AYA 39v JHALNI 3HOML3N YALNdWOO ALOWSY YOLINOW 39V SYALNI viva Sq 100N HOOHd H3HLO SV HOOSd NOLLVOT1ddV WALSAS ONLY WALSAS US 7 675 922 B2 Sheet 5 of 10 Mar 9 2010 U S Patent DIA SV H9Od NOLLVOl lddV YALNdWOD 3LON3MS YOLINOW S31 nGON SAVHOOHd W31SAS on voraay YJHLO 1535 o 3 3OV J3H31NI JH2LNI 39V JH3LNI Vivd INvHOOMHd 39I 3Q dO OLL3NOV IN MSIO SAINGOW WY SIN HoOWd NOLLVOl lddV WALSAS ONLLV H3dO 39v 383LNI QLGISNO Sev 927 Qv LINA ONISS3OOud 20 MEN K 4 avv XYOWAW WALSAS _ _ _ _ _ US 7 675 922 B2 Sheet 6 of 10 Mar 9 2010 U S Patent Ort 62 Ebt y T ier ZvY NOLLVOITddV 39V JH3LNI 39V SYALNI 3OVv JH3LNI VIVO WW 90d S310GON H3HLO OIL3NOVIN SIG 1
2. b a state in which the evaluation of the electrical property indicates an external system has been detected but that the external system has not successfully interfaced with the computing system and c a state in which the evaluation of the electrical property indicates that an external system is not associated with the connector lines 0 35 45 60 65 28 34 system of claim 33 wherein the connection status indicator includes at least one light emitting device the nection status indicator presenting lights of different colors indicative of the states 35 The system of claim 22 further comprising a plurality of couplers each of the plurality of couplers presenting a plurality of coupler lines 36 The system of claim 35 wherein the controller is fur ther configured such that upon determining that a telephone device is connected with a first coupler and that a public switched telephone network is connected with a second cou pler the controller selectively interconnects the coupler lines between the first coupler and the second coupler to enable the telephone device to be used with the public switched tele phone network when the computing system is not using the public switched telephone network for data communication 37 The system of claim 36 wherein the controller is fur ther configured to draw power from the public switched tele phone network when the computing system is powered down
3. verter 722 to cause telephone to AC97 converter 722 to be bypassed On the other hand if it is determined at decision step 814 that the line previously identified as a PSTN is not a UI telephone at a step 818 the multiplexer control causes a multiplexer to couple the line to DAA 740 to determine whether the line is coupled with PSTN modem 742 or DSL modem 744 Conversely if it is determined at decision step 812 that a line coupled to the universal communication port is not a PSTN line at a decision step 820 it is determined if the connector is associated with a telephone If so at a step 822 a multiplexer is directed to couple the telephone to the tele phone communications subsystem At a decision step 824 it is determined if the telephone detected is a UI telephone device If so the telephone device is coupled directly with DAA 740 FIG 7 as described above However if it is determined that the telephone device is not a UI telephone it is assumed that the telephone device is a conventional tele phone Thus at a step 830 telephone to AC97 converter 722 is activated or the multiplexer previously described for bypassing telephone to AC97 converter is not used Whether the line has been determined to be a UI telephone a conventional telephone or a PSTN line once the lines associated with the universal communication port coupled with the connector have been routed at a step 860 a connec tion indicator is set to a connected
4. connection with FIG 7 and TABLE 1 an ISDN line may be identified by a signal voltage ranging between 0 833 volts and 2 5 volts that is detected between either pins 3 and 6 or between pins 4 and 5 If it is determined at this decision step that the connector represents an ISDN line a multiplexer associated with the universal communication port receiving the connector for the ISDN line is switched to couple the lines to the ISDN terminal adapter At a step 860 the connection indicator status is set to connected status and the logic of the flow diagram ends at step 890 Similarly if it is determined at decision step 826 that the lineis notan ISDN line at a decision step 832 itis determined if the connector represents an Ethernet connection As described above an Ethernet connection may be indicated by a DC resistance between pins 1 and 2 or pins 3 and 6 ranging between about 1 ohm which attributable to a standard Eth ernet isolation transformer and about 21 ohms which is attributable to a run of category 5 cable If an Ethernet con nection is detected at a step 834 a multiplexer associated with the universal communication port receiving the connec tor for the Ethernet line is switched to couple the lines of the universal communication port to the Ethernet adapter At step 860 the connection indicator status is set to connected sta tus and the logic of the flow diagram ends at step 890 In addition although not shown in flo
5. zov 39v I GLOISNO eg SNLV J3dO 06 iSpy aY YOLINOW i 1004 I lee d Ley U S Patent Mar 9 2010 Sheet 7 of 10 US 7 675 922 B2 FIG 5A 510b 520 FIG 5 ON REO d U S Patent Mar 9 2010 Sheet 8 of 10 US 7 675 922 B2 FIG U S Patent Mar 9 2010 Sheet 9 of 10 US 7 675 922 B2 De E a Ta M 762 760 17 710 ISON peri RE a TERMINAL Ai i ISD ing H xz ADAPTER Protecti O FOUR rotection ETHERNET 2 E RJ45 Elo PAIRS _ USB z TELEPHONE 515 PORT x E i PSTI 711 ETHERNET H 750 719 i 720 710 718 a TEET Rus 1 TT 4 6 8 a paces pe PSTN T I MODEM Hm DSL i 710 MODEM pm 1 11 88 f RJ45 O Am 4 PORT 732 SOFTWARE USER User Control INTERFACE CONNECTION DETECTION UCP DETECTION LOGIC Connection UCP SETUP amp INITIALIZATION H Type DRIVER Identification i 730 18 770 i 715 714 i 7004 FIG 7 U S Patent Mar 9 2010 Sheet 10 of 10 US 7 675 922 B2 800 802 804 DETECT CONNECTOR PRESENCE 806 STATE CHANGE DETECTED 8
6. 800 proceeds to a step 808 where a line type determination is activated At a decision step 810 it is determined if an analog line is detected in the universal communication port where a con nection was noted If so at a decision step 812 it is deter mined if the line is a PSTN line by testing at least one elec trical characteristic of one or more signal lines presented by the connector for example by determining if between pin 4 and 5 a voltage of about 48 volts is detected If it is determined at decision step 812 that the connector presents a PSTN line at a decision step 814 it is determined if the line is a user interface UI telephone configured for use as an input output device for broadband telephony If so at a step 816 the multiplexer control causes a multiplexer to couple the UI telephone to AC97 CODEC 746 FIG 7 bypassing telephone to AC97 converter 722 Although a route bypass ing telephone to AC97 converter 722 is not shown in the schematic diagram of FIG 7 it will be appreciated that tele phone to AC97 converter 722 may be configured to be selec tively activated by multiplexer control 716 and thus be auto matically bypassed unless telephone to AC97 converter 722 is activated Alternatively multiplexers 719 could be config ured to add another selectable path or an additional second ary multiplexer which is directed by multiplexer control 716 could be inserted as a front end to telephone to AC97 con
7. Thus for example upon measuring a DC resistance between pins 1 and 2 or between pins 3 and 6 in the range from about 1 ohm which is attributable to a standard Ethernet isolation transformer and 21 ohms attrib utable to a run of category 5 cable the logic would determine communication ports 710 an RJ 45 connector presents eight 40 that the connector coupled to the universal communication lines 1 pins 1 through 8 that are seen when viewing an end port represents an Ethernet cable On the other hand a resis of a standard RJ 45 conductor with the exposed conductors tance between pins 3 and 4 that ranges between about 200 facing down and the locking tab facing up from the perspec ohms 300 ohms may indicate the connector coupled to the tive of the receiving jack Whether the system or device universal communication port is associated with a telephone associated with the presented connector is a network and 45 device In addition if no such voltages or DC resistances are which type of network or whether a telephone device is detected an impedance measurement between pins 3 and 4 determinable by measuring the electrical characteristics of may be performed using a source having a frequency in the one or more of the pins TABLE 1 shows a typical usage of range of 200 Hz to 3400 Hz A measurement of approxi pins 1 through 8 according to standards used by a variety of mately 600 ohms in this frequency range also would indicate differen
8. be overridden or otherwise switched when the comput ing system determines that the PSTN line is to be used for data communications or when the telephone device is to be used for VoIP etc Although the present invention has been described in con nection with the preferred form of practicing it and modifi cations thereto those of ordinary skill in the art will under stand that many other modifications can be made to the present invention within the scope of the claims that follow Accordingly it is not intended that the scope of the invention in any way be limited by the above description but instead be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow The invention in which an exclusive right is claimed is defined by the following 1 A method for facilitating communication between a computing system and an external system using a universal communication port comprising the steps of equipping the computing system with at least one universal communication port presenting a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage a connector associated with one of a plurality of compatible external systems and presenting a plurality of connector lines for coupling the external system to the computer system the universal communication port being configured to receive and initialize one of the plurality of compatible external systems wherein at least two of the external systems include different connector lines the different connector lin
9. between coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 5 and 6 30 The system of claim 26 wherein the identification of the external system as the Ethernet network is made by detect ing a a predefined range of resistance between a coupler line engaging pin 1 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 3 and 6 and b a predefined range of resistance between a coupler line engaging pin 2 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 3 and 6 31 The system of claim 26 wherein the identification identifies the external system as a Power over Ethernet net work by detecting a a predefined voltage differential between a coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 7 and 8 and b a predefined voltage differential between a coupler line engaging pin 5 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 7 and 8 32 The system of claim 26 wherein the identification identifies the external system as a Gigabit Ethernet network by detecting substantially a zero direct current voltage between a coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging pin 5 33 The system of claim 22 further comprising a connec tion status indicator that indicates whether the external sys tem is successfully interfaced with the computing system by indicating one or more states of the interface the one or more states including a a state in which the external system has successfully interfaced with the computing system
10. cation over LAN 632 and a public switched telephone net work PSTN 634 and even conventional telephone device 636 to any available Universal communication ports 610 in any pattern combination or order The installer or user need not be concerned with making improper connections between devices services and ports and thus potentially having to craw beneath a workstation or other desk with a flashlight or other portable light source to carefully examine jacks and or port labels if any are included on the back of PC 600 Many conventional PCs incorporate plug and play or UPnP technology to allow a PC to recognize devices that are connected to appropriate designated ports if those devices adhere to UPnP standards However beyond the plug and play standard embodiments of the present inven tion present an even more versatile system where installers and users can plug in cables representing a wide range of external communication systems and devices simply by inserting the connector in the most convenient port without the installer or user having to determine which port is which or take the time and care to make sure the appropriate con nector is inserted in the correct port The computer can then dynamically configure itself to communicate over that ser vice regardless of the specific universal communication port 610 to which the service was connected Thus with a mini mum of effort a person can make the necessary c
11. from and writing to a hard disk not shown a magnetic disk drive 428 for reading from or writing to a removable magnetic disk 429 and an optical disk drive 430 for reading from or writing to a remov able optical disk 431 such as a compact disk read only memory CD ROM or other optical media Hard disk drive 427 magnetic disk drive 428 and optical disk drive 430 are connected to system bus 423 by a hard disk drive interface 432 a magnetic disk drive interface 433 and an optical disk drive interface 434 respectively The drives and their associ ated computer readable media provide nonvolatile storage of computer readable machine instructions data structures pro gram modules and other data for PC 420a Although the exemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk removable magnetic disk 429 and removable optical disk 431 it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computer readable media which can store data and machine instructions that are accessible by a computer such as magnetic cassettes flash memory cards digital video disks DVDs Bernoulli cartridges RAMs ROMs and the like may also be used in the exemplary operating environ ment A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk magnetic disk 429 optical disk 431 ROM 424 or RAM 425 including an operating system 435 one or more appli cation programs 436 other program modules 437 and pro gram data 438 A user m
12. register no DC voltage The computing system may be equipped with a plurality of couplers each presenting a plurality of coupler lines When multiple couplers are available upon the evaluation indicat ing that a telephone device is connected with a first coupler and that a public switched telephone network is connected witha second coupler the system can selectively interconnect the coupler lines between the first coupler and the second coupler to enable the telephone device to be used with the public switched telephone network when the computing sys tem is not using the public switched telephone network for data communication In this case power can be drawn from the public switched telephone network when the computing system is powered down to maintain interconnection between the coupler lines between the first coupler and the second coupler The subsystems configured to facilitate interfacing the computing system with the external system are preferably implemented by using dedicated hardware and or by execut ing instructions using general purpose computing or process ing hardware BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advan tages of this invention will become more readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein FIG 1 Prior Art is a block diagram o
13. status As described above the connection indicator may include a green LED or another indicator to communicate to the user or installer that the port has recognized the service or device represented by the con nector and has configured the communications hardware to communicate with the service or device Once the connection indicator status is set the logic of the flow diagram ends at a step 890 At decision step 810 if it was determined that the connec tor is associated with an analog line and it was determined at decision step 812 that the connector was not associated with a PSTN line and it was determined at decision step 820 that the connector was not associated with a recognized telephone device flow diagram 800 proceeds to a step 836 for a con 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 20 nection test The connection test may include measuring elec trical characteristics of one or more of the lines associated with the universal communication port to which the connec tor has been coupled to determine whether the connector is associated with a identifiable service or device At a decision step 838 it is determined if the connection test has indicated whether a connection to a service or device was found Thus for example if either a voltage and or an impedance are is measured on the analog line but neither measurement is in accord with one of the expected values or range of values or protocols the logic
14. systems include different connector lines the different connector lines includ ing different data or power line associations the versal communication port being further configured to accept a plurality of different connector types 11 a controller configured to determine that an external system s connector has been engaged with the with the universal commu nication port such that at least a first portion of the universal communication port s coupler lines are electrically connected to at least a portion of the external system s connector lines perform an evaluation of at least one electrical prop erty manifested in the first portion of coupler lines to determine whether data or power characteristics of the external system are identifiable from among the plurality of known compatible external systems with which the computing system can automati cally interface using the universal communication port based on the evaluation detect which external system has been connected to the universal communica tion port and determining whether the port s data or 0 20 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 26 power line associations properly routed for communication with the external system and when the evaluation indicates the external system is among the known compatible external systems with which the computing system can automati cally interface using the universal communication port automatically routing at l
15. the services and devices con nected to the universal communication ports 710 to the appro priate communications devices associated with the comput ing system The exemplary embodiment shown in FIG 7 illustrates a system having three RJ 45 universal communication ports 710 each of which supports eight lines or four pairs of con ductive lines 711 each of which is received at a switching point 718 Each switching point includes a multi point mul tiplexer 719 and protection circuitry 720 Protection circuitry 720 can be of a number of forms that are widely known in the art for protecting low voltage and or low current circuits from potentially damaging current surges voltage spikes or mis 0 5 25 40 45 14 takenly applied high current voltage sources Protection cir cuitry is provided to protect both universal communication controller 700 and the computing system from such poten tially harmful voltages or currents that are likely to damage the controller or system Each switching point 718 also includes a multiplexer 719 that is used to selectively couple signal lines presented by a system or device coupled with one of universal communica tion ports to appropriate communication circuitry within the computing system Multiplexers 719 are controlled by a mul tiplexer control 716 that is associated with detection and switching logic 713 Detection and switching logic 713 in addition to the mul tiplexer contr
16. to maintain an interconnection between the coupler lines of the first coupler and the second coupler 38 The system of claim 22 wherein the controller is fur ther configured so that upon determining that a telephone device is connected with a first coupler and that a second coupler of the computing system is coupled with a broadband Internet connection the controller couples the telephone device to serve as an input or output device for Voice over Internet Protocol over the broadband Internet connection 39 A system for facilitating communication between a computing system and external systems comprising at least one universal communication port presenting a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage a connec tor associated with one of a plurality of compatible external systems and presenting a plurality of connector lines for coupling the external system to the computer system the universal communication port being config ured to receive and initialize one of the plurality of compatible external systems wherein at least two of the external systems include different connector lines the different connector lines including different data or power line associations the universal communication port being further configured to accept a plurality of different connector types the external system including one of a public switched telephone system a telephone device and a network connection a controller in communication wit
17. usually tiny pressed or etched LINE label 292 and a PHONE label 294 that usually appear on the back of tele phone communications adapter 290 In sum the number and similarity of jacks 274 on personal computer can make it frustrating and difficult to properly connect personal com puter 210 to desired communications facilities The problem in connecting personal computer 210 FIGS 2A 2B is also experienced by users of portable laptop and notebook computers although the ports on these smaller computers are easier to access FIG 3A prior art shows a portable computer 300 which as is typical of portable com puters includes on one or more sides or on the back a con nectivity area 310a presenting a plurality of connection ports 320 FIG 3B prior art shows an enlarged view 3105 of the ports which include a headphone jack 320a a microphone jack 3205 an Ethernet jack 320c and a telephone network jack 320d As will readily be understood there is a strong emphasis or priority on designing notebook and laptop com puters to be as compact and inexpensive as possible Both space and cost considerations make it desirable to have the fewest number of ports As a result no telephone device jack FIG 2C is provided and the proximity of Ethernet jack 320c and telephone network jack 3204 make it challenging to plug an RJ 11 telephone service connector into the correct jack Similarly because most standard headphone and micro phon
18. 0 699 7 1999 Bare 709 225 conventional telephone device can then be used as an audio input output device for communication over the Internet rather than over a public switched telephone network 40 Claims 10 Drawing Sheets US 7 675 922 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 2003 0067884 Al 4 2003 Ableretal 370 252 2004 0114610 1 6 2004 Featherston et al 370 401 7 171 505 2 1 2007 Kuhlmann et al 710 305 2005 0021712 Al 1 2005 Chassapis etal 709 223 2002 0054599 1 5 2002 Jeanjean etal 370 395 53 2002 0141352 1 10 2002 Fangman etal 370 254 cited by examiner US 7 675 922 B2 Sheet 1 of 10 Mar 9 2010 U S Patent I SIA 402 sjueuoduio 9 910S1q U S Patent Mar 9 2010 Sheet 2 of 10 US 7 675 922 B2 FIG 2B PRIOR ART FIG 2C PRIOR U S Patent Mar 9 2010 Sheet 3 of 10 US 7 675 922 B2 FIG 3 PRIOR 310b gt 320a 320c 320d FIG PRIOR 77 d US 7 675 922 B2 Sheet 4 of 10 Mar 9 2010 U S Patent Vr viva WALSAS wvuooud 59098 INouvoridav aan Oe 39V AIYA OLL3NOVIA vidas 93 30V JH3LNI 3OV
19. 08 YES 810 812 814 816 ANALOG INE DETECTED 826 ISDN LINE ES DETECTED 832 ETHERNET DETECTED 836 TEST FOR CONNECTION 880 SET CONNECTION INDICATOR TO CONNECTED BUT NOT FUNCTIONAL SET CONNECTION INDICATOR TO CONNECTED STATUS SET CONNECTION INDICATOR TO NO CONNECTION FIG 8 US 7 675 922 B2 1 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATIONS PORT WITH COMPUTER TELEPHONY INTERFACE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention generally pertains to computer con nectivity and more specifically to providing a more conve nient approach for connecting communications systems and external communication devices to a personal computer or workstation BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Personal computers continue to become both more popular and more indispensable in part because of the ability to connect personal computers to communications networks and other devices that greatly expand the resources available to the user For example local area networks LANs enable personal computer users to share resources such as printers storage devices and high speed Internet access points so that users can cost effectively share resources over wired and wireless LANs in businesses schools and homes With the ever increasing popularity of and dependence on per sonal computer communications most personal computers sold today include built in Ether
20. 5 S C 154 b by 1531 da Assistant Examiner Duc T Duong U S C b by ys 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Workman Nydegger 21 Appl No 10 976 484 57 ABSTRACT 22 Filed 2222004 A computing system is equipped with one or more ports each 65 Prior Publication Data of which includes a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage connectors that may be associated with different types US 2006 0165110 A1 Jul 27 2006 ofexternal services and or devices including public switched telephone networks Ethernet networks ISDN networks and 51 Int Cl or telephone devices Upon detecting a connection to a port a 13 14 2006 01 controller evaluates at least one electrical property of the lines 52 UIS CL Xun 370 401 709 250 ofthe port Based on the evaluation the controller determines 58 Field of Classification Search 370 400 if the port is engaged with a known type of service or device 370 401 419 463 465 467 709 227 228 When the type of service or device is known the controller 709 230 250 selectively switches a plurality of port lines to appropriate See application file for complete search history communications subsystems to enable the computing system 56 References Cited to communicate with the device or service For example a U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 574 722 11 1996 Slykhouse etal 370 257 5 920 608 7 1999 Ben Michael et al 709 224 5 92
21. FIG 7 is a schematic diagram a universal communication port controller 700 facilitating connection of a plurality of universal communication ports 710 to a computing system As described above in one embodiment of the present inven tion universal communication ports 710 are configured as RJ 45 receptacles A number of networking systems and tele phone devices use RJ 45 or RJ 11 connectors Thus RJ 45 receptacles can receive lines from many widely used commu nication services and a variety of different telephone devices In the embodiment shown universal communication ports 710 are configured to couple the computing system with a convention Ethernet connection a Gigabit Ethernet connec tion GigE a Power over Ethernet connection PoE an integrated services digital network ISDN connection a digital subscriber line DSL connection a PSTN connection and or a conventional telephone device In one embodiment of the present invention universal communication port controller 700 provides two principal functions First universal communication port controller 700 examines the connection with any system and or device that is connected to any universal communication ports 710 to determine whether and how the systems and or devices can be used with the computing system Second when a system or device is usable by the computing system universal commu nication port controller 700 appropriate switches and routes the individual signal lines of
22. US007675922B2 az United States Patent 10 Patent No US 7 675 922 B2 Magendanz et al 45 Date of Patent Mar 9 2010 54 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A 5 923 663 A 7 1999 Bontemps et al 370 445 UNIVERSAL COMMUNICATIONS PORT 6 084 881 A 7 2000 Fosmark et al 370 397 WITH COMPUTER TELEPHONY 6 218 930 4 2001 Katzenberg et al 370 200 INTERFACE 6 298 370 10 2001 Tangetal 718 102 6 504 851 1 2003 Ableretal 370 466 6 563 816 5 2003 Nodoushani et al 370 352 75 Inventors Chad L Magendanz Issaquah WA 6 564 280 1 5 2003 Walsh 2 710 305 US Manolito Adan Woodinville 6 731 627 1 5 2004 Gupta etal 2 370 352 WA US Michael W Van Flandern 6 928 086 B2 8 2005 Ableretal 370 465 Seattle WA US Mohamed Belali 6 973 077 1 12 2005 Olssonetal 2 370 359 Issaquah WA US Pasquale Demaio 7 136 673 B2 11 2006 Yukieetal 455 557 Bellevue WA US Thomas G Phillips Bellevue WA US William J Continued Westerinen Sammamish WA US OTHER PUBLICATIONS 73 Assignee Microsoft Corporation Redmond WA Pen2 Companion2 Sensor User s Manual Blood Glucose Testing US System MediSense pp 1 39 MediSense Inc Cambridge MA 02139 1990 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this Primary Examiner Pankaj Kumar patent is extended or adjusted under 3
23. al jacks for a telephone device are pro vided mainly as a convenience feature on prior art portable computers With a conventional jack for a telephone device a user can physically connect a telephone device and a modem to a single telephone line at the same time so that the user alternately can use either without needing two wall outlets or without having to physically connect and disconnect cables to the modem and the telephone device or without having to 0 5 20 25 35 40 45 55 60 12 provide a separate Y adapter to enable both devices to be coupled to a single telephone jack at a time Furthermore providing a Jack for the telephone device allows a modem to ensure that the telephone device is disconnected from the telephone line when the data communication using the modem is occurring to avoid noise that might disrupt data communications However conventional jacks do not permit a telephone device to be used for any purpose other than communicating over a telephone line Conventional systems are not configured to be able to provide power or match the impedances of conventional telephone devices such that tele phone devices can be used as I O devices Second providing a port that enables a conventional tele phone device to be used as an audio input output device for VoIP is very desirable to a user For example the user may be a business traveler who while staying a hotel may need to make any numbe
24. associated with the external system and presenting a plurality of connec tor lines The coupler engages the connector such that at least a first portion of the coupler lines are engaged by at least a portion of the connector lines An evaluation of at least one electrical property of at least a first portion of coupler lines to determine whether characteristics of the external system are identifiable from among known external systems with which the computing system interfaces When the evaluation indi cates the external system is one that interfaces with the com puting system at least a second portion of the coupler lines is selectively interconnected with at least one subsystem con figured to facilitate interfacing the computing system with the external system The evaluation of the at least one electrical property of at least one of the first portion of coupler lines includes anumber of possible measurements For example the measurement can determine whether a first coupler line carries an analog or digital signal or determine a voltage carried by the first cou pler line relative to one of a ground and a second coupler line or determine a resistance ofthe first coupler line relative to the second coupler line and or an impedance of the first coupler line relative to the second coupler line connection status indicator can be generated to indicate whether the external system is one that interfaces with the computing system The connect
25. ay enter commands and information in PC 420a and provide control input through input devices such as a keyboard 440 and a pointing device 442 that com municate with system bus 423 via I O device interface 446 Pointing device 442 may include a mouse stylus wireless remote control or other pointer As used hereinafter the term mouse is intended to encompass virtually any pointing device that is useful for controlling the position of a cursor on the screen One or more audio input output device 443 including headsets speakers and microphones also engage personal computer 420a via I O device interface 446 Still further input devices not shown may include a joystick haptic joystick yoke foot pedals game pad satellite dish scanner or the like These and other input output US 7 675 922 B2 9 devices are often connected to processing unit 421 through I O interface 446 that is coupled to system bus 423 The term I O interface is intended to encompass each interface specifi cally used for a serial port a parallel port a game port a keyboard port and or a universal serial bus USB monitor 447 is connected to system bus 423 via an appropriate inter face such as a video adapter 448 It will be appreciated that PCs are often coupled to other peripheral output devices not shown suchas speakers through a sound card or other audio interface not shown and printers PC 420a can also operate in a networked env
26. by UCP detection logic 715 as being coupled with a universal communication port multiplexer control 716 directs the multiplexer 719 to couple lines 711 with the appropriate communication circuitry to facilitate the functionality appropriate to the connected service device Connection detection circuitry 714 is coupled with univer sal communication port detection logic 715 which responds to measurements made by connection detection circuitry 714 based on control information received from a universal com munication port setup and initialization driver 730 and in accord with a software user interface 732 As will be appre ciated by those of ordinary skill in the art instead of creating an application specific fixed configuration circuit universal communication port detection logic 715 receives and pro cesses instructions communicated from driver 730 and soft ware interface 732 enabling universal communication port detection logic 715 to be created and updated more efficiently Based on the configuration and programming provided by driver 730 and software user interface 732 universal commu nication port detection logic responds to measurements made by connection detection circuitry 714 and directs multiplex ers 719 to selectively couple lines 711 to appropriate com munications systems The exemplary embodiment of the invention shown in FIG 7 includes communication circuitry equipped to handle one of five types of connections A PSTN mod
27. ces and enables more versatile communication options as described below 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 PC with Universal communication Ports FIG 5 shows a portable computer 500 that is similar to conventional portable computer 300 FIG 3 except that a connectivity area 510a of portable computer 500 features universal communication ports 520 instead of the range of distinct 1 dedicated ports 320 used in conven tional portable computer 300 As described above in connect ing communications systems or I O devices to a PC installers need to be careful to make sure that the appropriate devices are connected to the correct ports For example if an RJ 11 telephone connector is mistakenly connected to an RJ 45 Ethernet port and the microphone and headphone plugs of a headset are mistakenly transposed and plugged into the head phone and microphone jacks respectively the communica tions with the PC will not function as expected to say the least However using embodiments of the present invention uni versal communication ports 520 reduce problems that might be experienced by those attempting to connect PC 500 with communication systems and I O devices As shown in the enlarged view of a connectivity area 5105 in FIG 5B instead of presenting multiple different dedicated jacks the connec tivity area includes a plurality of identical universal commu nication ports 520 One embo
28. connected with a second coupler further com prising the step of configuring the telephone device to serve as an input or output device for Voice over Internet Protocol that is conveyed over the broadband Internet connection 18 The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one sub system that is configured to facilitate interfacing the comput ing system with the external system is implemented in at least one of a dedicated hardware and b machine executable instructions that are executable by a processor 19 A method for facilitating communication between a computing system and an external system comprising the steps of equipping the computing system with at least one universal communication port presenting a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage a connector associated with one of a plurality of compatible external systems and presenting a plurality of connector lines for coupling the external system to the computer system the universal communication port being configured to receive and initialize one of the plurality of compatible external systems wherein at least two of the external systems include different connector lines the different connector lines including different data or power line associations the universal communication port being further config ured to accept a plurality of different connector types the external system including one of a public switched telephone system a telephone device and a
29. cular coupler lines the controller can identify a number of known types of external systems Once the controller identifies a known system a switching system automatically couples the appropriate coupler lines to subsystems that enable the com puting system to communicate with the external system Using embodiments of the present invention saves cost and space in designing computer systems because dedicated ports need not be provided for telephone networks an Ether net cable a telephone device and other devices that a user might be expected to connect to the computer system More over upon detecting a telephone device the controller can adaptively employ the telephone device as an input output device for purposes other than conventional telephony For example a user with access to a wired or wireless broadband network and a Voice over Internet Protocol system may couple any conventional telephone to an available port and the controller can then selectively route the coupler lines engaging the telephone device to appropriate converter sub systems The user can then place telephone calls without carrying a separate telephone or paying separate telephone charges One aspect of the present invention is thus directed to a method for facilitating communication between a computing system and an external system The computing system is equipped with at least one coupler presenting a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage a connector
30. determines that the connector is associ ated with a service or device but because the parameters presented by the connector are not in an expected range and or are not understood the status indicator is set to con nected but not functional at a step 870 The status indicator may include a yellow or amber light to signal to the user or installer that a connection with some sort of device or service has been made but communication with that device or system is not possible Alternatively if at decision step 838 no con nection is detected e g ifno voltage or current is detected or if an infinite impedance is measured the connector appar ently does not represent any service or device that the logic can accommodate As a result at step 880 the connection indicator is set to a no connection status such as by dis playing a red light For example if a connector is coupled to one of the universal communication ports but the other end is not plugged into a telephone device telephone jack or net work jack the connection indicator signals that there is a problem which the user or installer may be able to correct In either case once again after the connection indicator status is set at step 870 or step 880 and the flow diagram ends at step 890 Referring back to decision step 810 if it is determined that an analog line is not detected at decision step 826 it is determined if the line is an ISDN line As described above in
31. diment of a universal commu nication port 520 features an RJ 45 style port operable to accept a connector supporting up to eight lines Most PC peripheral devices and communications systems ranging from headsets and printers to Ethernet adapters and wireless communication adapters presently can be interfaced with USB connectors that include only four connectors Thus an eight conductor RJ 45 connector is suitableto connect a wide range of communications systems and I O devices As described further below a consolidated network interface 480 FIG 4B or a consolidated I O interface 490 FIG 4C is operable to detect a wide range of communications systems and I O devices that foreseeably may be connected to one of universal communication ports 520 and couple and route communications and or power lines appropriately between the external system or device and the appropriate lines of system bus 423 FIGS 4A 4C and or power supply lines within the PC Exemplary Uses of Embodiments of the Present Invention FIGS 6A and 6B show representative examples in which computers 600 and 650 are being connected to computing systems and I O devices using an embodiment of the present invention More specifically FIG 6A shows a PC 600 equipped with a plurality of universal communication ports 610 Using universal communication ports 610 PC 600 is coupled via cables 620 with peripherals 622 and 624 com munications services 632 and 634 and a telephone dev
32. e calls without paying hotel telephone surcharges or having to carry an audio input output device while on a trip away from the home office Similarly provision of such a universal communication port can save the cost of adding additional telephone lines For example if a household with a single telephone line and Internet service needs an additional telephone line for com munication a computer provided with a universal communi cation port can be used with conventional telephone devices to access VoIP services to effectively add the benefits of the additional line without the cost The user need not acquire a special input output device and need not pay the installation fee and monthly charges for a second telephone line Universal communication ports in accord with this inven tion also can be used by a business to expand its telephone service For example a small business may need a public branch exchange PBX system but be unable to pay for such a system A telephony card with universal connection ports could be installed on a server at the office and the ports on the telephony card can then be connected to PSTN lines and or conventional telephone devices As more PSTN lines or users are added each is coupled to an available universal commu nication port Thus whether on the road at home or at an office provision of universal communication ports to enable US 7 675 922 B2 13 the connection of communication lines or conven
33. e jacks are the same size only by carefully checking color coding and or labels around the base of headphone jack 320a and microphone jack 3205 can a user keep from trans posing the plugs inserted therein Despite the numerous complications in connecting a com puting system to communications systems and other devices described above there are other concerns beyond the diffi culty of making the correct physical connections As one example there are many businesses hotels and other estab lishments where a user might like to use the telephone com munications adapter but may not be able to do so because of the nature of the telephone system provided in those estab lishments Similarly although Ethernet is a highly popular network topology many other topologies such as integrated services data networks ISDN are also in use While many personal computers come with standard Ethernet connectiv ity adding an ISDN adapter involves additional cost and consumes available bus expansion slots or PCMCIA slots Further the forthcoming power over Ethernet standard offers the advantage of providing power and network connectivity over an Ethernet cable but existing Ethernet adapters will be not be equipped to take advantage of the new topology It would thus be highly desirable to make the connectivity of communications systems and other devices to computing systems simpler and more versatile Specifically it would be desirable to simplify the p
34. easta second portion of the coupler lines to a corresponding converter subsystem according to the detected data or power line associations the converter subsystem corre sponding to the detected external system the sub system being configured to interface the computing system with the external system 23 The system of claim 22 wherein the evaluation of the at least one electrical property of at least one of the first portion of the coupler lines includes determining a whether the first portion of the coupler lines presents an analog signal b whether the first portion of the coupler lines presents a digital signal c a voltage carried by a first coupler line relative to one of a ground and a second coupler line d a resistance of the first coupler line relative to the second coupler line and e an impedance of the first coupler line relative to the second coupler line 24 The system of claim 23 wherein identification of the characteristics of the external system includes identifying the external system as one of a a public switched telephone network wherein the sec ond portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used by the public switched telephone network and wherein the subsystem with which the second por tion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes a modem b a conventional telephone device wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines us
35. ed even after turning personal computer 210 to access back face 270 the task may be challenging As shown in FIG 2B on communications connector area 272a there are at least three nearly identical jacks 274 in close proximity to one another Connecting the appropriate cables to the appropriate jacks requires very close inspection of back panel 270 FIG 2 shows an enlarged view of communications con nector area 272b A network adapter 280 presents a network jack 274a to which network cable connector 264 FIG 2A should be connected As described above however network jack 274a can accommodate an RJ 11 connector so the installer needs to be careful not to mistakenly plug telephone network connector 254 or telephone device connector 244 into network jack 274a Because ring signals present a rela tively high voltage it is conceivable that such a mistaken connection result in damage to network adapter 280 and or personal computer 210 Even if network connector 264 is properly connected to network jack 274a the user must be careful to properly connect telephone network connector 254 and telephone device connector 244 to telephone network jack 2745 and telephone device jack 274c respectively or 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 telephone communications adapter 290 may not be functional for data communications as described above The only way to differentiate between the otherwise identical jacks is to read a
36. ed to automatically communicate with a plurality of different external communications networks and or devices and 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 FIG 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the logical steps for evaluating systems and devices connected to the universal communication ports and configuring the communications adapter to engage the system detected and or communicate to a user a status of each of these ports DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Exemplary Computing System for Implementing Present Invention With reference to FIG 4A an exemplary conventional system suitable to be adapted for use in practicing the present invention is shown The system includes a general purpose computing device in the form of a PC 420a provided with a processing unit 421 a system memory 422 and a system bus 423 The system bus couples various system components including the system memory to processing unit 421 and may be any of several types of bus structures including a memory bus or memory controller a peripheral bus and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures The system memory includes a read only memory ROM 424 and a random access memory RAM 425 A basic input output system 426 BIOS containing the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within PC 420a such as during start up is stored in ROM 424 PC 420a further includes a hard disk drive 427 for reading
37. ed for audio input and output and wherein the sub system with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes a telephone to AC97 converter and an AC97 CODEC c a user interface telephone device configured to be used as an audio input or output device for a computing device wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for audio input and output and wherein the subsystem with which the sec ond portion of the conductor lines is selectively inter connected includes the AC97 CODEC d anintegrated services data network wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for integrated services data network communica tion and wherein the subsystem with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively intercon nected includes an integrated services data network ter minal adapter e an Ethernet network wherein the second portion ofthe conductor lines includes connector lines used for Ether net communication and wherein the subsystem with which the second portion ofthe conductor lines is selec tively interconnected includes an Ethernet adapter f a power source wherein the second portion of the con ductor lines includes power lines and wherein the sub system with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes a power receiver and g a computer input or output device whe
38. em 742 and a DSL modem 744 are provided both of which are coupled to a digital access arrangement DAA 740 DAA 740 correctly routes the connection coupled to the universal communica US 7 675 922 B2 15 tion port to the appropriate modem selecting between PSTN modem 742 and DSL modem 744 In addition an AC97 CODEC 746 is provided and func tions as a generally conventional 20 bit audio coder decoder Typically AC97 CODEC 746 engages headsets micro phones and speakers configured for use with a PC However universal communication port controller 700 couples a tele phone to AC97 converter 722 and adjusts incoming and out going signals to and from PC in regard to a conventional telephone device such that the telephone device microphone 1 and speaker may be used for computer audio input and output respectively An Ethernet adapter 750 is also provided as it is in many PCs A difference between an embodiment of the present invention and the Ethernet adapter on conventional comput ers is that in conventional computers a dedicated Ethernet port is provided and is coupled to Ethernet adapter 750 By contrast using embodiments of the present invention Ether net adapter 750 may be coupled to an Ethernet connection and to other devices and services without the cost and space of 2 including a dedicated Ethernet only port as is the case in the prior art An ISDN terminal adapter 760 also is provided for use with an integrated servic
39. es and the subsystem with US 7 675 922 B2 23 which the second portion of the conductor lines is selec tively interconnected includes an input or output inter face 4 The method of claim 3 wherein the coupler includes a jack and the connector includes a plug configured to received within and electrically mate with the jack 5 The method of claim 4 wherein the jack includes an RJ 45 jack presenting a plurality of pins configured to receive electrical signals from the plug and the plug includes one of a an RJ 45 plug and b an RJ 11 plug 6 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of identifying the external system as the public switched telephone network is made by detecting a predefined voltage between a coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging pin 5 7 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of identifying the external system as the conventional telephone device is made by detecting a predefined resistance between the cou pler line engaging pin 3 and the coupler line engaging pin 4 8 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of identifying the external system as the integrated services data network is made by detecting a a voltage in a predefined range between a coupler line engaging pin 3 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 5 and 6 and b a voltage in a predefined range between coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 5 and 6 9 The method of claim 5 wherei
40. es digital network Because ISDN signal may be supplied over conventional telephone lines in one 2 embodiment of the present invention a galvanic isolation ring protection circuit is included to protect ISDN terminal adapter 760 from damage that might be sustained due to the relatively high voltage presented by a telephone ring signal Generally universal communication port controller 700 is 3 isolated from other PC subsystems by a PC isolation barrier 770 to protect against potentially harmful voltage surges Determining which communications circuit 1 deciding between DAA 740 and PSTN modem 742 or DSL modem 744 telephone to AC97 converter 722 and AC97 CODEC 3 746 Ethernet adapter 750 and ISDN terminal adapter 760 is coupled to lines 711 is the task of UCP detection logic 715 in combination with connection detection circuitry 714 For example if an RJ 45 jack configuration is used for universal 5 16 the universal communication port 15 for a PSTN connection Similarly if it is determined that a voltage of 48 volts 15 registered between pin 6 and pin 3 a secondary PSTN line is presented by the connection to the universal communication port In either case UCP connection logic 715 based on the data provided by connection detection circuitry 714 deter mines that a PSTN system is connected to the port and directs multiplexer control 716 to switch multiplexer 719 which is associated with universal communication port 710
41. es including different data or power line associations the universal communication port being further config ured to accept a plurality of different connector types determining that an external system s connector has been engaged with the with the universal communication port such that at least a first portion of the universal commu nication port s coupler lines are electrically connected to at least a portion of the external system s connector lines performing an evaluation of at least one electrical property manifested in the first portion of coupler lines to deter mine whether data or power characteristics of the exter nal system are identifiable from among the plurality of known compatible external systems with which the computing system can automatically interface using the universal communication port based on the evaluation detecting which external system has been connected to the universal communication port and determining whether the port s data or power line associations are properly routed for communication with the external system and when the evaluation indicates the external system is among the known compatible external systems with which the 10 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 22 computing system can automatically interface using the universal communication port automatically routing at least a second portion of the coupler lines to a corre sponding converter subsystem acco
42. external system includes a network connec tion the second portion of the coupler lines is inter connected with a network adapter that is configured to enable the computing system to communicate over the network connection 20 The method of claim 19 wherein the coupler includes a jack and the connector includes a plug configured to be received within and electrically mate with the jack 21 The method of claim 20 wherein the jack includes an RJ 45 jack presenting a plurality of pins configured to receive electrical signals from the plug and the plug includes one of a an RJ 45 plug and b an RJ 11 plug 22 A system for facilitating communications with an external system comprising a at least one user input device b a display screen c a processor d a memory e a bus operably coupling the user input device the dis play screen the processor and the memory and f an input or output interface in communication with the bus the input output interface comprising i at least one universal communication port presenting a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage a connector associated with one of a plurality of com patible external systems and presenting a plurality of connector lines for coupling the external system to the computer system the universal communication port being configured to receive and initialize one of the plurality of compatible external systems wherein at least two of the external
43. f a conventional telephone communications interface used in a personal com puting system FIG 2A Prior Art is an isometric view of a workstation where a personal computer PC and a telephone are being connected to telephone and data networks FIGS 2B and 2C Prior Art are isometric views of a rear panel ofa PC showing ports for connection of communication systems and devices FIG 3A Prior Art is an isometric view of a portable computer and its communication and peripheral ports FIG 3B Prior Art is an enlarged view of the communi cation and peripheral ports of the portable computer of FIG 3A FIG 4A is functional block diagram of a computing device or PC adaptable to use an embodiment of the present inven tion FIGS 4B and 4C are functional block diagrams of the computing device adapted to include embodiments of the present invention FIG 5A is an isometric view of a portable computer adapted to use an embodiment of the present invention FIG 5B is an enlarged view of the communication and peripheral device ports of the personal computer using an embodiment of the present invention FIGS 6A and 6B are connection diagrams showing alter native connections of external communications systems and devices connected to the portable computer of FIGS 5A 5B FIG 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the present invention showing a communications adapter sup porting a plurality of universal communication ports adapt
44. h the plurality of coupler lines for each universal communication port and config ured to evaluate at least one electrical property of at least one of a first portion of the coupler lines from a coupler to identify which external system has engaged the uni versal communication port and whether the port s data or power line associations are properly routed for communication with the external system and based on the identification of the external system auto matically routing a second portion ofthe coupler lines to a corresponding converter subsystem according to the detected data or power line associations the con verter subsystem corresponding to the identified external system the subsystem being configured to interface the computing system with the external sys tem such that US 7 675 922 B2 29 when the external system includes a public switched telephone network the second portion of the cou pler lines is interconnected with a telephone inter face whenthe externalsystem includes a telephone device the second portion of the coupler lines is intercon nected with a telephone converter enabling the tele phone device to be used as an input or output device for a computing system application and when the external system includes a network connec tion the second portion of the coupler lines is inter connected with a network adapter configured to enable the computing system to communicate over the network connectio
45. he universal communication ports 710 universal communica tion port detection logic 715 may also be programmed to test for the presence of these devices Upon identifying a particu lar device the lines 711 associated with the universal com munication port 710 where the signature electrical character istics were detected may be selectively coupled to the communications interface or other interface not shown that is appropriate for the device thus detected For example if impedance measurements indicated that the connector coupled to the universal communication port is associated with a headset having headphones and a microphone univer sal communication port detection logic 715 may cause a multiplexer to couple lines 711 that are associated with the universal communication port 710 to AC97 CODEC 746 directly bypassing unneeded telephone to AC97 converter 722 In addition system power may be provided via a con nector receivable in a universal communication port 710 with the power source being identifiable by a characteristic voltage that has been measured at expected lines 711 It should also be appreciated that with price performance improvements in microprocessors and memory devices instead of using hardware based communications sub systems such as a hardware based PSTN modem 742 or Ethernet adapter 750 these functions could instead be imple mented in software executable by a system processor in accord with machine executable inst
46. he ports As previously described in connection with FIG 7 presence of connectors for external systems and devices is performed by measuring electrical characteristics of one or more signal lines presented by the connectors as determined by measuring electrical properties of lines asso ciated with the universal communication ports Flow diagram 800 describes an exemplary series of logical steps for detect ing and responding to connectors engaging universal com munication ports Flow diagram 800 begins at a step 802 At a step 804 it is determined if a connector is detected in any universal com munication port s As described above connector detection for the universal connection ports may be performed with a switch a photosensor and or by continually testing electrical properties of lines coupled with the universal communication ports to determine if a connector has engaged one of the universal communication ports At a decision step 806 it is determined if a state change is detected signaling that a connector has been coupled into one of the universal commu nication ports If not flow diagram 800 loops to step 804 to continue determining if a connector has been detected in any universal communication port s On the other hand if it is US 7 675 922 B2 19 determined at decision step 806 that a state change has been detected indicating a connector may be present in one or more of the universal communication ports flow diagram
47. ice 636 In the illustration of FIG 6A universal communication ports 610 present identical physical receptacles such as RJ 45 jacks Thus cables 620 joining communications ser vices 632 peripherals 622 and 624 and telephone device 636 all are provided with connectors configured to be received in the RJ 45 jacks such as RJ 45 or RJ 11 connectors As described below detection logic evaluates one or more elec trical characteristics presented by lines connected to each of universal connection ports 610 to determine the nature ofthe service or device attached to each of these ports As a result of the determination made by the detection logic lines presented by the services and devices coupled with universal commu nication ports 610 are configured and routed to enable com munication between the services and systems and PC 600 As a result a person can more conveniently connect ser vices and devices with PC 600 For example in contrast to the US 7 675 922 B2 11 problems described above in connection with installing PC 210 FIG 2A where installer may have to be very careful to properly couple the services and devices with the appro priate dedicated jacks on PC 210 an installer or user of PC 600 is spared such travails Using an embodiment of the present invention a user can connect cables 620 from a vari ety of different devices services including keyboard 622 and pointing device 624 services such as the Ethernet communi
48. ion status indicator is config ured to present indications representing states of the connec tion including whether the external system successfully interfaces with the computing system whether an external 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 system is detected but the external system does not success fully interface with the computing system or whether there appears to be no external system connected with the connec tor lines The connection status indicator may include at least one light generating device and be configured to present lights of different colors corresponding to the different states Upon identification of the external system a number of subsystems may be engaged to properly interface with the external system If the external system is a public switched telephone network a portion ofthe conductor lines engaging the connector lines used by the public switched telephone network is coupled with a modem If the external system is a conventional telephone device a portion of the coupler lines engaging the conductor lines used for audio input and output is selectively coupled to both a telephone to AC97 converter and an AC97 CODEC If the external system is a user inter face telephone device configured to be used as an audio input output device for a computing device coupler lines engaging connector lines used for audio input and output are selectively interconnected with the AC97 CODEC If the ex
49. ironment using logical connections to one or more remote computers suchas a remote computer 449 Remote computer 449 may be another PC a server which is typically generally configured much like PC 420a a router a network PC a peer device or a satellite or other common network node and typically includes many or all of the elements described above in con nection with PC 420a although only an external memory storage device 450 has been illustrated in FIG 4 The logical connections depicted in FIG 4 include a local area network LAN 451 and a wide area network WAN 452 Such net working environments are common in offices enterprise wide computer networks intranets and the Internet When used in a LAN networking environment PC 420a is connected to LAN 451 through a network interface or adapter 453 When used in a WAN networking environment PC 420a typically includes a modem 454 or other means such as a cable modem Digital Subscriber Line DSL interface or an Integrated Service Digital Network ISDN interface for establishing communications over WAN 452 such as the Internet Modem 454 which may be internal or external is connected to the system bus 423 or coupled to the bus via I O device interface 446 i e through a serial port In a networked environment program modules or portions thereof used by PC 420a may be stored in the remote memory storage device It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are e
50. mmunication device or service the user can check the status indicators to determine if the communications problem is the result of a failed connection orif the problem might be with the communications software or some other source Although not shown in FIG 7 additional devices may be used to draw power from suitable connections and or to enable persistent switching even when the computing system is not powered up For example if a PoE connection is detected in the universal communication port power can be drawn from pins 4 5 7 and 8 of the connection and converted as necessary to supply some or all of the power needs for certain component s of the computing system Alternatively if it is determined that a PSTN line is connected to one of the universal communication ports and a conventional telephone device is connected to another power supplied by PSTN line at pins 4 and 5 can be used to couple the telephone device to the PSTN line when the computing system is powered off Thus without having to remove or change connections a user would still be able to operate the telephone normally although the computing system is powered off Logical Steps for Evaluating and Signaling Connections FIG 8 is a flow diagram 800 illustrating the logical steps for evaluating systems and devices connected to the universal ports configuring the communications adapter to engage the system detected and or communicate to a user a status of each of t
51. mong those known to be capable of automatically interfacing with the computer system using the coupler 13 The method of claim 12 wherein the step of providing the connection status indication includes the step of energiz ing lights of different colors 40 50 55 65 24 14 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing the computing system with a plurality of couplers each of the plurality of couplers presenting plurality of coupler lines 15 Themethodofclaim 14 wherein the step ofperforming the evaluation determines that a telephone device is con nected with a first coupler and that a public switched tele phone network is connected with a second coupler further comprising thestep ofselectively interconnectine the coupler lines between the first coupler and the second coupler to enable the telephone device to be used with the public switched telephone network when the computing system is not using the public switched telephone network for data communication 16 The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of drawing power from the public switched telephone network when the computing system is powered down to maintain an interconnection between the coupler lines of the first coupler and the second coupler 17 The method of claim 14 wherein the step of performing the evaluation determines that a telephone device is con nected with a first coupler and that a broadband Internet connection is
52. n 40 A method for facilitating communication between a computing system and an external system using a universal communication port comprising the steps of equipping the computing system with at least one universal communication port presenting a plurality of coupler lines configured to engage an RJ 45 connector associ ated with one of a plurality of compatible external sys tems and presenting a plurality of connector lines for coupling the external system to the computer system the universal communication port being configured to receive and initialize one of the plurality of compatible external systems wherein at least two of the external systems include different connector lines the different connector lines including different data or power line associations 20 25 30 determining that an external system s RJ 45 connector has been engaged with the with the universal communica tion port such that at least a first portion of the universal communication port s coupler lines are electrically con nected to at least a portion of the external system s connector lines performing an evaluation of at least one electrical property manifested in the first portion of coupler lines to deter mine whether data or power characteristics of the exter nal system are identifiable from among the plurality of known compatible external systems with which the computing system can automatically interface using the universal communicati
53. n the step of identifying the Ethernet network is made by detecting a a predefined range of resistance between a coupler line engaging pin 1 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 3 and 6 and b a predefined range of resistance between a coupler line engaging pin 2 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 3 and 6 10 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of identifying the Power over Ethernet network is made when the coupler line a engaging pin 4 registers a voltage differential of approximately 48 volts relative to the second cou pler line engaging one of pins 7 and 8 and b engaging pin 5 registers a voltage differential of approximately 48 volts relative to the second cou pler line engaging one of pins 7 and 8 11 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of identifying the Gigabit Ethernet network is made by detecting substan tially a zero direct current voltage between a coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging pin 5 12 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of providing a connection status indication including at least one of a an indication that the external system is successfully automatically interfaced with the computing system using the coupler b an indication that the external system was detected but the external system was not successfully automatically interfaced with the computing system using the coupler and c an indication that the external system is not a
54. ne connectors such as telephone device connector 244 and telephone network connector 254 are both modular RJ 11 connectors that may be indistinguish able from one another in the jumble of cables behind work station 200 Furthermore network connectors such as net work connector 264 employ modular RJ 45 connectors As is widely understood RJ 11 and RJ 45 connectors have very similar appearances RJ 45 connectors support more leads than RJ 11 connectors and are slightly wider However the depth of both connectors is the same and both present lines on one side and a securing tab on the opposite side In fact by design RJ 11 and RJ 45 connectors are sufficiently similar that an RJ 11 connector can be received and secured by the securing tab in an RJ 45 jack which can cause substantial problems As a result even if someone were sufficiently careful to properly connect telephone network cable 250 and network cable 260 to appropriate jacks 222a and 2225 respectively after possibly mistakenly inserting telephone network cable 250 into data jack 2225 and not realizing it until noting that the remaining network connector 264 does not fit into the remaining jack i e telephone jack 220a correctly complet ing the installation may be difficult As already indicated the user may be working in a cramped space under or behind workstation 200 and may not readily be able to move per sonal computer 210 to more directly access back face 270 Inde
55. net and telephone modem communication ports FIG 1 prior art illustrates an exemplary block diagram of a typical telephone communications interface 100 that is rep resentative of many personal computers in use today Tele phone communications interface 100 facilitates communica tion between a computer bus 102 and telephone network 130 A typical telephone communications interface 100 includes an analog front end AFE 110 a digital isolation barrier 112 a data access arrangement DAA 114 a number of discrete components 116 and one or more ports 120a and 1205 AFE 110 which performs both analog to digital conversion and digital to analog conversion and is therefore commonly referred to as a coder decoder CODEC is configured with the protocols and data rates supported by telephone commu nications interface 100 Conventionally the data protocols and data rates are hard wired into an application specific integrated circuit ASIC which allows for rapid processing of data communications without adding communications overhead to the computer Digital isolation barrier 112 pro vides voltage surge protection to AFE 110 bus 102 and the rest of the computing system not shown protecting against voltage surges that might appear on communication lines that are coupled to telephone communications interface 100 via telephone system port 120 and telephone device port 1205 DAA 114 provides a physical interface to external systems and comm
56. network connection determining that an external system s connector has been engaged with the with the universal communication port such that at least a first portion of the universal commu nication port s coupler lines are engaged by at least a portion of the external system s connector lines performing an evaluation of at least one electrical property of the at least one of the first portion of the coupler lines to identify which external system has engaged the uni versal communication port and whether the port s data or power line associations are properly routed for com munication with the external system and based on the identification of the external system auto matically routing a second portion of the coupler lines to a corresponding converter subsystem according to the US 7 675 922 B2 25 detected data or power line associations the converter subsystem corresponding to the identified external sys tem the subsystem being configured to interface the computing system with the external system such that when the external system includes a public switched telephone network the second portion of the coupler lines is interconnected with a telephone interface when the external system includes a telephone device the second portion of the coupler lines is intercon nected with a telephone converter enabling the tele phone device to be used as an input or output device for a computing system application and when the
57. ntroller 700 has identified the protocol or device and established a communications link with the external service or device On the other hand if universal communication port controller 700 detects a connection but is unable to recognize the protocol or device the status indicator presents a red light 0 20 30 40 45 55 65 18 to signal that it the connection is not usable As a further alternative if universal communication port controller 700 is unable to determine the type of device or system either at all times or upon detecting the presence of a connector coupled to universal communication port 710 the status indicator may present a yellow or amber light The yellow or amber light being energized indicates that a connection may be possible but that connection has not been made Thus for example if the user has connected a network cable to the universal com munication port but the user has not connected the other end of the network cable to a network port the status indicator may present an amber or yellow light to show that the con nector was detected in the universal communication port but is for an underdetermined device or system Status indicators thus provide visual feedback to the user or installer that a service or device has been properly coupled to the PC or other computing device Alternatively should the user working with the computing system be unable to effect the desired connection to a co
58. ol 716 includes connection detection circuitry 714 and UCP detection logic 715 In one embodiment of the present invention connection detection circuitry 714 serves at least two functions First connection detection circuitry 714 detects the presence of a connector in a universal com munication port Presence of a connector is detectable by a switch that is disposed adjacent to the port so that insertion of a connector causes contacts of the switch to either open or close to register that a connector has been inserted into the universal communication port Alternatively a photosensor can be disposed to respond to a connector in the universal communication port and thus detect the presence of the con nector in the port Also periodic testing of one or more of lines 711 of the universal communication port or ports may be conducted such that a change in an electrical property of one or more of the lines indicates a connector is present in the port Second once a connector is determined to be present within the universal communication port connection detection cir cuitry 714 measures any signals received at lines 711 to derive information about the service and or device that is coupled with the universal communication port 710 By measuring voltages carried by each of the lines 711 or measuring imped ance between pairs of lines 711 various systems and devices are identifiable by UCP detection logic 715 Once a particular system is identified
59. omputer 210 is engaged through the use of a monitor 230 and keyboard 236 Monitor 230 is coupled to personal computer 210 using a monitor cable 232 and a monitor connector 234 Similarly keyboard 236 connects to personal computer 210 using a US 7 675 922 B2 3 keyboard cable 238 and a keyboard connector 239 wall plate 220 provides a telephone jack 222 and a data jack 222b such as an Ethernet port One end of telephone cable network cable 250 is plugged into telephone jack 222 while the other end presents a telephone network connector 254 Similarly one end of network cable 260 is plueged into data jack 2225 while the other end has a network connector 264 Telephone device cable 242 thus extends from telephone device 240 to telephone device connector 244 As FIG 2A shows and as is well known to many computer users properly connecting all the cables to a back panel 270 FIG 2B of personal computer 210 presents a challenge particularly if the back of the computer is not readily acces sible or is not well lighted Fortunately some of the connec tors such as keyboard connector 239 and monitor connector 234 are easily differentiable from each other by size shape and or color and often only can fit in the appropriate jack on back panel 270 of personal computer 210 In contrast prop erly connecting personal computer 210 to telephone and net work service and telephone device 240 may be much more difficult Typical telepho
60. on port based on the evaluation detecting which external system has been connected to the universal communication port and determining whether the port s data or power line associations are properly routed for communication with the external system and when the evaluation indicates the external system is among the known compatible external systems with which the computing system can automatically interface using the universal communication port automatically routing at least a second portion of the coupler lines to a corre sponding converter subsystem according to the detected data and or power line associations the converter sub system corresponding to the detected external system the subsystem being configured to interface the comput ing system with the external system
61. only includes line monitoring and detection equip ment to determine if a communication line is available to detect ringing signals detect caller ID and to send and receive the actual data communications Telephone communications interface 100 couples to tele phone network 130 via telephone system port 120a Tele phone system port 120a typically includes a standard RJ 11 jack and is coupled with DAA 114 via a number of discrete components 116 that among other functions provide persis tent switching between telephone system port 120a and tele phone device port 1205 as described in further detail below Thus a computing system not shown is able to communi cate via bus 102 over telephone network 130 using telephone communications interface 100 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 Telephone device port 1205 typically comprises an addi tional RJ 11 jack to which a telephone device 140 can be connected and is generally provided as a convenience Tele phone communications interface 100 enables the computing system not shown to communicate with telephone network 130 via telephone system port 120a but provides no commu nication capability between the computing system and tele phone device 140 Telephone device port 1205 is provided to enable a user to make use of telephone device 140 to com municate over telephone network 130 when the computing device is not employing telephone communications interface 100 Disc
62. onnections that enable the person to interact with the computer using keyboard 622 and or pointing device 624 and can use com puter 600 to communicate over LAN 632 and PSTN 634 With telephone device 636 connected to computer 600 when PC 600 is not exchanging information over PSTN 634 or computer 600 is turned off a user can place telephone calls over PSTN 634 Furthermore as described further below a user can use conventional telephone device 636 to communi cate over LAN 632 using a voice over Internet protocol VoIP or other protocol FIG 6B illustrates a portable computer 650 that is also equipped with universal communication ports 660 to which a number of communication services and or devices can be attached through cables 670 As in the example of PC 600 FIG 6A portable computer 650 can be coupled with exter nal peripherals such as a keyboard pointing device disk drive etc using the universal communication ports Perhaps more importantly for a user portable computer 650 which may likely be used while traveling at locations remote from a home or office can be coupled to a variety of communications services such as a LAN 680 Furthermore using conven tional telephone device 690 a user can communicate over LAN 680 using VoIP Being able to connect conventional telephone device to universal communication ports 610 and 660 is significant for anumber of reasons First unlike embodiments of the present invention convention
63. predefined resistance e g a resistance between approximately 200 ohms and 300 ohms Identification of an integrated services data network may be made when the coupler line engaging pin 3 registers a predefined voltage differential of between approximately 0 833 volts and 42 5 volts with the second coupler line engaging one of pins 5 and 6 or when the coupler line engaging pin 4 registers a different predefined voltage differential e g between approximately 0 833 volts and 42 5 volts relative to the second coupler line engag ing one of pins 5 and 6 Identification ofthe Ethernet network is made when the coupler line engaging pin 1 and the second coupler line engaging one of pins 3 and 6 indicates a pre defined resistance or the coupler line engaging pin 2 and the second coupler line engaging one of pins 3 and 6 e g of between approximately 1 ohm and 21 ohms Identification of a Power over Ethernet network is made when the coupler line engaging pin 4 registers a predefined voltage differential e g ofapproximately 48 volts relativeto the second coupler line engaging one of pins 7 and 8 or when the coupler line engag ing pin 5 registers a predefined voltage differential e g of approximately 48 volts relative to the second coupler line US 7 675 922 B2 7 eneaging one of pins 7 and 8 Identification of a Gigabit Ethernet network 15 made when the coupler line engagine pin 4 and the second coupler line engaging pin 5
64. r of local and or long distance telephone calls While a hotel catering to a business traveler may pro vide high speed Internet access at no cost or for a nominal flat fee that same hotel may charge a relatively high fee per call for each local call and an even much higher rate for direct dial long distance calls Unfortunately even if the traveler uses a conventional calling card or prepaid card the hotel may charge the traveler for each local call placed to dial the local access number to reach the network associated with the call ing card to say nothing of the inconvenience to the traveler in having to enter the alphanumeric calling card access and account numbers However using an embodiment of the present invention the traveler can disconnect the hotel tele phone device from its wall socket connect it to a universal communication port on the portable computer connect another universal communication port on the portable com puter to the hotel s high speed Internet service through an Ethernet cable and place local and long distance calls at no additional charge using a VoIP provider As previously described if the universal communication port is configured with an RJ 45 receptacle the universal communication port can accommodate telephone devices presenting RJ 45 con nectors commonly used on multi line telephone devices or even more common RJ 11 connectors used on many home and business telephone devices Thus the user can mak
65. rding to the detected data or power line associations the converter subsystem corresponding to the detected external system the sub system being configured to interface the computing sys tem with the external system 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the step of performing the evaluation of the at least one electrical property of at least one of the first portion of coupler lines includes the step of determining at least one of a whether an analog signal is carried on the first portion of the coupler lines b whether a digital signal is carried on the first portion of the coupler lines c a voltage carried between lines in the first portion of the coupler lines d a resistance between lines in the first portion of the coupler lines and e an impedance between lines in the first portion of the coupler lines 3 The method of claim 2 wherein the step of performing the evaluation includes the step of identifying the external system as one of a a public switched telephone network wherein the sec ond portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used by the public switched telephone network and the subsystem with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes a modem b a conventional telephone device wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for audio input and output and the subsystem with which the second portion of the conduc
66. rein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines US 7 675 922 B2 27 used for input or output devices and wherein the sub system with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes an input or output interface 25 The system of claim 24 wherein the coupler includes a jack and wherein the connector includes a plug configured to be received within and electrically mated with the jack 26 The system of claim 25 wherein the jack includes an RJ 45 jack presenting a plurality of pins configured to receive electrical signals from the plug and the plug includes one of a an RJ 45 plug and b an RJ 11 plug 27 The system of claim 26 wherein the identification of the external system as the public switched telephone network is made by detecting a predefined voltage between a coupler line engaging pin 4 and a coupler line engaging pin 5 28 The system of claim 26 wherein the identification of the external system as the conventional telephone device is made by detecting a predefined resistance between the cou pler line engaging pin 3 and the coupler line engaging pin 4 29 The system of claim 26 wherein the identification of the external system as the integrated services data network is made by detecting a a voltage in a predefined range between a coupler line engaging pin 3 and a coupler line engaging one of pins 5 and 6 and b a voltage in a predefined range
67. rete components 116 disconnect telephone device port 1205 from the rest of telephone communications inter face 100 when the computing system is using telephone com munications interface 100 to communicate over telephone network 130 On the other hand when the computing system is not using telephone communications interface 100 to com municate over telephone network 130 discrete components 116 couple telephone device 140 to telephone network 130 Therefore when telephone network 130 and telephone device 140 are connected with telephone communications interface 100 a user can employ the computing system to communi cate over telephone network 130 or use telephone device 140 to communicate over telephone network 130 without having to connect disconnect and reconnect telephone cables In addition discrete components 116 maintains a persis tent connection between telephone device port 1205 and tele phone system port 120a when a personal computing system is shut off As a result again without having to connect discon nect and reconnect telephone cables a user can use telephone device 140 to communicate over telephone network 130 transparently to the presence of the computing system and telephone communications interface 100 In the configuration of telephone communications inter face 100 shown in FIG 1 telephone device port 1205 is provided only as a convenience for telephone device 140 Telephone communications interface 100 does no
68. rocess of physically interconnect ing communications systems and other devices to computing systems to avoid the confusion and frustration often experi enced by users It would be highly desirable to enable ports to be automatically reconfigurable to whatever type of commu nication plug that is inserted by the user or to accept I O connections using new or different protocols SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the advantages of the present invention is that it provides a simpler approach for connecting a computing sys tem to a number of different external systems without a dedi cated port having to be provided for each type of system and US 7 675 922 B2 5 without the installer or user having to install particular con nectors in particular jacks Universal communication ports or couplers are configured to receive connectors that may rep resent a number of different systems For example the cou plers may include RJ 45 jacks that can receive either RJ 45 or RJ 11 connectors that may be joined with different commu nications systems or external devices When a connector is inserted into the jack and the coupler lines electrically contact connector conductors a controller evaluates the electrical properties of at least a portion of the coupler lines Based on the electrical properties such as whether the signals carried are analog or digital and whether particular voltages resis tances or impedances are measured on or between parti
69. ructions that are stored in memory Thus from the foregoing examples it can be seen that by executing tests of electrical characteristics of signal lines coupled to universal communication ports and connected with lines 711 external communications systems telephone devices and other devices and services can be identified and automatically connected with appropriate interfaces imple mented in hardware or software to achieve the required func tionality of the connected device or service Therefore con nectivity and communications between one or more external devices and or services and a computing system may be sup ported without having to provide dedicated ports for each of the different devices or services and without an installer having to correctly couple the appropriate connector to a specific dedicated port for that device or service To further improve the connection process for the user a status indicator may be associated with each of universal communication ports 710 In one embodiment of the present invention each of the status indicators includes one or more light emitting diodes LEDs presenting a visible signal of a status of the connection between the universal communica tion port and the connector for the external service or device As is described in further detail below in connection with FIG 8 in one embodiment of the present invention the status indicator presents a green light if universal communication port co
70. so that it is configured for properly receiving the PSTN connector sig nals to couple lines 711 associated with the universal com munication port to DAA 740 Alternatively if a voltage of 48 volts is measured relative to ground at pins 4 or 5 a voltage of 48 volts is measured relative to ground at pins 7 and 8 or a voltage differential of approximately 96 volts is measured between either of pins 4 and 5 and either of pins 7 and 8 UCP connection logic 715 determines that a PoE system connector is connected to the universal communication port UCP connection logic 715 thus directs multiplexer control 716 to switch multiplexer 719 which is associated with universal communication port 710 that is receiving the PoE connector to couple lines 711 that are associated with universal communication port 710 to Ethernet adapter 750 At the same time further switching controls not shown may be directed to route power from pins 4 5 7 and 8 to a power module that is designed to draw power from the PoE connector As a further alternative if a signal voltage between 0 833 volts and 2 5 volts is detected between either pins 3 and 6 or pins 4 and 5 by connection detection circuitry 714 universal communication port detec tion logic 715 determines that the connector coupled to the port is for an ISDN line Ifnone of these voltages are detected connection detection circuitry 714 may be directed to perform a resistance test between pairs of pins
71. t provide any way for the telephone device to be used with the comput ing system or to do anything except be coupled to telephone network 130 when telephone communications interface 100 is not using telephone network 130 for data communications with the computing system Telephone communications interface 100 is not equipped to employ telephone device 140 as a general audio input output device Telephone communi cations interface 100 is neither configured to provide the power needed to operate telephone device 140 nor is config ured to match the impedance of the speaker and microphone oftelephone device 140 as needed to use the telephone device for input or output Furthermore in some telephone commu nication interfaces 100 because telephone device port 1205 15 effectively disconnected when the telephone communication interface is being used for data communications if telephone device 140 is mistakenly connected to telephone system port 120a and telephone network 130 is connected to telephone device port 1205 telephone communications interface 100 will be unable to connect to telephone network 130 for data communications FIGS 2A 2C all prior art illustrate additional problems arising from conventional computer communications inter faces FIG 2A illustrates a workstation 200 and illustrates issues that may attend hooking up even a basic personal computer 210 and telephone device 240 to telephone and communications networks Personal c
72. t systems the presence of a telephone device coupled to the universal TABLE 1 Pin 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ethernet Transmit Transmit Receive Unused Unused Receive Unused Unused GigE BI DA BI DB BI_DC BI DC BI DB BI DD BI DD PoE Transmit Transmit Receive 48 48 v Receive 48 v 48 v ISDN Pwr43v Pwr 3v Tx Rx Rx Tx Rx Tx Tx Rx Pwr 2v Pwr42v DSL Unused Unused Tip 2 Ring 1 Tip 1 Ring 2 Unused Unused PSTN 48v Gnd Thus for example if it is determined that pin 4 registers 65 voltage of 48 volts relative to pin 5 which is a ground pin this voltage reading indicates that the connector coupled to communication port If a telephone device is detected by connection detection circuitry 714 universal communication port detection logic 715 directs multiplexer control 716 to US 7 675 922 B2 17 switch the multiplexer 719 associated with the universalcom munication port 710 appropriately couple the telephone device connector signals to lines 711 which are associated with universal communication port 710 when connected to telephone to AC97 converter 722 other voltages resistances and or impedances can be measured to determine the presence of other types of devices or services that might be coupled to the universal communication port For example if keyboards pointing devices headsets microphones printers and other peripher als are equipped with connectors configured to engage t
73. ternal system is an integrated services data network a portion ofthe coupler lines engaging connector lines used for integrated services data network communication is selec tively interconnected with an integrated services data net work terminal adapter If the external system is an Ethernet network a portion of the coupler lines engaging conductor lines used for Ethernet communication is selectively inter connected with an Ethernet adapter Further if the external device is a power source the coupler lines engaging the connector lines supplying power are selectively intercon nected with a power receiver In addition if the external system is a computer input output device the conductor lines engaging connector lines used for input output are selectively interconnected with an input output interface The coupler may include a jack and the connector may include a plug configured to be received within the jack to complete an electrical coupling For example the jack may include an RJ 45 jack and the plug may include an RJ 45 plug or an RJ 11 plug More specifically using RJ 45 jacks identification of a public switched telephone network may be made when the coupler line engaging pin 4 registers a predefined voltage e g about 48 volts relative to the second coupler line engaging pin 5 Identification of a conventional telephone device may be made when the coupler line engaging pin 3 and a second coupler line engaging pin 4 indicates a
74. tional tele phone device to a computing device can save money for the user Third providing a non dedicated universal communica tion port that enables connection ofa conventional telephone device saves the space and cost associated with providing what may be a little used Jack on a PC Space constraints are particularly tight on portable computers both internally within the case and perhaps even more so on the shell of the case With a conventional portable computer three different Jacks would have to be provided to enable a user to connect a PSTN line for conventional modem communications a high speed Internet line for use instead of the modem when avail able and a telephone device Using an embodiment of the present invention the use of a conventional telephone device as the audio input output device for VoIP requires only two of such universal communication ports If the user has access to wireless high speed Internet service at home or at the office or as is provided by many motels hotels then only a single universal communication port would be required Further more a universal communication port that can also commu nicate with other peripherals may obviate the need and elimi nate the cost of providing PS 2 keyboard and pointing device connectors speaker and microphone connections and other ports to connect other types of input output devices or ser vices Schematic Diagram of Universal communication Port Con troller
75. tor lines is selec tively interconnected includes telephone to AC97 converter and an AC97 CODEC c a user interface telephone device configured to be used as an audio input or output device for a computing device wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for audio input and output and the subsystem with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected with the AC97 CODEC d an integrated services data network wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for integrated services data network communica tion and the subsystem with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes an integrated services data network terminal adapter e one of an Ethernet network and a Gigabit Ethernet network wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for Ethernet commu nication and the subsystem with which the second por tion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes an Ethernet adapter f a power source wherein the second portion of the con ductor lines includes power lines and the subsystem with which the second portion of the conductor lines is selectively interconnected includes a power receiver and g a computer input or output device wherein the second portion of the conductor lines includes connector lines used for input or output devic
76. w diagram 800 if the line is determined to be an Ethernet line additional steps can be added to determine if the Ethernet line coupled to the univer sal communication port is a PoE connection so that power can be drawn from the connection If at decision steps 826 and 832 it was determined that the line was neither an ISDN nor an Ethernet line respectively at step 834 a connection test is performed and at decision step US 7 675 922 B2 21 836 it is determined if any connection to a system or device is detected as described above If a connection albeit unrecognized connection is found at a step 870 the connec tion indicator is set to a connected but not functional state and the logic of flow diagram 800 ends at step 890 On the other hand if no connection is detected at a step 880 the connection indicator is set to a no connection state and the logic of flow diagram 800 ends at step 890 As described above in connection with FIG 7 some of the steps in flow diagram 800 may be default steps that are enabled by power received from the connection For example if a telephone device and a PSTN line are connected to two universal communication ports the telephone device and PSTN line may be coupled in communication as a default so that the telephone can be used normally over the PSTN line without disconnecting either from the universal communica tion ports of the computing system The default connection may
77. xemplary and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers may be used such as wireless communication and wide band network links Computing System Using Embodiments ofthe Present Inven tion As shown in FIG 4B using an embodiment ofthe present invention a PC 4205 communicates with communications systems such as LAN 451 and WAN 452 using a consoli dated network interface 480 which incorporates functions of modem 454 FIG 4A and serial interfacing with modem 454 managed in personal computer 420a by I O interface 446 as well as functions of network interface 453 This approach simplifies the functional structure of PC 4205 and as described below simplifies the connection ofthe PC to com munication services and devices As shown in FIG 4C using another embodiment of the present invention a PC 420c communicates with communi cations systems and a plurality of input output devices using a consolidated I O interface 490 Consolidated I O interface 490 is operable to communicate with communication sys tems such as LAN 451 and WAN 452 and is also operable to couple with a conventional telephone device 492 In one embodiment of the present invention other I O devices such as keyboard 440 pointing device 442 and audio input output device 443 also engage system bus 324 via consolidated I O interface 490 The consolidated I O interface 490 further simplifies connection to communication services and I O devi

System and method for providing a universal communications port

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents