Speakerphone control circuit having low gain states and method for

Abstract

A speakerphone control circuit is disclosed. The control circuit includes a first electronic switch coupled between the speakerphone microphone and a hybrid circuit coupled to the telephone line and a second electronic switch coupled between the speakerphone loudspeaker and the hybrid circuit coupled to the telephone line. A first sensing circuit for sensing the microphone signal and a second sensing circuit for sensing the received loudspeaker signal are provided. The outputs of the first and second sensing circuits are multiplexed and digitized and fed to a microprocessor controller. In response to the levels of the multiplexed signal, the microprocessor determines the state of the speakerphone from among four possible states, including a first talk state, low gain talk state, first listen state and low gain listen state. The low gain talk and listen states are provided by gating the respective first and second electronic switches on and off to chop the microphone or speaker signal, respectively, thereby attenuating the signals. This allows substantial minimization of spurious sidetone and echo signals and a lessening of harsh clipping effects. Furthermore, the first talk and listen states preferably are only enterable from each other upon passing through the low gain states.