Lucent Technologies Inc.

American Telephone and Telegraph, Co.

At&t Technologies, Inc.

At&t Information Systems Inc.

Wayne Allen Weise

Alan Dean Michel

James Edward West

Apparajan Ganesan

David A Brown

Donald D Huizinga

James M Rulon

Janice G Hanna

In an embodiment of the invention, a speaker/microphone peripheral includes a digital-signal-processor (DSP) based acoustic echo canceler and supports a plurality of modes of operation. One mode is a video/telecommunications mode. In this mode, when headphones are inserted or removed, the acoustic echo canceler is reset.

Intelligent acoustic systems peripheral

A personal computer (PC) incorporates a speaker/microphone peripheral, which includes a digital-signal-processor (DSP) based acoustic echo canceler and supports a plurality of modes of operation. One mode is a video/telecommunications mode. In this mode, the acoustic echo canceler is enabled and the speaker/microphone peripheral provides a monaural dual speaker and microphone for use in video, internet telephony, etc., communications. Another mode of operation is a multi-media, or wide-band stereo, mode. In this multi-media mode, the acoustic echo canceler is disabled and the stereo loudspeakers provides high fidelity stereo output signals. In addition, in this latter arrangement an optional sub-woofer may be additionally coupled to the stereo loudspeakers. The speaker/microphone peripheral switches between the operating modes by detecting a predefined sequence of dual-tone-multi-frequency (DTMF) digits. The DTMF sequences are played from wave-type files stored on the PC.

A repertory telephone dialer includes a memory for storing two telephone numbers and one telephone call payment number. Activation of a switch on the dialer causes the first telephone number to be dialed; thereafter, the dialer responds to a Calling Card Service-Prompt Tone by transmitting the call payment number. The call payment number corresponds to a credit card number of the party to be billed for the call. The dialer is constructed as an adjunct device that connects to an existing telephone set by merely rearranging cords. Included on the front surface of the dialer is a recessed area that accommodates a photograph or graphic rendering of the party whose telephone number is dialed and who typically makes payment for the call. Activation of another switch on the dialer inhibits the remote billing feature by causing the second telephone number to be dialed.

Repertory telephone dialer with remote billing capability

A capacitive keypad (24) is scanned in such a manner that the capacitance value (C) of an individual key in a given row is multiplied by the sum of the relative capacitance values of all the other keys in the same row by means of an amplifier (32) to generate a combined pulse. The combined pulse is then compared by a comparator (28) to a threshold voltage (Vref 3) to verify whether the individual key in question is in the closed or open position. The verification can be made independently of keypad-to-keypad variations in the capacitances of the keys, since the combined pulse value does not depend upon the absolute capacitance value of the keys, but only upon their relative values. Also disclosed is a method for scanning to determine the presence of multiple key closures. This involves comparing the capacitance of an interrogated key to not only the sum of the other capacitors of its row, but also to the sum of the capacitors of the other rows and columns and a comparison of the resulting value to that generated by previous scans to detect change.

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Noblesville, IN, United States of America

Wayne Allen Weise