Zoom Telephonics, Inc.

Frank B Manning

Michael T Gilbride

Jason A Reyes

Eric L McDonald

Terence J Manning

William Hume Vance

Peter R Kramer

T Pat Manning

The Federal Communications Commission Order 05-116, E911 Requirements for IP-Enabled Service Providers, (FCC Order) requires interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service providers to deliver all emergency service calls to a VoIP service user's local emergency service operator as a standard feature of the service. Under the FCC Order, VoIP service providers must supply emergency service if the VoIP service user accesses the VoIP service over broadband and if the VoIP service provider interconnects to and from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Embodiments of the present invention guarantee compliance with the FCC Order by routing a call as either a VoIP call over the Internet or as a conventional call over the PSTN, verifying that at least one of the VoIP or PSTN telephony connections supports emergency service and routing calls over that connection or, if there is no connection supplying emergency service, restricting calling over the VoIP connection.

Method and apparatus for ensuring accessibility to emergency service via VoIP or via PSTN

A telephone dialer includes tables in memory for determining a dialing sequence such as a long distance carrier code to be appended to a dialed telephone number. A variable length prefix portion of the dialed telephone number accesses a prefix table entry that defines an action descriptor for indicating how the telephone number should be processed in a table lookup to determine the dialing sequence. The action descriptor includes a specification of the number of digits to be dialed to trigger a dialing action and may include an indication of an elapsed time to trigger dialing. The action descriptor also includes an indication of the number of digits after the prefix used to determine an action and may specify one of plural ways in which those digits are used to determine the action. The action descriptor also identifies a pointer table to be indexed by the specified digits of the telephone number. The entry in the pointer table points to an entry in the long distance table associated with a particular long distance carrier. The entry in the long distance table then specifies the dialing sequence. The tables may be reprogrammed over telephone lines using DTMF signals or a modem.

Memory architecture for telephone dialer

A parallel-connected dialing signal detection and transmission-inhibiting device is disclosed which detects dual-tone multi-frequency dialing signals across tip and ring conductors of a telephone link and switches in an a.c. load that attenuates the dialing signals by at least 30 dB. This prevents action in response to the DTMF signals by a central office servicing the telephone link, thereby allowing commands-data to be transmitted within the home telephone wiring. Such commands can be used to invoke a speed/auto dialing function, to provide an intercom, to control appliances, etc. To allow fast response, the controller charges a capacitor of the a.c. load by connecting it across the tip and ring conductors in response to an off-hook condition. Then it is disconnected to allow a dial tone to reach a user at the telephone. Further transparency is provided by the fact that a single interfacing capacitor connects both the dialing signal detector and a tone generator to the tip line. This reduces the loading on the tip line by the device during periods when users are conversing on the telephone link.

Parallel-connected dialing signal transmission inhibiting device for data transfer over a telephone link

A modem which connects to a data terminal is connected to a telephone line capable of supporting multiple directory numbers with each number having a distinctive ring signal. The modem comprises a ring detector which indicates the presence of a ring signal associated with an incoming call from a remote device. The modem also includes a datapump unit capable of processing analog signals associated with a telephone line and digital data associated with the data terminal. A modem controller determines ring type from the ring signal of the incoming telephone call and alters the processing of the incoming telephone call based on the ring type. To that end, the controller may alter the processing of the incoming telephone call by configuring the datapump unit and/or configuring a controller compression/error-correction module based on the ring type before the incoming telephone call is answered. Further, the controller may direct the routing of the incoming telephone call via the data terminal based on the ring type.

Modem with ring detection/modem processing capability

A modem which connects to a data terminal is connected to a telephone line capable of supporting multiple directory numbers with each number having a distinctive ring signal. The modem has a ring detector which indicates the presence of a ring signal associated with an incoming call from a remote device. The modem also includes a datapump unit capable of processing analog signals associated with a telephone line and digital data associated with the data terminal. A modem controller determines ring type from the ring signal of the incoming telephone call and alters the processing of the incoming telephone call based on the ring type. To that end, the controller may alter the processing of the incoming telephone call by configuring the datapump unit and/or configuring a controller compression/error-correction module based on the ring type before the incoming telephone call is answered. Further, the controller may direct the routing of the incoming telephone call via the data terminal based on the ring type.

Parallel-connected dialing signal transmission-inhibiting device for

A modem and a method for interfacing a facsimile machine to a host computer to scan a document into the host computer and to also allow the facsimile machine and the host computer to share a common telephone line are described. The modem interfaces the host computer to both the local facsimile machine and a telephone line. When it is desired to scan a document into the host computer, the user programs the facsimile machine to dial a trigger-scanner phone number. The modem monitors the phone number dialed by the facsimile machine. The user feeds the document into the facsimile machine which converts the document to digital data and outputs it using a standard facsimile protocol. If the modem detects the trigger-scanner number, it is configured to receive and process the document data from the facsimile machine in conjunction with the host computer and its facsimile software. If the facsimile machine dials a phone number other than the trigger-scanner number to contact a remote device, it communicates with the remote device via the modem's telephone line interface.

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Boston, MA, United States of America

Frank B Manning