Home and small business phone system for operation on a single internal

Abstract

A telephone communication system for communicating between a plurality of exterior telephone lines and a single common in-house two wire line is comprised of a control unit for coupling to the plurality of exterior telephone lines and for controlling communication between the plurality of telephone lines and the common two wire line. A plurality of station units are coupled remotely throughout the building to the common two wire line. The control unit communicates on the digital channel with the plurality of station units in a time frame subdivided into a plurality of time slots. A specified portion of each time slot is reserved for control communication between the control unit and each one of the plurality of station units. A synchronization signal is transmitted for phase locking all the station units to the control unit clock and a common frame synchronization signal is used to align all units in time. Each remote telephone or adapter box has a unique number assigned to it by the setting of a manual switch. Each number corresponds to a slot in a time frame. Thereafter all control signaling to a specific station unit occurs in a particular time slot.