Telephony adapter system for providing a user with a virtual presence to

Abstract

A telecommunications system which employs commodity simultaneous voice and data (SVD) modems to provide a user with a virtual presence to an office. A first telephony adapter is coupled between a user's home modem and a telephone. A second telephony adapter is coupled between a server modem and the PSTN. The modem data ports are coupled to the PSTN. The first adapter emulates a Central Office (CO) by ringing the telephone, detecting on and off hook conditions from the telephone and supplying line power to the telephone. The first adapter emulates a telephone to the modem voice port by detecting ringing voltages and generating on and off hook conditions. The second adapter emulates a telephone to the PSTN and emulates a telephone to the server modem voice port. The modems establish a connection which enables the user to access a LAN in the office. The home telephone number is forwarded to the server modem and when a call is placed to the user, the call is forwarded by the PSTN to the server adapter. The server adapter notifies the home adapter of the incoming call and the home adapter rings the telephone. When the telephone is answered the home adapter sends DTMF tones to the server adapter to indicate the answered call. The server adapter goes off hook to indicate to the PSTN that the call has been answered. The home adapter couples the telephone to the home modem voice port and the server adapter couples the PSTN to the server modem voice port and the parties converse via voice channel activated by the modems. When the user hangs up, the home adapter sends DTMF tones to notify the server adapter to hang up on the PSTN.