Pctel,inx.

Anthony L Mazzarini

Chien-Cheng Tung

Xiaohua Luo

A computer having a modem is programmed with software (also called a &ldquo;on-hook/off-hook detector&rdquo;) that detects a change in status (e.g., on-hook or off-hook) of a device (e.g., a telephone having a handset) by measuring a change in the signal power of a signal flowing through a telephone line connecting the modem and the device. In particular, the computer programmed with the on-hook/off-hook detector detects a status of a telephone handset by measuring power of a reference signal and measuring power of an instantaneous signal on the connection and comparing these two measurements. The reference signal is a constant signal whose power does not change. Then, the computer programmed with the on-hook/off-hook detector is able to detect whether there has been a change in status of the telephone handset by comparing the detected status with a previous status of the telephone handset. The on-hook/off-hook detector may be executed in a central processing unit (CPU) of a computer or in a digital signal processor (DSP) of a modem.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Anthony L Mazzarini