At&t Bell Laboratories

Bell Telephone Laboratories

Tom D Arntsen

Rouben Toumani

Milton L Embree

Joseph H Havens

An origination scan circuit for detecting circuit closure state in a loop circuit has a much lower impedance than does the typical loop circuit. Its source impedance is split into separate resistive parts for connecting opposite terminals of an office battery to the tip and ring leads of the loop. Currents in the separate resistive parts are sensed and summed for comparison against a threshold current to indicate whether or not a subscriber station on the loop is off hook. Threshold current magnitude is variable to accommodate loop start and ground start applications. When the off-hook state is detected, the origination scan circuit is disabled by switching open the resistive part connections, and loop current is thereafter provided by other suitable means. Automatic current limiting arrangements are included for converting the switching functions to high impedance circuit elements.

Low resistance origination scan circuit

A ring-trip detector circuit is disclosed which detects a subscriber off-hook condition in the presence of a ringing signal. The ring-trip detector employs substantially all low-voltage components which enables it to be fabricated using integrated circuit techniques with the resultant cost and space-saving advantages inherent therein. The ringing signal is disabled upon detection of a DC component which is present in the telephone loop only when the subscriber goes off-hook. This circuit detects the DC voltage component across a resistor (20) in series with the ringing source (19) and the telephone loop (12, 13). The voltage across this resistor (20) is converted by resistance networks (23, 24) into two relatively small currents that are fed to low impedance points (25, 26). A difference current is formed therebetween, which is filtered (31, 45) to remove AC components, and compared with a threshold current (29, 46). Ring-trip occurs when the filtered difference current exceeds the threshold.

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Convent Station, NJ, United States of America

Tom D Arntsen