CA1088682A - Integrated telephone and facsimile apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

A telephone for conventional voice communication includes a facsimile coupling circuit integrally associated therewith which bypasses the acoustic voice transducers of the telephone and is connected to a facsimile apparatus for transmitting and/or receiving signals representing dark/light variations on a document. The facsimile transceiver apparatus may be separate from or integrated into the telephone apparatus.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

2 This invention relates to facsimile apparatus and

3 voice communicating apparatus of the type adapted to be con-

4 nected to the telephone network.
Facsimile apparatus in *le form of a receiver, a 6 transmitter or a transceiver generate and/or receive the 7 electrical information-bearing signals representing dark~
8 light variations in a document being scanned at the same 9 location or a remote location. These information-bearing signals are transmitted over the communications network in a manner well known in the art.
12 Voice communicating apparatus such as a convention-3 al telephone set have been associated with facsimile trans-4 ceivers. Typically, the telephone set is utilized for voice communication before or after a facsimile transmission. In 6 addition, the telephone set is utilized for network signalling 17 to establish the connection between the receiving facsimile 18 apparatus and the transmitting facsimile apparatus.
19 In accordance with the conventional practice, the facsimile apparatus is acoust~cally coupled through the 21 acoustic voice transducers of the telephone set. As dis-22 closed in U.S. Patent 3,859,459 assigned to the assignee of 23 this invention, this is typically done by placing the hand-24 set of the telephone in an acoustic coupler box which is directly connected to the facsimile unit. Accordingly, the 26 communication path of the facsimile transceiver is through 27 the acoustic voice transducers of the telephone set and this 28 can create difficulties. First, the quality of the facsim-29 ile obtained can be greatly influenced by ambient noise at the facsimile unit, which deficiency is overcome in one em-31 bodiment of the invention. Second, the quality of t~le fac-32 simile is a function of the state or condition of the vo~c~

fi82 1 transducers. In addition, the frequency response of the 2 signal may be adversely affected by the air column separating 3 the transducers, and this deficiency is overcome in one em-4 bodiment of the invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
6 It is an ob;ect of this invention to provide a 7 voice/facsimile combination which avoids the problems assoc-8 ciated with coupling the-facsimile through the voice acoustic 9 transducer.
In accordance with this object of the invention, 11 a preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a voice 12 trsnsceiver including acoustic voice transducer means for 13 converting voice to electrical signals and vice versa and 4 further including facsimile coupling means bypassing the acoustic voice transducer means and adapted to be coupled 16 to the telephone network.
17 In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the 18 voice transceiver which may include network signalling means 19 and transfer means for selectively connecting the facsimile transceiver to the telephone network through the coupling 21 means which may comprise DC isolation means and/or filtering 22 means for removing high frequency components of a facsimile 23 signal and/or means for limiting signal amplitude~
24 In a particularly preferred embodiment of the in-vention, the coupling means as well as the facsimile appara-26 tus is integrated into the voice transceiver. The facsimile 27 apparatus comprises support means for receiving a document/
28 copy medium, transducer means, transducer means juxtaposed 29 to the document/copy medium and scanning means for creating a relative scanning motion between the transducer means and 31 the support means. Modulation and/or demodulation means 32 are coupled between the transducer means and the coupling .:

means of the voice transceiver.
In its broadest terms, and in accordance with an embodiment of the invention, a voice/facsimile system com-prises: facsimile transceiver means for receiving signals from a telephone network, said signals representing a docu-ment at a remote location and transmitting signals over the telephone network, representing a document at the same loca-tion, said facsimile transceiver means comprising: support : means for receiving a document/copy medium, transducer means juxtaposed to said document/copy medium, scanning means for creating a relative scanning motion between said transducer means and said support means, modulation means coupled to said transducer means for generating transmission signals representing dark/light variations in a document received by said support means, demodulation means coupled to said transducer means for activating said transducer means to establish dark/light variations on a copy medium in response : to received signals, and voice transceiver means comprising acoustic voice transducer means for converting voice to electrical signals and vice versa, said voice transceiver means further comprising facsimile coupling means not includ-ing said voice transducer means, said facsimile coupling means of said voice transceiver means being coupled to said modulation means and said demodulation means of said facsimile transceiver means and adapted to be coupled to the telephone network, said facsimile coupling means further comprising means for isolating said facsimile transceiver means from a telephone network, and means for removing high-frequency components of a facsimile signal, In accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, an integrated voice/facsimile transceiver comprises:

1~886~Z:

support means for receiving a document/copy medium, trans-ducer means jux-taposed to said document/copy medium, scann-ing means for creating a relative scanning motion between said transducer means and said support means' modul~tion means coupled to said transducer means for generating transmission signals representing dark/light variations in a document received by said support means, demodulation means coupled to said transducer means for activating said transducer means to establish dark/light variations on a copy medium in response to received signals, voice acoustic transducer means for transmitting electrical signals representing voice, network signalling means for establishing connections with a telephone network, and facsimile coupling means by-passing said voice acoustic transducer means for coupling the modulation means and the demodulation means to the telephone network, said facsimile coupling means further including means for isolating said facsimile transceiver means from the telephone network, and means for removing high-frequency components of a facsimile signal~
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a pictorial diagram of a voice/facsimile system representing one embodiment of the invention, Fig, 2 is a block diagram of a voice/facsimile combination shown at one terminal in Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a partially schematic diagram of the voice apparatus shown in Fig. 2, Fig. 4 is a perspective view of another voice/
facsimile apparatus which represents another embodiment of the invention, and Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a portion of the voice/facsimile apparatus shown in Fig. 4, - 4a -~R8~82 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring to the system shown in Fig. 1, a fac-simile transceiver 10 comprises a drum 12 rotated by a motor not shown in a direction depicted by an arrow 14 so as to create a relative scanning movement between a document or copy medium carried by the drum 12 and a scanning head not shown. As the scanning head is advanced axially along the drum 12 as indicated by an arrow 16 and the drum rotates about its axls as indicated by the arrow 14, successive paths on the document or copy medium are placed in communication with suitable transducers carried by the head. During scan-ning, a cover 18 which is shown in the open position would be lowered to the closed position so as to enclose the drum 12 within the enclosure formed by a housing 20 and the cover 18.
The facsimile transceiver 10 is connected to a voice transceiver 22 which, in accordance with this inven-tion, comprises coupling means which bypass the acoustic voice transducers in the handset 24. In further accordance - 4b -fi8Z
with this invention, the transfer means in the form of a 2 switch 26 is provided on the voice trsnsceiver 22 80 as to 3 permit the selective coupling of the facsimile transcelver 4 10 to the telephone network comprising lines 28. More particularly, when the switch 26 is in a position 30 as 6 shown in Fig. 1, the facsimile transceiver 10 will be con-7 nected through the coupling means to the telephone lines 28.
8 When the switch 26 is in the position 32, the facsimile 9 transceiver 10 is disconnected and the operator i8 able to 0 connnunicate by voice communication through the handset 24.
Another facsimile transceiver 10 and a voice tran8-12 ceiver 22 are also shown as connected to telephone lines 28.
13 The facsimile transceivers 10 and the voice transceivers 22 4 are shown as identictl in all respects including the switch 26 for selectively connecting the facsimile transceivers 10 16 through the coupling means of the voice transceivers 22.
17 One of the facsimile transceivers lO and one of 8 the voice transceivers 22 will now be discussed in somewhat 19 more detail with reference to Fig. 2. When the scanning head is advanced axially along the drum 12 while the drum 21 is rotated by a motor 34 in the transmitting mode, success-22 ive paths on the document are illuminated and variations in 23 light intensity due to variations in reflectivity of the 24 document are scanned by a photodetector 36. The photo-detector 36 then converts these variations in light inten-26 sity into electrical signals which are amplified at a pre-27 amplifier 38 and utilized to control a VCO (voltage con-28 trolled oscillator) 40 so as to generate ~1 (frequency modu-29 lated) signals representing the information content of the document carried by the drum 12. The FM signals are then 31 applied to the coupling means 42 of the voice transceivers 32 22. When the switch 32 is placed in the facsimile position 3fi~2 30 as shown, the FM signals passing through the coupler 42 2 are applied directly to the telephone network.
3 The foregoing circuitry of the facsimile trans-4 ceiver 10 is utilized when the transceiver is operating in

5 the transmitting mode. ~hen the transceiver 10 is operated

6 in the receiving mode, E~l signals pass through the switch 26

7 and the coupler 42 to preamplifying and filtering circuitry

8 44 The output from the preamplifier and filtering circuitry

9 44 is coupled to a differentiating circuit 46 which generates o trigger signals at each axis crossing point of received FM
signals, which trigger signals are applied to an FM demodu-2 lator comprising a single shot multivibrator 48 of the type 13 shown in copending application Canadian 257,726 4 corresponding to U.S. Serial No. 617,105. The output from 15 the single shot multivibrator 48 is applied to a detector 16 circuit 50 for determining the average DC value of the single 17 shot output. A writing control signal generated at the out-18 put of the detector 50 is then coupled to a stylus control 19 52 associated with a stylus 54 carried by the head juxta-20 posed to a copy medium mounted on the drum 12.
21 As also shown in Fig. 2, conventional telephone 22 set circuitry ~ within the voice transceiver 22 is connected 23 through the switch 26 to the telephone nétwork. The tele-24 phone set circuitry includes acoustic voice transducer means 25 which, in accordance with this invention and clearly illus-26 trated in Fig. 2, are bypassed by coupler 42. Coupler 42 and 27 switch 26 are illustrated in somewhat more detail in Fig.3.
28 As shown, the coupler 42 comprises a pair of acoustic trans-29 ducers 58 and 60 which are in close coupling relationship.
30 The transducers 58 and 60 serve a dual function. First, 31 the transducers 58 and 60 provide DC ~solation between the 32 ~acsimile transceiver 10 and the telephone network w~ich 1 includes tip, ring and ground connections as shown in Fig.
2 3. Second, the transducers 58 and 60 provide a filtering 3 function for removing high frequency components from the FM
4 signal coupled to the telephone network. In particular, the transducers 58 and 60 convert the essentially square 6 wave output from a facsimile transceiver to a more sinusoidal 7 wave by removing the high frequency components thereby mak- -ing the signal compatible with the requirements of the tele-9 phone network. ~
o The conventional telephone set circuitry ~ has 11 again been illustrated in block diagram form in Fig. 3. It 12 will be understood that such a telephone set includes a net-3 work signalling capability such as the dial shown in Fig. l 14 as well as acoustic voice transducers.
In the embodiment of the invention shown in Figs.
16 1-3, the facsimile coupling circuitry has been integrated 17 into and actually housed within the voice transceiver. In 8 the embodiment of the invention which will now be described 19 with reference to Fig. 4, the facsimile transceiver as well as the coupling means are integrated into the voice trans-21 ceiver.
22 As shown in Fig. 4, the voice transceiver compris-23 ing a telephone set 62 such as IT&T's Trend Line set in-24 cludes a base or cradle 63 which is permanently secured to a shelf 64 of a facsimile transceiver 66 by means of screws 26 68. The handset 70 comprises buttons 72 for dialing the 27 communicant or network control signalling, a transmitting 28 acoustic voice transducer 74, a receiving acoustic voice 29 transducer 76, and a recall button 78. A cord 79 extends ~ from the transceiver 66 for coupling voice and facsimile 31 signals to the telephone network.
32 Reference will now be msde to Fig. 5 for a more detailed description of the equipment shown in Fig. 4.
2 When the integrated voice/facsimile unit is operating in the 3 facsimile transmitting or receiving mode, all the signals 4 are coupled to the telephone network thralgh a transformer 80 having windings 82 and 84. A clamping circuit 86 com-6 prising diodes 88 is connected across the winding 82 to 7 clamp excessively large signals which are applied from the 8 VCO 40 or appl~ed to the preamplifier and filter 44 through 9 a resistive network comprising resistors 90, 92 and g4.
When the facsimile transceiver circuitry is oper-ll ating in a transmitting mode, the output from the VCO 40 12 iS applied to the winding 82 via the noninverting input of 13 an operational amplifier 96 having an output coupled to a 14 low pass filter including resistors 98, lO0 and 102 and capacitors 104 and 106. The output of the low pass filter 16 is connected to a second operational amplifier 108 having a 17 capacitor 110 connected between the inverting and non-in-8 verting terminals thereof. The output from the operational 19 amplifier 108 is then connected through a capacitor 112 and a resistor 114 to the winding 82 o the transformer 80.
21 The other winding 84 of the transformer 80 is con-22 nected between a stationary contact 116 of a relay 118 and 23 the ring connection of the telephone network. The stationary 24 contact 116 of the relay 118 connects the one side of the winding 84 to the tip connection of the telephone network 26 when the movable contact 120 is in the position not shown, 27 i.e., the facsimile position.
28 It will therefore be understood that the tran~-29 former 80 provides isolation for the facsimile transceiver from the telephone network while the operational amplifiers 31 96 and 108 and the low pass filter associated therewith pro-32 vide signal conditioning, i.e., the high frequency components .
, ~

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l from the VC0 output which is essentially a square wave are 2 removed so as to obtain a more sinusoidal signal compatible 3 with the requirements of the telephone network.
4 In order to assure that the signal power trans-mitted to the telephone network does not exceed an accept-6 able level, negative feedback resistors 122 (1-10) are pro-7 vided between the output of the operational amplifier 96 8 and the inverting input which is connected to ground through 9 a resistor 124. By moving a contact 126 to various positions 128, the gain-controlling negative feedback may be adjusted to control the amplitude and achieve the appropriate signal 2 power level.
13 As indicated previously, the facsimile transceiver 4 may only transmit (or receive) when the relay 118 is in the position where the movable contact 120 is in engagem~nt with 16 the stationary contact 116. The position of the movable 17 contact is under the control of a relay coil 130 which is in 18 series with a handset light 131, a resistor 132 ant an in-19 dependent AC power supply. The series circuit also includes a hook switch 133 as well as a switch 134 which may~be re-21 sponsive to the position of the cover 18. In other word~, 22 when the cover is open as shown in Fig. 5, the relay 118 i5 23 in the position shown in Fig. 5. However, when the cover is 24 clo8ed and the telephone is off hook, the position of the25 relay 118 changes so as to produce engagement between the 26 movable contact 120 and the stationary contact 116. By 27 providing the hook contact 133 in the series combina~ion, 28 the relay 118 may be returned to the position shown in Fig.
29 5 even though the cover 18 and the switch 134 are closed.
This assures that the combination facsimile/voice transceiver 31 is returned to the voice communication mode whenever the 32 telephone handset is placed on hook. ~n effect, the switch _ g _ , .

3fi~32 1 133 provides an electronic exclusion function of the type 2 disclosed in copending application 3 corresponding to Seria~ No- 275.998, ~iled April 12, 1977.
4 When the relay 118 is in the position shown in Fig.
5, i.e., the movable contact 120 engages a stat.ionary con-6 tact 135, the telephone set or voice transceiver is connected 7 to the ring and tip connections of the telephone network.
8 More specifically, the movable contact 120 and the stationary 9 contact 135 which are in parallel with an arc suppressing resistor 136 and capacitor 137 are connected to another hook 11 switch 138 which is shown in the open position. The switch 12 138 is in turn connected through a recall switch 139 (associ-13 ated with the button 78 on the telephone handset shown in 14 Fig. 4) and dial contacts 142 to the transmitter acoustic voice transducer 76 and the receiver acoustic voice trans-16 ducer 74. ~nother hook swi.tch 148 is interposed between 17 the transducers 74 and 76 and the ring connection of the 18 telephone network. When the hook switch 148 is in the posi-19 tion shown in Fig. 5, a network control signal applied to the ring connection of the telephone network will energize 21 a coil 150 so as to create a ringing tone or other indicat-22 ing signal at the integrated voice/facsimile transceiver.
23 However, once the handset 70 is removed from the cradle 62, 24 the switch 148 will move to the position not shown so as to connect the transducers 74 and 76 through a recall switch 26 152. The voice transceiver circuitry also includes magnet-27 ically coupled coils 154 which maintain the acoustic output 28 from the receiver transducer 74 substantially constant even 29 though an acoustic input is applied to the transmitter 76.
In order to limit the voltage across the trans-31 ducers 74 and 76, varistors 156 are provided in parallel 32 therewith. In addition, parallel resistors 158, 160 and

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1 162 are also providedO A capacitor 164 eliminates DC cur-2 rent which would otherwise flow through the transducer 74 3 while a capacitor 166 and a resistor 168 serve as a contact 4 arc suppressor for the dial contacts 142.
The foregoing has described a voice transceiver 6 wherein coupling means for a facsimile transceiver have been 7 incorporated or integrated into the voice transceiver, i.e., 8 the embodiment of Figso 1-3. The foregoing has also des-9 cribed a voice transceiver wherein the coupling means for 0 the facsimile transceiver as well as the facsimile itself

11 have been integrated into the voice transceiver, i.e., the

12 embodiment of Figs 4 and 50 It should be understood that

13 the invention as described herein is also applicable to other 4 forms of ancillary apparatus including data apparatus which might be associated with a voice transceiver and the term 16 integrated is ~tended to embrace any substantially permanent 7 physical or hard wiring connectionO It should also be under-8 stood that the ring and tlp connections referred to in the 19 foregoing may, in accordance with the pertinent tariffs, be made through a telephone company supplied direct access ar-21 rangement (DAA)-22 - Further details concerning the facsimile circuitry 23 shown in block form are disclosed in copending Ganadian 24 255,104 correspondL~ng to U.S. 606,507, and Germah :
application P 2637672.7 filed August 20, 1976, published March 3, 1977 c~rrespond~ng to U-S. 606,506. Of course, the fac-26 simile circuitry may take other forms.
27 It will further be understood that the voice trans-28 ceiver may take forms other than that which has been shown 29 and describedO For example, the voice transceiver may be of the speakerphone type. Therefore, although the invention 31 has been shown and described in terms of specific preferred 32 embodiments, other embodiments and modifications will fall ~386~2 1 within the true spirit and scope of the invention as set 2 forth in the appended claims.

Claims (6)

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:-

1. A voice/facsimile system comprising:
facsimile transceiver means for receiving signals from a telephone network, said signals representing a docu-ment at a remote location and transmitting signals over the telephone network representing a document at the same loca-tion, said facimile transceiver means comprising:
support means for receiving a document/copy medium;
transducer means juxtaposed to said document/copy medium;
scanning means for creating a relative scanning motion between said transducer means and said support means;
modulation means coupled to said transducer means for generating transmission signals representing dark/light variations in a document received by said support means;
demodulation means coupled to said transducer means for activating said transducer means to establish dark/light variations on a copy medium in response to re-ceived signals; and voice transceiver means comprising acoustic voice transducer means for converting voice to electrical signals and vice versa, said voice transceiver means further compris-ing facsimile coupling means not including said voice trans-ducer means, said facsimile coupling means of said voice transceiver means being coupled to said modulation means and said demodulation means of said facsimile transceiver means and adapted to be coupled to the telephone network, said facsimile coupling means further comprising means for iso-lating said facsimile transceiver means from a telephone network, and means for removing high-frequency components of a facsimile signal.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for isolating consists of transformer means.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said coupling means comprises transfer means for selectively connecting said facsimile transceiver to the telephone network.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said facsimile transceiver means is integrated into said voice transceiver means.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein said facsimile transceiver means is integrated into said voice transceiver means.

6. An integrated voice/facsimile transceiver com-prising:
support means for receiving a document/copy medium;
transducer means juxtaposed to said document/copy medium;
scanning means for creating a relative scanning motion between said transducer means and said support means;
modulation means coupled to said transducer means for generating transmission signals representing dark/light variations in a document received by said support means;
demodulation means coupled to said transducer means for activating said transducer means to establish dark/light variations on a copy medium in response to received signals;

voice acoustic transducer means for transmitting electrical signals representing voice;
network signalling means for establishing connec-tions with a telephone network; and facsimile coupling means bypassing said voice acoustic transducer means for coupling the modulation means and the demodulation means to the telephone network, said facsimile coupling means further including means for iso-lating said facsimile transceiver means from the telephone network, and means for removing high-frequency components of a facsimile signal.