CA2270806A1 - Digital data protocol converter - Google Patents

Abstract

A digital data protocol converter for use in transmitting packet data signals over a data transport system. The hardware converter converts data signals received from a digital telephone interface to packet data signals required by a data transport system protocol. The real-time converter also converts the data packet signal back to a digital telephone interface signal for reception at the recipient end.
The converter is positioned at the access site of a data transport system and comprises a digital telephone interface for linking digital telephone lines to the converter. The digital telephone interface is attached to a transmitter and a receiver, whereby the digital telephone interface receives data signals in a digital telephone interface format and transmits this data signal to a real-time converter. The real-time converter converts the digital telephone interface data signal to a packet data signal format that is the protocol used by the data transport system. The receiver receives the packet data signals from the data transport system, the transmitter sends the packet data signals to the converter where the packet data signals are converted back to digital telephone interface signals to be routed to the recipient as digital telephone interface data signals. A
method for converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and for converting packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals is also disclosed.

Description

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The availability of the Internet as a world-wide, low cost, data transport system has prompted the development of software packages which extend the forms of communication transmitted through the Internet. These forms of communication transmitted through the Internet include among others, voice signals, fax signals and video signals. Prior art software generally converts the original signals received into packets with frames and addresses that permit the signals to pass through the data transport system, typically the Internet, disguised as data signals. A problem arises with this software in that the time required to interrupt the signal and produce a new signal by mathematical calculation causes a delay in the transmission. This delay causes a 1~ significant problem with interactive communications such as telephone conversations. Another problem that exists with the prior art is that it deals with a single voice channel, while modern telephone service transports multiple multiplexed voice channels, 24 channels at a time in the case of a T1 digital 2~ carrier system. What is desired therefore, is a hardware based real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter.
U.S. Patent 4,782,485 to Gollub discloses a system for 2~ simultaneously conveying a large number of telephone conversations over a smaller number of low bandwidth digital communication channels.
U.S. Patent 4,813,040 to Futato discloses a system and method for transmitting digitalized voice and data over a communications channel.
U.S. Patent 4,852,127 to Fraser, et al. discloses a universal protocol data receiver which receives data streams and provides flow control and error detection and correction.
U.S. Patent 5,251,207 to Abensour, et al. discloses a terminal adapter interface between a Data Terminating Equipment and either a Frame Relay or a Switched Multimegabit Data Service telecommunications network.
U.S. Patent 5,274,634 to Babiarz teaches a high speed communication link between peripheral modes and a single mufti-link layer protocol controller in a main control complex.
U.S. Patent 5,274,635 to Rahman, et al. discloses a method and apparatus for aligning a digital communication data stream across a cell network wherein the data stream is sampled.
U.S. Patent 5,313,467 to Varghese, et al. discloses an integrated communication link in a communications network which allows dynamic allocability of bandwidth among a plurality of channels.
U.S. Patent 5,410,754 to Klotzbach, et al. discloses a bi-directional wire-line to local area network interface with a protocol converter.

U.S. Patent 5,444,709 to Riddle teaches a protocol for transporting real-time data wherein a real-time data stream is transmitted in data packets from a data source over a shared network.
U.S. Patent 5,568,487 to Sitbon, et al. discloses an address conversion process for porting telecommunications applications from the TCP/IP network to the OSI-CO network.
U.S. Patent 5,581,558 to Horney II, et al., discloses a bridging apparatus for networks having non-compatible protocols.
U.S. Patent 5,717,690 to Peirce, Jr., et al., discloses coordination and control of multiple data streams that terminate in different termination units.
U.S. Patent 5,737,395 to Irribarren shows a PBX connected to a network for integrating voice, facsimile and electronic mail data through a personal computer.
U.S. Patent 5,751,706 to Land, et al. discloses a system and method for establishing a call telecommunications path wherein phone messages are sent over packet networks.
U.S. Patent 5,761,294 to Shaffer, et al. discloses a method and system of enabling incoming and outgoing call capability for a digital phone limited to analog transmissions.
U.S. Patent 5,764,916 to Busey, et al. discloses a method 2~ and apparatus for real-time communications between a plurality of clients and a host over a computer network.

UeSe Patent 5,796,742 to Klotzbach, et ale discloses telephone to network conversions for a bi-directional wire-line to local area network interfaces ~ ~~ ~~~ ~~v~~~i~mm In order to overcome the problems inherent in the prior art, there has been devised by the present invention a new and novel electronic circuit which converts data signals received 5 from a digital telephone interface to packet data signals required by a data transport system protocol, typically the Internet protocol. The real-time converter of the present invention also converts the data packet signal back to a digital telephone interface signal for reception at the recipient end. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention eliminates the calculations required by software and eliminates the need for a computer.
The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention generally comprises a two way conversion means for converting one format of data signals to another format of data signals.
The converter of the present invention is positioned at the access site of a data transport system and comprises a digital telephone interface means for linking digital telephone lines to the converter. The digital telephone interface is attached to a transmission means and a receiving means, whereby the digital telephone interface means receives data signals in a digital telephone interface format and transmits this data signal to a real-time converting means. The real-time converting means converts the digital telephone interface data signal to a packet data signal format that is the protocol used by the Internet, the packet data signal is transmitted by the transmission means to a data transport system. The receiving means of the present converter receives the packet data signals from the data transport system, sends the packet data signals to the converting means, whereby the packet data signals are converted back to digital telephone interface signals to be routed to the recipient as digital telephone interface data signals. This conversion is performed in real-time without interrupting the normal flow of the telephone 1~ carrier system so that there is no perceptible delay in interactive communications, such as a telephone conversation.
It is therefore an object and advantage of the present invention to provide a real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter which eliminates software calculations and thereby eliminates uncomfortable pauses in a telephone conversation which takes place over the Internet.
It is another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a low cost way of transmitting multiple telephone conversations over the Internet in real-time.
It is yet another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a hardware based, real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter for added reliability to the transmission of a telephone conversation.
It is still yet another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter that has flexibility in the hardware with which it is usede It is still yet another object and advantage of the present invention to provide a real-time digital telephone signal to packet data signal converter that requires less space and power in its installations ~~i~~ ~~~~~i~ti~~ ~~ ~~~ ~g~~~~~~
Figure 1 is a block diagram of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention.
Figure 2 is an environmental block diagram of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention in its simplest form, as it is positioned at the access site of the data transport system provider.
Figure 3 is an environmental block diagram of a typical application of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention. Figure 3 illustrates that connections can be made between senders and recipients through local telephone switches or major telephone switch points.
Figure 4 is an environmental block diagram of a typical application of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention and showing the connection between a sender and recipient using a local telephone switch.
Figure 5 is an environmental block diagram of a typical application of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention and showing the connection between a sender and recipient using a major telephone switch point.

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Referring now to the drawings in general, and in particular to Figure 1 and Figure 2 of the drawings, there is shown in Figure 1 a block diagram of the real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter or Digital Data Protocol Converter 10 of the present invention.
Figure 2 is an environmental block diagram of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet 1~ data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter of the present invention, in its simplest form, as it is positioned at the access site 12 of a data transport system provider 14, typically the Internet. The converter 10 of the present invention converts digital telephone interface signals 15 received by it from a T1 phone line 16 into a packet data signal in the format used by the data transport system 18.
This packet data signal is transmitted over the data transport system 18, to a similar remote location, at the access site 20 of the remote data transport system provider 22. At the 20 remote location, the packet data signal is converted back to a digital telephone interface signal and is transmitted over a T1 phone line 24 at the remote location as a digital telephone interface signal, as seen in Figure 2.
The converter 10 of the present invention generally 25 comprises a two way conversion means having a sender 26 and a recipient 28 as seen in Figure 2. Generally, both the sender 26 and recipient 28 have access to a similar converter 10 one, for the sender 30, positioned at the access site 12 of the data transport system provider 14 and one, for the recipient 32 positioned at the access site 20 of a recipient data transport system provider 22. The converters 30 and 32 work in a mirrored manner for both parties. By positioning the converter 10 of the present invention at the access site 12 of a data transport system provider 14, the converter 10 can transmit its packet data signal using a high quality T1 connection directly to the backbone 34 of the Internet as seen 1~ most clearly in Figures 3, 4 and 5. In this way, any delays which may be inherent on the Internet due to other numerous local connections, are bypassed, causing the transmission of the packet data signals to be the fastest possible.
While, in typical practice, the converter 10 of the present invention uses the Internet as the data transport system 18 for transmitting packet data signals, it is within the spirit and scope of the present invention to use any type of Local Access Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or wireless distribution system that has sufficient bandwidth to carry a T1.
In general, as seen most clearly in Figure 2, the converter 10 of the present invention comprises the two way conversion means for converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals for a sender 26 and a recipient 28. Since the converter 10 works in a mirrored manner for both parties, each converter 30 and 32 generally comprises a digital telephone interface means 36, as seen in Figure 1, for linking telephone lines 16 and 24 to the converter 10.
It is to be understood that while the following description refers to the digital telephone interface data signal protocol as T1 protocol, this description is illustrative only and it is within the spirit and scope of the invention to convert any digital telephone interface data signal to packet data signal protocol as required by the data transport system, with only minor modifications, which would be obvious to those skilled in the art. The digital telephone interface data signal carrier could be, but is not limited to, any of the followings a frame relay, a T1, a T2, a T3, E1, E3, or OS - XX signal using SF or ESF framing and BBZS or NRZ
coding.
T1 protocol uses a type of multiplexing called Time Division Multiplexing wherein two or more channels of information (or telephone conversation) are transmitted over the same link by allocating a different time interval for the transmission of each channel. As the channels take turns using the link, a periodic synchronizing signal or distinguishing identifier is usually used so that the receiver can distinguish which of the channels it is receiving at any given time. A transmitted T1 signal, therefore, consists of a ~5 starting sequence, followed by 24 channels of telephone conversation. These 24 channels of telephone conversation are multiplexed so that different channels have different pieces of a telephone conversation at any given time. Each of the 24 channels has 8 bits which encode the amplitude of the voice at the particular time that a telephone conversation is transmitted on that channel. This process is repeated 8,000 times per second, which means that each channel in the T1 is carrying voice at 64 kilobits per second.
In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the digital telephone interface means 36 uses one channel of a T1 interface to transmit digital telephone interface signals from 1~ the telephone 38 to the converter 10 of the present invention.
The digital telephone interface means 36 is attached to a transmission means 40 and a receiving means 42, as seen most clearly in Figure 1, the digital telephone interface means 36 receiving digital telephone interface signals and transmitting 15 the digital telephone interface signals to a converting means 44, as seen also in Figure 1. The converter 10 of the present invention also generally comprises a real-time converting means 44 which converts the digital telephone interface signal received from the digital telephone interface means 36 to a 20 packet data signal or converts a packet data signal received from the data transport system 18, as seen in Figure 2, to a digital telephone interface signal. The converting means 44 is attached at one end 46 to the transmission means 40 and at the other end 48 to the receiving means 42. The transmission 2~ means 40 of the present invention transmits packet data signals to the data transport system 18 and the receiving means 42 receives packet data signals from the data transport system 18.
In the example shown in Figure 2, the sender 26 is connected by direct T1 connection 50 to the sender's data transport system provider 14 and the sender's switch 52 is located locally or collocated with the sender's data transport system provider 14. The recipient 28 is connected to the recipient data transport system provider 22 through a local telephone network 54 having a dedicated T1 circuit 56 for this purpose. The T1 circuit 56 represents a large user because of the traffic which it carries and because of the expense of the telephone switch 58 to which it is attached. It is anticipated that most users will use a data transport system provider 14 installed by the owner of the telephone switch 52, specifically to carry voice traffic from the telephone switch 52 to the data transport system 18, in a direct connection, as shown at the sender 26 side of Figure 2. It is also within the spirit and scope of the invention that a user having a smaller, private switch 59 would lease a T1 circuit 56 through a local telephone network 54 as shown in the recipient 28 side of Figure 2. The converter 10 of the present invention works with either type of connection and is independent of any connection restrictions. The converter 10 of the present invention also works independently of any type of signal sent or received and also converts fax 60 or modem 61 signals to be transmitted over a data transport system 18 to or from a telephone switch 52.

More specifically, in the simplest form of the present invention, as seen most clearly in Figure 2. The sender 26 transmits his voice to a switch 52 which can be a local switch 59, as seen in Figures 3 and 4, or a major switch point 62, as seen in Figures 3 and 5. The switch 52 translates the sender's voice signal to a digital telephone interface signal, as described in greater detail with reference to Figures 3, 4 and 5a The sender 26 thereby transmits a digital telephone interface signal using the digital telephone interface means ~~ 36e The sender's data transport system provider 14 delivers the call to the converter 10 of the present invention at the access site 12 of the data transport system service provider 14, most typically the Internet Service Providers At the data transport system provider 14, when the call is delivered, the 1~ converter 30 of the present invention converts the digital telephone interface signal to a packet data signal, and routes the packet data signal to a converter 32 positioned at the access site 20 of the recipient data transport system provider 22. When the digital telephone interface signal is first 20 received at the converter 30 of the sender's data transport system provider 14, the transmission means 40 in the form of a transmitter 63 transmits the digital telephone interface signal to a receiving means 42 in the form of a receiver 64, as seen most clearly in Figure 1. The transmitter 63 and 25 receiver 64 are both attached to the digital telephone interface means 36 which links T1 telephone lines 16 and 24 to the converter 10. From the digital telephone interface means 36, the sender's digital telephone interface signal goes to a real-time converting means 44 where the sender's digital telephone interface signal is converted to a packet data signal. From the converting means 44, the now converted packet data signal is sent over the data transport system 18 to the converter 32 at the recipient's data transport system provider 22. The converter 32 at the recipient data transport system provider 22 converts the packet data signal back to a digital telephone interface signal. The recipient 28 digital 1~ telephone interface 36, as seen as Figure 1, routes the digital telephone interface signal through the recipient telephone network 54 to the recipient 28 switch 58 which converts the digital telephone interface signal back into the sender's voice signal and routes the sender's voice to the 15 ultimate destination. At this point, after the recipient 28 has received the sender's voice, the recipient 28 responds and thereby now becomes the sender 26, whereby the process is repeated.
In particular, the sender 26 transmits a digital telephone interface signal using the transmission means 40 of the converter 10, in the form of a transmitter 63, as seen in Figure 1. The transmitter 63 transmits the digital telephone interface signal to a receiving means 42 in the form of a receiver 64. Attached to both the transmitter 63 and receiver 2~ 64 is the digital telephone interface means 36 for linking T1 telephone lines 16 and 24 to the converter 10. From the digital telephone interface 36, the sender's digital telephone interface signal goes to the real-time converting means 44 where the sender's digital telephone interface signal is converted to a packet data signal. The packet data signal is transmitted over the data transport system 18 (typically the Internet) and is received by the recipient 28 at the recipient's converter 32 as a packet data signal. The packet data signal goes to the converter 32 of the recipient 28, where it is converted to a digital telephone interface signal.
The digital telephone interface signal goes from the converting means 44 to the recipient's digital telephone interface 66 whereupon it is transmitted to the recipient 28 as a digital telephone interface signal. When the recipient 28 answers, the reverse process takes place, all in real-time so that there are no uncomfortable gaps between sending and receiving a digital telephone interface signal. Each of the converters 30 and 32 then, the sender's converter 30 and the recipient's converter 32 act as alternating senders and recipients. Each converter 30 and 32 is the same, just positioned at the access sites 12 and 20 for different data ~0 transport system providers 14 and 22. So, each converter 30 and 32, has a sender portion 68, when it acts as a sender 26 and a recipient portion 70 when it acts as a recipient 28, as seen in Figure 1.
In Figure 1, at the sender portion 68 of the converter 10, a buffer 72 converts a + and - 1.5 volt DSX level signal, which is the level of T1 used to interconnect T1 within a central office or similar telephone industry facility, to a 5 volt logic signal used by the circuit 74 of the present digital telephone interface converter 10. A sync detector 76 uses the frequency of the transmitted signal to synchronize the transmit clock 78. A transmit start detector 80 identifies the start sequence of each 24 channel group and controls a transmit divider circuit and pulse generator 82.
The divider circuit 82 divides the clock pulses from the transmit clock 78 and combines them to produce all time-controlled pulses which are used by the transmitter 63. The transmit divider circuit 82 controls the gate 84 which blocks a channel group in the T1 stream at controlled intervals. The transmit divider circuit 82 also controls the read out of the packet message header from the Non-volatile Random Access Memory, NVRAM 86. The header is permanently entered into the 1~ NVRAM 86 and is repetitively inserted into the space created in the T1 message by the gate 84. The output of the gate 84 is a stream of packets in a format acceptable to the data transport system 18 and is in a format suitable to be sent to a normal data transmission port 88 to transfer packet data signals across the data transport system 18, as seen in Figure 2. The packet data signal output from the gate 84 is addressed to the corresponding digital telephone interface converter 10 positioned at the recipient portion 70 of the connection. A transmit buffer 90 converts the 5 volt logic signals to the signal levels appropriate to the data transport system 18.

At the recipient portion 70 of the converter 10 there is a receive buffer 92 which converts the signal levels of the data transport system 18 back to the 5 volt logic levels used by the circuit 74 of the converter 10. The recipient portion 70 of the converter 10 has a separate receive clock 94 which is synchronized by the receive signal. The receive clock 94 drives the receive divider circuit and pulse generator 96. A
receive start detector 98 identifies the start sequence of each 24 channel group and controls the receive divider circuit 96. The receive divider circuit 96 controls the receive gate 100, which blocks the packet header from the receiver 64. The receive divider circuit 96 also controls a First-In-First-Out register 102 which repeats the last frame received, into the receive T1 stream to fill the space left by the header l~ information which has been removed. The output of the receiver 64 is a continuous 64 Kilobit Tl stream which has an actual voice conversion rate of 32 Kilobits, with an occasional channel interval having 32 Kilobits. The 32 Kilobits has a negligible effect on the audio heard by the user, since 32 Kilobits voice is quite useable and is in fact commonly used in international calling. A buffer 104 converts the 5 volt logic signals received from the receive gate 100 back into + and - 1.5 volt DSX signals used to interconnect different T1 devices.
a5 Referring now to Figure 3 of the drawings there is shown an environmental block diagram of a typical application of the digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal converter of the present invention. Figure 3 illustrates a distributed switch network 106 wherein connections can be made between senders 26 and recipients 28 through local telephone switches 59 or major telephone switch points 62. Connections made between senders 26 and recipients 28 are controlled through distributed switches 106 at the data transport system provider 14. Calls can be routed through the local switch 59 if the destination is directly available or can be routed through a major switch point 62 if the destination is 1~ indirectly available. In Figure 3 a connection is made between a sender 26 and recipient 28 through a local telephone switch 59, such as a Private Branch Exchange or PBX, as shown separately also in Figure 4. In the example of Figures 3 and 4, a sender 26 located locally to the converter A 108 contacts 15 a recipient 28 located at converter C 110. The sender 26 calls his local converter 108, through a local telephone switch 59. The local telephone switch 59 converts a voice signal from the sender 26 to a digital telephone interface signal. In the example shown in Figures 3 and 4, since either 20 parties digital telephone interface protocol is European, the digital telephone interface signal that is transmitted to the converter is E1. The sender's digital telephone interface signal is converted to a packet data signal at converter A
108. From converter A 108 the packet data signal is 25 transmitted over an Ethernet 112 in Figures 3 and 4 to a router 114. The router 114 routes the packet data signal from the Ethernet 112 to the data transport system 18 over an E3 signal line 116 where it is sent to a router 114 at the recipient's location 118. The router 114 at the recipient's location 118 sends the packet data signal over an Ethernet 112 to a converter C 110 at the recipient's location 118. The 5 converter C 110 now converts the packet data signal to a digital telephone interface protocol that is appropriate to the recipient 28, and a local telephone switch 59 receives the digital telephone interface signals which are translated at the local telephone switch 59 back to the voice of the sender 10 26.
In Figure 3 also and separately in Figure 5 there is shown a connection made between a sender 26 and recipient 28 through a major telephone switch point 62, such as a Public Service Telephone Network or PSTN. In the example of Figures 15 3 and 5, a sender 26 located locally to converter B 120 contacts a recipient 28 located at converter D 122. The sender 26 calls his local converter 122 through a major telephone switch point 62. The major telephone switch point 62 converts a voice signal from the sender 26 to a digital 20 telephone interface signal. In the example shown in Figures 3 and 5, since either parties digital telephone interface protocol is American, the digital telephone interface signal that is transmitted to the converter 120 is T1 over a Tl signal line 124. E1 signal lines 126 are also available for international callers. The sender's digital telephone interface signal is converted to a packet data signal at converter B 120. From converter B 120 the packet data signal is transmitted over an Ethernet 112 to a sender's router 114.
The sender's router 114 routes the packet data signal from the Ethernet 112 to the data transport system 18 first over a T3 signal line 128 and from the data transport system 18 over an OS3 signal line 130 where it is sent to a recipient's router 114 at the recipient's location 118. The router 114 at the recipient's location 118 sends the packet data signal over an Ethernet 112 to a converter D 122 at the recipient's location 118. The converter D 122 now converts the packet data signal ~~ to a digital telephone interface protocol that is appropriate to the recipient 28, and a local telephone switch 59 receives the digital telephone interface signals which are translated at the local telephone switch 59 back to the voice of the sender 26.
15 It is within the spirit and scope of the invention to use the present digital data protocol converter in conjunction with the audio to digital and digital to audio converter as disclosed in co-pending application serial number 09/046,281.
In this event, the audio to digital and digital to audio 20 converter converts in real-time analog audio telephone signals to digital data signals as a digital data stream. The digital data stream is converted to packet data by a router or other known means. The packet data is then converted also in real-time, by the present digital data protocol converter to an ~5 appropriate data transport system protocol, whereby the digital telephone signal is a digital representation of analog telephone audio.

From the foregoing it is apparent that numerous changes to hardware could easily be incorporated within the spirit and scope of the invention. The present invention can also be sued with numerous types of interfacing equipment within the spirit and scope of the invention. Therefore the preferred embodiment above have been given by way of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Claims (20)

1. le A real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter for a data transport system, the converter comprising:
   a) a digital telephone interface means for linking digital telephone lines to the converter, the digital telephone interface means receiving digital telephone interface signals from and transmitting the digital telephone interface signals to a converting means;
   b) a real-time converting means for converting the digital telephone interface signal to a packet data signal or a packet data signal to a digital telephone interface signal, the real-time converting means being connected to the data transport system;
   c) a transmission means for transmitting the digital telephone interface signal to the data transport system, the transmission means being connected to the digital telephone interface means;
   d) a receiving means for receiving the digital telephone interface signal from the data transport system, the receiving means being connected to the digital telephone interface means; and whereby a digital telephone interface carrier signal is received and converted in real-time to a packet data signal which in turn is received as a packet data signal and converted in real-time to a digital telephone interface signal.
2. 2. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 1 wherein the real-time converting means is connected to the data transport system by means of a frame relay.
3. 3. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 1 wherein the real-time converting means is connected to the data transport system by means of fiber optic cable.
4. 4. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 1 wherein the digital interface signal is a digital representation of analog telephone audio.
5. 5. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 1 wherein the digital interface signal is data.
6. 6. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 1 wherein the digital telephone interface signal is video.
7. 7. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 1 further comprising:
   a) a plurality of the converters in a network;
   b) a central station at the data transport system, the central station having at least one converter.
8. 8. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 7 further comprising:
   telephone switching means for switching data between a converter at the central station and other converters in the network.
9. 9. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal as defined in claim 1 further comprising:
   a switch/routing means for routing the digital telephone interface signals to a desired remote location.
10. 10. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 2 wherein the digital telephone protocol is American.
11. 11. The real-time digital telephone interface signal to packet data signal and packet data signal to digital telephone interface signal converter as defined in claim 2 wherein the digital telephone protocol is European.
12. 12. A method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter, comprising the steps of:
    a) providing a digital telephone interface means for linking digital telephone lines to the converter, the digital telephone interface means receiving digital telephone interface signals from and transmitting the digital telephone interface signals to a converting means;
    b) providing a real-time converting means for converting the digital telephone interface signal to a packet data signal or a packet data signal to a digital telephone interface signal, the real-time converting means being connected to the data transport system;
    c) providing a transmission means for transmitting the digital telephone interface signal to the data transport system, the transmission means being connected to the digital telephone interface means;
    d) providing a receiving means for receiving the digital telephone interface signal from the data transport system, the receiving means being connected to the digital telephone interface means; and whereby a digital telephone interface signal is received and converted in real-time to a packet data signal which in turn is received as a packet data signal and converted in real-time to a digital telephone interface signals
13. 13. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 wherein the real-time converting means is connected to the data transport system by means of a frame relay.
14. 14. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 wherein the real-time converting means is connected to the data transport system by means of fiber optic cable.
15. 15. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 wherein the digital interface signal is a digital representation of analog telephone audio.
16. 16. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 wherein the digital interface signal is data.
17. 17. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 wherein the digital telephone interface signal is video.
18. 18. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 further comprising the steps of:
    a) providing a plurality of the converters in a network;
    b) providing a central station at the data transport system, the central station having at least one converter.
19. 19. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 18 further comprising the step of:
    providing a telephone switching means for switching data between a converter at the central station and other converters in the network.
20. 20. The method of converting digital telephone interface signals to packet data signals and packet data signals to digital telephone interface signals in real-time and for interfacing digital telephone signals with a data transport system using a converter as defined in claim 12 further comprising the step of:
    providing a switch/routing means for routing the digital telephone interface signals to a desired remote locations