MXPA97010283A - Home personal communications system - Google Patents

Abstract

A wireless telephone subsystem for coupling line type telephony equipment to the public switched telephone network is described. A base unit (100) isprovided which is adapted to be coupled to a plurality of lines of the PSTN. Base unit (100) is typically placed in a residence and acts as an interface between incoming phone lines and user handsets (301) and/or wireless subscriber loop interfaces (WSLI) (203) for connecting to fax machines, modems, conventional telephones, etc. Base unit (100) includes base coder/decoders (A3) for performing A/D and D/A transformations of analog PSTN signals and further includes a multiple channel transceiver (A15). A programmable switching means (A13) allows any handset (301) or WSLI (203) to access any ofthe plurality of lines or any other handset (301) or WSLI (203).

Description

DOMESTIC PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM Background of the Invention The use of radiofrequency means for telephony has become widely available in the last 15 years. The main application lies in areas where there is no substitute for the use of RF media, such as in mobile telephony. However, even before mobile telephony became popular, there was a need to provide connectivity in the residential market. This need is much older than the use of popular mobile telephony and currently exists over the limited current use of radio frequency media for telephony. More particularly, it has been many years since the typical consumer believed that a single telephone was sufficient. The perceived requirement of multiple telephones brought with it the need to connect multiple telephones to the telephone network. The telephone network provides one or more telephone lines (or lines of C.O.) to the location to which service is provided, for example, residences, businesses, etc. In order to support a telephone instrument, connectivity between the instrument and the termination of the C.O. In order to support multiple telephone instruments or other line type telephone devices, connectivity between each of the instruments is required 0 devices and the termination of the C.O. It is true that a small fraction of the need has been alleviated by the use of the "wireless" telephone. The "wireless" telephone consists of a base unit that must be connected by cable to the telephone network and a unit held by the "portable" hand. The unit held by the "portable" hand is coupled to the base unit through RF means. However, the "wireless" phone does not alleviate the main connectivity requirement throughout an entire residence for several reasons. First, the residential user who wants multiple phones can not replace the "wireless" phone as it exists 1 only "portable" headset per base unit. In addition, the quality of the RF link between the "portable" handset and the base unit is limited to the voice application. Other applications that are as important today as voice include facsimile and modem traffic, none of which can be accommodated in the RF link of a "wireless" phone. In general, the connectivity requirement can only be met by a system that is capable of handling an application of multiple lines and which can be used to transmit / receive voice, facsimile or modem traffic from anywhere in the residence.

In other words, what is desirable is a wireless telephone system, at home, designed to provide telephone operations in multiple lines, allowing the consumer to establish a multi-line, multi-telephone system without having to use wired telephone connections that pass to through the entire building. Such a multi-line system allows any number of incoming telephone lines to be directed to various portable telephones or devices related to the telephone, such as fax machines, modems, etc., without taking into account where they are located, by means of the use of a wireless RF medium. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention meets the needs outlined above. In a preferred embodiment, the implementation includes a base unit and one or more headset units with associated load carriers, as well as one or more Wireless Subscriber Cycle Interface (WSLI) units that provide connectivity to fax machines, modems, conventional telephones, etc. The base unit is placed in a fixed place, preferably inside the residence and it is connected to the telephone lines that enter the residence from the local Central Office. The base unit provides functionality to convert the incoming analog signals to a digital format and to transmit the digital information by radio link to the various headphones and WSLIs, without taking into account its location inside the building or directly adjacent to the exterior of the building. The base unit then acts as an interface between the incoming telephone lines and the user's handset and / or WSLIs. The base unit can be configured by the user to provide a wide variety of switching configurations between incoming lines and headphones and WSLIs. The base unit, for example, could be configured in order to associate or dedicate each of the different headsets or SLIs to one of the telephone lines. Alternatively, several headsets, WSLIs, or a combination of headsets and SLIs could be associated with a single telephone line. As yet another alternative, several headsets, several WSLIs, or combinations of headphones and WSLIs could be associated with multiple telephone lines. Through the appropriate user configuration of the base unit, any headset or any WSLI could access any telephone line and similarly any headset or SLI will communicate with any other headset or any other WSLI. The base unit is modular in nature and includes a conventional connection point (such as an RJ-11 connector) for connection to each of the multiple CO lines, and an isolation transformer and a 2/4 cable hybrid . The 2/4 cable hybrid is connected, in turn, to an encoder / decoder. The encoder / decoder accepts analogue signals from the hybrid and converts them into an output port for digital signals and, on the contrary, accepts digital signals on the same port, converts the received digital signals into analog signals, which are then coupled again to the hybrid. The base unit includes an isolation transformer, a hybrid and an encoder / decoder for each telephone line of C.O. In addition, the base unit includes a switching / processing unit with a port for each encoder / decoder in the base unit and an interface to the last component of the base unit which is a radio transceiver. The switching / processing unit also includes a microprocessor to provide control functions to the switching / processing unit and a user interface to allow the user to configure the base unit. The interface of the switching / processing unit to the transceiver includes 5 paths. The 5 paths include a transmission data path and a transmission clock path (from the switching / processing unit to the transceiver), a reception data path and a reception clock (from the transceiver to the switching unit) / processing) and a radio control path (from the switching / processing unit to the transceiver). The transceiver implements an operation of Multiple Access by Division of Time with Duplex by Division of Time (TDMA / TDD). In a specific example of an application of the invention, to communicate 4 lines of C.O., the TDMA / TDD transceiver generates a TDMA structure containing 8 slots. Four of the slots are used in the forward direction, that is, to transmit information from the base to the remote, and the other 4 slots are used in the reverse direction, that is, for transmissions from the remote to the base. Each slot provides a voice channel of 64 kbps or an equivalent plus supervisory data of approximately 10 kbps. Each of the remote units, which are the headphones and the WSLIs, includes a transceiver, a processing unit and an encoder / decoder. The processing unit includes a user interface to carry out at least the marking function to change the state from idle to off-hook, and vice versa and in some cases some configuration control. The encoder / decoder in the handset has a pair of transmitting terminals that are coupled to a microphone and a pair of receiving terminals coupled to a speaker. On the other hand, the encoder / decoder of the WSLI is coupled in turn to a hybrid which, in turn, is coupled through an isolation transformer to a conventional telephone connection device such as an RJ-11 connector. A multiplex structure generated by the transceiver of the base unit can be considered to contain n bidirectional channels; in a preferred embodiment n = 4 (although it should be apparent that the number of channels can be increased or decreased without departing from the invention). Assuming that a channel is allocated to each remote unit (as will be seen, this is not essential for the practice of the invention), then the user configuration of the base unit could associate, for example, exclusively, a different channel of the structure with a telephone line from the central office, different. In this way, the RF means in effect provide a single dedicated connection from a central office line to one of the remote units. However, by modifying the user-programmable configuration, the remote units could be assigned to the first free channel. Assuming that the channels are still dedicated to a given central office line, then any remote unit can select the first free central office line instead of a particular central office line. In addition, there is no reason why a central office line is limited to connecting to a single remote unit. Rather, a single central office line could be connected to several remote units, one acting as an extension of the other. Similarly, there is no reason to limit a remote unit to a connection with a single central office line, rather it could be granted to two or more central office lines. In general, the user can first assign none, one or more lines of C.O. dedicated to a unit or remote units in particular. After this, the lines of C.O. The remaining can be used on a first-come-first-served basis by all or less of all the remote units. The RF medium (ie, the multiplex structure) provides the link or connectivity between the C.O. terminations. in the base unit and the remote units as a group. Of course, there is no reason why any particular remote unit needs to connect to a C.O. line, rather a remote unit can use the RF medium to connect to another remote unit. It is still conceivable to use the base unit to connect a line of C.O. to another, that is, a conference connection with one or more remote units. More particularly, assume that the user has a facsimile machine and that he will use a dedicated line for this application. The configuration will then be dedicated by the particular remote unit serving the facsimile machine to the C.O. of designated facsimile. All other remote units, either handset type or SLI, could share the C.O. remaining. Alternatively, one or another line of C.O. could be dedicated to a headset or WSLI, as a private line application. In accordance with the foregoing, the invention provides a wireless telephone subsystem for coupling telephone line equipment to the public switched telephone network comprising: a base unit adapted to be coupled to a plurality of lines of the public switched telephone network, said base unit includes: a base encoding / decoding means for transforming the analog signals received from said lines of said public switched telephone network the first digital signals and for transforming other digital signals into analogous signals for coupling said lines of said telephone network public switched; a multi-channel base TDD / TDMA RF transceiver coupled to said base encoder / decoder means, said multi-channel base TDD / TDMA RF transceiver responds to said first digital signals to transmit said signals by placing selected portions of said first channels. digital signals in selected portions of a multiplexed structure, and to receive other digital signals to couple said other digital signals to said base encoder / decoder means; and programmable switching means for associating the selected ones of said public switched telephone network lines and the selected portions of said multiplex structure; at least one wireless interface unit comprising: coupling means for connecting to line type telephony equipment; remote encoder / decoder means for transforming the analog signals received from said line-type telephony equipment into third digital signals and for transforming other digital signals into analog signals for coupling to said line-type telephony equipment; a remote TDD / TDMA RF transceiver coupled to said remote encoder / decoder means; whereby said base unit provides connectivity between a line of said public switched telephone network and said at least one wireless interface unit. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will be described in greater detail in the following portions of this specification when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a plan view of a residence having the elements of the invention incorporated therein; Figure 2 is representative of a TDMA structure showing a structure having 8 slots that support 4 bidirectional channels; Figure 3 is a block diagram of a base unit 100 embodying the principles of the present invention; Figure 4 is a block diagram of a portable headset such as headset 200 incorporating the principles of the present invention; Figure 5 is a block diagram of a WSLI 300; Figure 6 represents a base unit 101 - In ¬ compatible with ISDN technology that can be used in place of or in combination with the base unit 100 of Figure 3; Figure 7 is a modified version of the base unit 100 that provides a dedicated digital channel to increase the facsimile and modem application capabilities; Figure 8 is a block diagram of a WSLI installed to cooperate with the dedicated digital channel of the base unit of Figure 7; Figures 9A and 9B are a more detailed block diagram of a suitable switching / processing unit such as that contained in a WSLI 300 or a handset 400; Figure 10 is a detailed block diagram of a suitable transceiver such as the transceiver contained in the SLI 300 or the handset 400; and Figure HA is a flow chart illustrating a typical configuration sequence and Figure 11B represents a resulting configuration table, resulting from the configuration sequence. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED MODE Before describing the construction and operation of a preferred embodiment of the invention, reference is made to Figure 1 to show the manner in which it may be employed. More particularly, Figure 1 attempts to represent the floor plan of a residential unit 10 that includes several rooms. The residential unit 10 has incorporated therein a base unit 100 and several cooperative units including portable headsets 301-304 and, in addition, WSLI 201-203 interfaces. As shown in Figure 1, the base unit 100 is connected to 4 telephone lines, called COI (representing the line from Central Office 1) to C04. Although a base unit 100 that communicates with 4 lines of the central office is illustrated, it will be apparent that by employing the principles of the invention, more than or less than 4 lines of the central office can be accommodated. The purpose of the inventive apparatus is to provide connectivity between one or more of the central office lines C01-C04 and line-type telephony devices such as conventional telephones 300 and a facsimile machine 400 or a 500 modem or connectivity to one or more portable headphones. An important advantage of the present invention is that the wired connections between the entry point of the central office (in the base unit 100) and any of the telephones 300, facsimile machine 400 or modem 500, or the telephone headset 301-304 , it is replaced by the RF medium as will be described. For the purposes of this description, we will assume that the system supports the 7 remote units illustrated. Although Figure 1 shows the seven remote units at particular locations within residence 10, it will be apparent that any remote unit can move as long as there is no physical connection between the C.O. in the base unit 100 and the remote unit. The only physical requirement for each remote unit is a power source. The power source could be either a wired connection to a 60 Hz power source or alternatively a battery source. No type of energy inhibits the portability of remote units. As will be described in more detail, remote units come in two varieties. There is a portable headset identified with the reference characters 300 et seq (described in connection with Figure 4) and the SLI identified with the reference characters 200 et seq (described in connection with Figure 5). The portable headset 300 unit includes a microphone and a speaker and is typically used for voice services. The SLI has a conventional telephone connection device (such as an RJ-11) to facilitate the interconnection of any conventional telephone, modem, facsimile machine or other wired telephony device. Because the RF medium provides uncompressed 300-3.4KHz audio channel of full bandwidth to any remote unit, the SLI (as opposed to a cordless telephone) supports facsimile or modem services. Figure 3 is a block diagram of the base unit 100. As seen in Figure 3, the base unit 100 includes an Al isolation transformer for each of the 4 lines of the head office C01-C04. Each of the Al isolation transformers is connected to a hybrid of 2 cables to 4 A2 cables. Each of the hybrids A2 is connected in turn to an A3 encoder / decoder. The base unit 100 also includes an A13 switching / processing unit. The A13 switching / processing unit includes 4 ports, one for each of the A3 encoders / decoders. The switching / processing unit A13 communicates with the Time Division / Time Division Multiple Access Duplex Radio Transceiver A15. This interface between the switching / processing unit A13 and the A15 transceiver includes 5 separate paths, two paths contain transmission data and the closing of the switching / processing unit to the transceiver, two additional paths contain receiving data and the receiver closing from the transceiver to the switching / processing unit, and a single additional path provides control of the transceiver via the switching / processing unit. The switching / processing unit Al3 also includes a user interface that is implemented through a conventional microprocessor. In order to control the microprocessor and manifest commands through the user, a keyboard or numeric keypad is used. The purpose of the user programming capability or configuration control will be described below. The base unit is configurable by the user to allow any combination of connections to be made between the incoming telephone lines and the remote units. The interface required for the user to configure the base unit could take several different forms including (but not limited to) the connection to a personal computer, the speech recognition and synthesis circuitry, the keyboard and LCD display screen, the LCD display screen and push button operated, voice synthesis and push button operation. The standard 64 kbps digital encoding is used to convert analog telephone signals to digital format. The compression of the digital signal processing of the bit rate is not necessary. Adaptive echo cancellation techniques are used to minimize the near extreme echo caused by the delay in the comparison error of the digital circuits and the telephone line. The use of uncompressed analog-to-digital conversion and the addition of echo cancellation provides the user with a distortion-free connection of full bandwidth to the telephone company. This high quality telephone channel is necessary for high speed fax machines and modems and it is required to provide the consumer with a "transparent" connection to the incoming lines. The technique of access to the network is TDMA / TDD. This term is an abbreviation for the operation of Multiple Access by Division of Time with Duplex by Division of Time. In a TDMA system each unit in the network can obtain a quota of time to transmit and a fixed time quota for reception. In the present embodiment of this invention, the network will have a total of eight time quotas consisting of four periods of transmission from remote unit to base followed by four periods of transmission from base to remote unit. These eight quotas together comprise a single structure. Since the system is transmitted in Time Division Duplex (TDD), each remote unit will have a reception fee for transmission fee during the structure. The base unit and all remote units operate on the same frequency channel for both transmission and reception intervals during a structure. If interference is found by any of the units while it is in this channel, then the base and all the remote units will make a coordinated frequency change to another channel to avoid interference. This refers to a reactive frequency jump. The reactive jump technique also allows multiple systems to be operated when they are too close together when each system has selected a free channel not used by any of the others. The modulation technique can be any type of modulation by angle or by angle / amplitude, but in a preferred embodiment it is GMSK. When jumping by direct sequence or proactive frequency, spread spectrum techniques can overcome the modulated signal to increase bandwidth and reduce sensitivity to interference and multipath distortion. Since this product is used in the immediate vicinity of the home, the low power operation of the transmitters is anticipated. The lower transmit power will provide more reuse of channels in dense neighborhoods that may have multiple systems. The functionality of the SLI and the base unit could be expanded to include modulation and demodulation of facsimile / modem. In this expanded mode, the modulated information that comes from a fax machine or modem connected to a WSLI is demodulated (see figure 8) by the SLI and converted to a digital form. These bits of relatively low speed are then decoded with some kind of coding scheme, of correction of errors in advance, redundant. The encoded bits are stored in the buffer memory, converted to the data rate of the standard quota and transmitted to the base unit. The base unit demultiplexes these bits, reformats them as fax or modem data, and remodulates the bits for transmission over the telephone line. This process is reversed while incoming fax or modem information is received. The base demodulates the fax or modem information that comes from the outside telephone lines. The resulting digital bits are encoded with an error correction code in advance, they are converted to the data transmission rate of the standard quota and transmitted to the WSLI. The WSLI demultiplexes the bits, reformats them for fax or modem data transmission rates and then re-modulates the bits for transmission to the modem or fax. A further embodiment of the invention is a version with an ISDN base unit. A standard ISDN 2B + D data structure consists of two 64 kbps quotas for voice, an 8 kbps quota for data and an 8 kbps quota for signaling. Accordingly, an ISDN line can support two voice circuits and one data circuit. The base compatible with ISDN allows the user to have access to two voice circuits and a low speed data circuit with only one telephone line input. Voice rates of 64 kbps are also used for data transmission if data transmission rates greater than 8 kbps are required. No encoders / decoders are needed in the base unit since the input and output information is already in digital format. The digital circuitry is used to convert the ISDN data to HPCS format and back again. Figure 4 comprises a block diagram of a typical headset, such as the handset 300. The handset of Figure 4 includes an A3 coder / decoder, an A23 switching / processing unit, its associated microprocessor A24 and a radio transceiver A25. Although not illustrated, the headset 300 may include a dial pad as in a conventional "wireless" telephone. Referring to Figure 5, the illustrated WSLI includes an isolation transformer A1 coupled to a conventional telephony connection point such as the RJ-11 connector. The Al isolation transformer (which may not be necessary) is connected to a hybrid of 2 cables to 4 A2 cables. The 2 wire to 4 wire hybrid A2 is connected to an A3 encoder / decoder. The encoder / decoder A3 is connected in turn to a switching / processing unit A23 and the switching / processing unit A23 is connected, in turn, to the TDD / TDMA transceiver A25. Referring to Figures 3, 4 and 5, it will be apparent that the base unit 100 includes an Al isolation transformer for each of the CO lines, and likewise, the WSLI includes an isolation transformer that is used to couple the signals from the line type telephone device (conventional telephone, modem or facsimile machine, etc.). Similarly, the isolation transformer Al and the base unit 100 couple these C.O. lines. The hybrid of 2 to 4 cables A2 operates to change the 2-wire format on the left of the hybrid to the 4-wire format on the right. The 4-wire format in the SLI as well as in the base unit 100 is then coupled to an A3 encoder / decoder. As shown in Figure 4, the handset also includes an A4 encoder / decoder. The coders / decoders A3 and A4 have the function of converting the analog signals received from the hybrid (in the case of the WSLI or base unit) or from the microphone (in the case of the handset) to a digital form and, on the contrary , converting the digital signals received from the switching / processing unit A23 (from the WSLI or headset or from the switching / processing unit Al3 of the base unit) to an analogous form and coupling those signals analogous to the hybrid from 2 to 4 cables. The switching / processing unit A23 receives the digital data coming from the encoder / decoder A3 at a speed and, with the appropriate synchronization, provides those signals to the radio transceiver A25 or Al5 at the highest burst speed. Similarly, the A23 switching / processing unit receives the digital data from the A25 or Al5 radio transceiver at the burst rate and provides that digital data to the encoder / decoder, at the appropriate lower speed. The A24 microprocessor of the handset also responds to user manipulations to signal such conditions as on / off and dialing signals. In general, the switching / processing unit performs the following: 1) Transmits in multiplex and converts the data coming from the encoders / decoders into a series of data stream that can be transferred from the radio transceiver for transmission. The speed of this serial data stream will be slightly faster at eight times the speed of 64 kbps. The increasing speed of data transmission arises due to the TDMA / TDD format of eight time shares plus the overload of the system and the bits of the supervisor channel. The overload and supervisory bits are expected to add approximately 10 kbps to the data stream. The conversion of the lower encoder / decoder speeds to the higher data transmission speeds will be handled by FIFOs and buffers (see Figures 9A and 9B). 2) Demultiplex and convert the 8X series data stream from the transceiver into the individual 64 kbps streams for each encoder / decoder. This process is basically the inverse of the one described above. 3) Recovery of the receiver clock. The 8X series data stream from the transceiver is fed into a circuit that outputs a clock signal. This recovered clock is used to synchronize the FIFO circuits and the data buffers used in the demultiplexing conversion of the received serial data stream into individual 64 kbps encoder / decoder data streams. The recovered clock is sent together with the received data to the encoders / decoders. 4) It converts the serial data stream, multiplexed into the required baseband modulation signals that will then be fed to the transmitter. This conversion could be as simple as just filtering the data bits or as complicated as the creation of I and Q components to be used in a quadrature modulator. In any case, the modulation signal (s) would be (n) more than just a simple logical level bit stream. In contrast, in the base unit 100, the microprocessor Al4 provides call detection information from one of the call detectors RD to indicate that one of the lines of C.O. has an incoming call The microprocessor Al4 also controls an associated line relay to indicate a hang-up or stand-by condition, as appropriate. The manner in which this information is provided to the microprocessor Al4 and the manner in which it is used will be described below. Figures 9A and 9B show the data and the control paths in the switching / processing unit A23. Figure 9A shows the transmission side of the switching / processing unit A23. As shown, the input data for the transmission is entered into the SPI shift register. This data is blocked in equal measure at a voice channel speed of 64 kbps. The microcontroller MC is coupled to an 8-bit secure SPL via a data bus SPD. In this way, if necessary, the MC microcontroller can load the insurance SPL with signaling data for transmission. The outputs of the shift register SPI and the insurance SPL are coupled to a data selector SPS. A control input from the MC microcontroller selects which input source will be coupled through the data selector SPS. The output of the data selector SPS is coupled to a transmission FIFO SPF. The output of the transmission FIFO SPF is coupled to an output of the shift register SPO. The output of the shift register SPO is coupled to an input of a data selector SPDS. An FIFO input control logic SPCI and an output control logic SPCO are provided to interact with the MC microcontroller, the input shift register SPI, the transmission FIFO SPF, the shift register SPO output and the SPDS output data selector.

In operation, when a conversation is in progress, the data is received in the entry scrolling record SPI, on a regular basis. The function of the apparatus of Figure 9A is to collect the data and issue it in the form of a burst through the serial data path output of the SPDS. On the other hand, Figure 9B shows the reception function of the switching / processing unit A23. As shown in FIG. 9B, the reception data A25 (from the transceiver) is input to the PSI of the input shift register. The reception data path is also connected to the entry of the insurance PSL. The output of the secure PSL provides a signaling data path to the microcontroller MC. The data from the input shift register PSI is provided in parallel as an input to the receiving FIFO PSF. The receiving FIFO PSF provides outputs to an output offset register PSO and an 8-bit secure PSLL. The A23 switching / processing unit also includes PSCI of input control logic and PSCO of output control logic, which cooperate with both the microcontroller MC, the input shift register PSI and the PSO of the shift register. exit, like the insurance PSLL. The output of the secure PSLL is provided on a data bus to the microcontroller MC. On the other hand, the serial output of the output offset register PSO is provided as an input to the associated encoder / decoder A3. Of course, the speed of data transmission to the encoder / decoder A3 is equal to the data transmission rate of the encoder / decoder A3. Figure 10 is a block diagram of a suitable radio transceiver that can operate in accordance with the TDD / TDMA format. Before describing the operation of a system such as that illustrated in Figure 1, reference is made to Figures HA and 11B to show a typical configuration session. The configuration session needs to be carried out only once, although the user can change this at will. The configuration session results in the data that is stored in the microprocessor A14 of the switching / processing unit A13 of the base unit 100. There are several ways in which the user can interact with that microprocessor in order to achieve the necessary configuration . A simple interaction is achieved through a keyboard. Other interactions involve the use of push-button-operated telephones or interaction through a remote intelligent process which is then able to copy the appropriate data to the microprocessor. In order to configure the system, it is necessary that each of the remote units have an address. Preferably, the address is "permanent", each remote unit contains a unique identity or address of the manufacturer. Although the product could come with the documentation that identifies the address for each remote unit, and the user could enter this address on a keyboard, a simpler process is envisioned. Because the base unit can communicate inherently with any of the remote units, each remote unit can be turned on at the same time to allow the base unit to "learn" the address of that particular remote unit. When the base unit has acquired the address of a remote unit, that remote unit can be turned off and the next remote unit turned on, and so on. In this way, the base unit 100 can acquire a list of the remote units to be configured. In any case, after starting the configuration session, the first function, Fl, requires the user to select a line. Of course, each of the lines of C.O. has a directory number However, for the purposes of configuring the communication system, each C.O. it can be identified by the port on the Al3 switching / processing unit to which it is connected. Therefore, the line of C.O. connected to the "encoder / decoder 1" input would be line 1, etc. The user, in the Fl function for example, selects a line such as line 1. In step F2, the user specifies (such as through the keyboard or the like) those remote units in the system that are about to ring when the corresponding line is in a call sign state. When the user indicates that he has identified all the remote units that are about to sound for this line, function F3 is carried out to list the remote units to which access should be allowed to that line of C.O. When the user states that function F3 is complete, function F4 is carried out to verify if there are more lines that require configuration information. If there are, the process starts again and the F1-F3 functions are carried out for a different line. Once all the lines are configured, the process is completed. Figure 11B shows a table that is created in the microprocessor, storing the data that is entered by the user. Referring to Figure 11B and Figure 1, the table includes an indication that when line 1 is in a call signal state, the remote units 201, 203 and each of 301-304 should sound.This allows the call to be answered in any of these places. Similarly, the table indicates that the remote units 201, 203 and 301-304 are allowed to access line 1. The data in the table of figure 11B for line 2 are identical to line 1. The data in the Figure 11B for line 3 shows that only remote unit 301 will sound in response to the call signal state of line 3 and, similarly, only remote unit 301 is allowed to access line 3. From this line 3 is configured as a private line only for the use of the remote unit 301. Line 4 is likewise dedicated to the remote unit 202. However, in the case of the remote unit 202, this remote unit it serves a fax machine 400. It should be understood that although it is important for the base unit to store the configuration table shown in Figure 11B, there are circumstances in which this information is also useful in each remote unit. In accordance with the above, the table, as part of the configuration session, can be transmitted to each of the other remote units in the system, so that the data is duplicated in each of the remote units. The operation of the invention can be explained as follows. Suppose that one of the lines of C.O. 1-4 undergoes a transition from an idle condition to a call signal condition, for example, for an incoming call. That call signal condition is detected by the call detector RD (see figure 3) associated with the line of C.O. The microprocessor Al4 is notified of the call signal line and, after consulting the table shown in Figure 11B, inserts a signaling message for the remote units associated with this line. For example, if the line of C.O. in a call sign state it will be associated with a dedicated remote unit, only that remote unit would receive the signaling message. When it is received, it will stimulate the A24 microprocessor to activate the RG call generator (figure 5) which will sound the associated telephone line device, for example, a telephone, modem or conventional facsimile machine. Assuming that the machine "responds", that is to say it is off-hook, that condition will generate a signaling message to the base unit 100. The microprocessor Al4 of the base unit 100 will recognize that the received signaling message is associated with the message previously transmitted, which resulted in the operation of the call generator RG. As a consequence, the two sources, that is, the line of C.O. particular and the remote unit in particular, will be associated with a common channel so that the information received from the C.O. be placed in the quota destined for the remote unit, as long as the information received from the remote unit is recovered and provided to the C.O. In this way, a connection circuit is established. This connection will remain "on" until it is the C.O. or the associated remote unit are "idle" or inactive. The change of state generates a signaling message that is recognized to cease the use of the structure. Considering that the previous scenario postulated a call initiated towards the system of Figure 1, the system can of course initiate the calls destined for its termination on the public switched telephone network. Such a scenario begins with a user who manipulates one of the remote units (either a headset or an SLI) so that their status changes from inactive to idle. The transition to off-hook will generate a signaling message to the base unit 100. As is conventional, a message includes the address of the source, i.e., the identity of the remote unit that initiates the message. In the base unit 100, the table of figure 11B is consulted to identify which lines of C.O. This particular remote unit is authorized to access. The base unit 100 also has "visibility" of the condition of the C.O. lines, that is, in use or inactive.Assuming there is a comparison between a line of C.O. to which the remote unit is authorized to access and a line of C.O. inactive, the base unit initiates a transition from idle to off-hook for that line of C.O. This will initiate the reception of a dial tone in the associated encoder / decoder. The reception of the dial tone is equivalent to the reception of voice information and the base unit acts in accordance with the foregoing, that is, the information is digitized and transmitted in a suitable slot to the remote unit that initiates the sequence. As a consequence of the above, the user who has forced the remote unit to a hang-up state will "hear" the dial tone whose origin is on the line of C.O. which has been enabled by the off-hook message to the base unit. At this point, the user can "mark" the desired connection. The dialed digits can be treated as either signaling or audio data and, in any case, the result is the repetition of the digits marked by the base unit towards the C.O. appropriate The user, instead of dialing an external call would have marked well the identity of another remote unit. The base unit has sufficient intelligence to differentiate a call destined to the public switched telephone network from a call that designates a remote unit. The base unit 100, in addition to detecting the addressing of a remote unit, also has information regarding the state of idle or off-hook of that remote unit. In this way, the base unit can, if a remote unit is addressed and is at rest, cause a call signal message to be transmitted to that remote unit in order to complete the connection between the remote calling unit and the call . In general, a structure with 8 slots corresponds to 4 channels, which allows 4 circuits simultaneously separated. Each circuit can include one of the lines of C.O. and one of the remote units. Alternatively, a circuit can include 2 remote units, in the absence of a C.O. if desired, 2"circuits" can be associated in a single conversation so that, for example, 2 remote units and one line of C.O. can be granted together. A "circuit", which is necessary to support a conversation, requires a path, for example, in each remote unit, to talk and listen. The speech path is used to transport the voice from the remote unit to the base, while the hearing path is used to transport the voice traffic from the base to the remote unit. If a conversation is about to include three sources, that is, remote unit A and remote unit B as well as a CO line, each of the remote units has a dedicated transmission slot to carry voice traffic from that unit remote to the base unit. In the base unit, data from the remote units A and B combine to provide voice traffic to the C.O. The listening slot for remote unit A will include a concatenation of voice traffic from the C.O. line. and voice traffic from the remote unit B, and the listening slot for the remote unit B will likewise be a concatenation or aggregation of voice traffic from the C.O. line. and voice traffic from the remote unit A. Figure 6 shows an alternative base unit to the base unit 100 of Figure 3. The base unit of Figure 6 is compatible with ISDN. An ISDN "port" contains 2B + D, that is, 2 support channels 1 data channel. In accordance with the foregoing, each ISDN line is coupled to a DM demultiplexer. The demultiplexer provides 2 voice lines (annotated as voice 1 and voice 2 in figure 6) and a data line, input to an A30 switching / processing unit. The second ISDN line shown in Figure 6 is also coupled to a DM demultiplexer which provides two additional speech paths and an additional data path to the A30 switching / processing unit. In this way, the switching / processing unit A30 has 4 speech paths (voice 1 - voice 4) and two data paths (data 1 and data 2). The switching / processing unit A30 is coupled in turn to a TD23 / TDMA radio transmitter A35. The base unit compatible with the ISDN shown in Figure 6 can be substituted in place of the base unit 100 of Figure 3 for its cooperation with the ISDN telephone lines instead of the conventional telephone line associated with the base unit 100 of the Figure 3. Since ISDN lines are digitized, encoders / decoders are not needed. Figures 7 and 8 show a variant in which the functionality of the WSLI and the base unit 100 are expanded to include modulation and demodulation of facsimile / modem. Referring to Figures 7 and 8, Figure 7 shows a modified base unit, one that differs from the base unit of Figure 3 because instead of having a hybrid such as the hybrid A2, the base unit shown in Figure 7 with respect to the CO line tiny, it has a facsimile modulator / demodulator and A38 modem. Also, instead of having the A3 encoder / decoder that is associated with the other C.O. for the base unit of Figure 7, the fax / modem modulator / demodulator A38 is coupled to the switching / processing unit Al3 via an error correction encoder / decoder which acts in advance A40. The cooperative SLI remote unit (see Figure 8) has a corresponding fax and modem modulator A43 and an error correction encoder / decoder which acts in advance A42 corresponding. More particularly, the WSLI of Figure 8 receives, for example, facsimile-modulated information at its input through the isolation transformer Al. The facsimile and modem modulator / demodulator A43 demodulates the information received from the facsimile machine and it provides the digital data corresponding to the output of the facsimile machine associated with the error correction encoder acting in advance A42. The encoded bits are then stored in the buffer and converted to a standard data transmission rate for the communication system and transmitted to the base unit (of FIG. 7). In the base unit, the data corrected for errors that act in advance are coupled to the error correction encoder / decoder acting in advance A40 where the error correction that acts in advance is separated and the data is converted to its digital form without process. The data in the unprocessed digital form is then provided to the facsimile and modem modulator A38 where the digital data is modulated again and coupled through the isolation transformer Al so as to appear in the form in which the transformer isolation (from the SLI) has received the data initially. The demodulation (in A43), the correction of error with action in advance (in A42) and the corresponding operation of A40 and A38 increase the strength of the communication channel. Another variant in the SLI can employ a principle similar to the one just described. Those skilled in the art are familiar with the fact that the conventional modem takes digital information and modulates that information about a vehicle for transmission over the telephone network. As described herein, a user can connect a modem that will receive the modulated information from the modem and will act as an extension of the telephone network so that the modulated information can be transmitted through the RF medium to the base unit where it is transferred to the telephone network connected by cable. However, in view of the fact that the RF medium described herein is a digital medium, the modem used by the user for the transmission of digital information could be located in the base unit and not external to an SLI. More particularly, a WSLI can include an RS-232 port which will accept digital information from a computer or similar. The WSLI of the RS-232 type then accepts the digital information and transmits it over the digital RF medium to a base unit such as the base unit 100 of FIG. 3. However, this base unit is modified in order to use a modem instead of the A3 encoder / decoder. The modem output is then applied to the hybrid of 2 wires to 4 wires A2 as if it were an A3 encoder / decoder. Although such an SLI equipped with RS-232 and the base unit could also support voice services through an RJ-11 port, it is within the spirit of the invention to employ an SLI that supports only RS-232 services. Those skilled in the art are already familiar with transceivers that support a multiple access structure such as the structure illustrated in Figure 2. The Time Division Duplex variant in the TDMA provides, in a pair of slots, a bidirectional channel . For example, slots 1 and 5 provide a bidirectional channel between the base and a remote unit, slots 2 and 6 are a channel similar to another remote unit, etc. Referring for example to figure 2, if we postulate a "circuit" involving COI and a remote unit 303 and we also assume that the "call" starts from the CO line, and at the moment the call is received at the base unit 100, there is no other traffic in the system shown in figure 1. When the base unit 100 recognizes the incoming call, after consulting the table of figure 11B, it will identify, for example, that the call is destined to the remote unit 303. A signaling message will then be inserted into the "base to remote unit A2" slot of figure 2, directed to the remote unit 303. Assuming that the remote unit 303 is not currently occupied, i.e. The result of the signaling message, when it is received at the remote unit 303, will be a call condition in the remote unit, assuming further that there is a person answering the call, then the remote unit will go from this Do not rest at home. This will generate a signaling message back to the base unit. This signaling message will be inserted in the "remote unit A to base" slot of the structure (see figure 2). The reception of this message will indicate to the base unit that the remote unit 303 has answered the call and a "connection" will be made. This connection is already an entry to the memory location that indicates that voice traffic from COI will be inserted into the quota of the "base to remote unit A" structure. Similarly, on the remote unit 303, the switching / processing unit of the remote unit 303 will extract the voice traffic from the "base to remote unit A" slot, and convert that voice traffic to an analogous form. Conversely, the base unit will extract voice traffic from the "remote unit A to base" slot, convert that voice traffic to an analogous form and provide it to COI. This state of affairs will remain until one or the other of the IOC and the remote unit 303 are at rest. This change of state will result in the demolition of the "circuit", that is, the elimination of data that has previously directed the exchange of signals between the remote units 303 and the IOC. Although the foregoing has described specific examples comprising a preferred embodiment of the invention that includes several alternatives, after having reviewed the application, those skilled in the art will readily understand still other alternatives, which also fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. Although the application has specifically addressed wired type telephone devices including telephones, facsimile machines and modems, other wired type telephony devices may also employ the services of the invention. Although a particular radio protocol has been illustrated using 4 bidirectional channels, the change in the number of channels employed is also within the spirit and scope of the present invention. According to the foregoing, the scope of the invention is built, not by the specific examples described herein, but by the claims appended thereto.

Claims (15)

1. NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION Having described the present invention, it is considered as a novelty and therefore the property described in the following claims is claimed as property. A wireless telephone subsystem for coupling telephone line equipment to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) comprising: a) a base unit adapted to be coupled to a plurality of lines of the PSTN, said base unit includes: a) a base encoding / decoding means for transforming analog signals received from said lines of said PSTN into first digital signals and for transforming other digital signals into analog signals for coupling said lines of said PSTN, a2) multiple base channel coupled transceiver means to said base encoder / decoder means, said multiple base channel transceiver responds to said first digital signals to transmit said signals by placing selected portions of said first digital signals in selected portions of a multiplex structure, and to receive other digital signals and dock these other digital signals sa said base encoder / decoder means, and a3) programmable switching means for associating the selected ones of said PSTN lines and the selected portions of said multiplex structure, b) at least one wireless interface unit comprising: bl) coupling means to connect to a line telephone equipment, b2) remote encoder / decoder means to transform the analog signals received from said line-type telephony equipment onto said coupling means into second digital signals and to transform other digital signals in analog signals to be coupled to said line-type telephony equipment through said coupling means, and b3) remote transceiver means coupled to said remote encoder / decoder means, said remote transceiver responds to said second digital signals to transmit said second transceivers. digital signals when placing said second digit signals ales in selected portions of said multiplex structure, and to receive other digital signals to couple said other digital signals to said remote encoder / decoder means, whereby said line telephony equipment is coupled to said PSTN without requiring a path conductive among them.
2. 2. A wireless telephone subsystem for coupling telephony equipment of line type to at least one digital line of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) comprising: a) a base unit adapted to be coupled to a plurality of lines of the PSTN, said base unit includes: a) a multiplexer / demultiplexer base means for demultiplexing digital signals received from said at least one line of said PSTN into a plurality of first digital signals and for multiplexing a plurality of other digital signals to produce a multiplexed digital signal to be coupled to said at least one digital line of said PSTN, a2) multiple base channel transceiver means coupled to said base multiplexer / demultiplexer means, said multiple base channel transceiver responds to said first digital signals to transmit said signals by placing of selected portions of said first digital signals in portion selected ones of a multiplex structure, and for receiving other digital signals and coupling said other digital signals to said base multiplexer / demultiplexer means, and a3) programmable switching means for associating the selected ones of said PSTN lines and the selected portions of said structure multiplex, at least one wireless interface unit comprising: bl) coupling means for connecting to a line-type telephony equipment, b2) remote encoder / decoder means for transforming the analog signals received from said telephone telephony equipment; line type on said coupling means in third digital signals and to transform other digital signals into analog signals to be coupled to said line telephone equipment through said coupling means, and b3) remote transceiver means coupled to said remote encoder / decoder means, said remote transceiver means responds to said third digital signals to transmit said third digital signals by placing said third digital signals in selected portions of said multiplex structure, and for receiving other digital signals to couple said other digital signals to said remote encoder / decoder means, whereby said line telephony equipment is coupled to said PSTN without requiring a conductive path therebetween.
3. 3. A wireless telephone subsystem for coupling line type DATA TERMINAL equipment to at least one digital line of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) comprising: a) a base unit adapted to be coupled to a plurality of PSTN lines, said base unit includes: a) a multiplexer / demultiplexer base means for demultiplexing digital signals received from said at least one line of said PSTN into a plurality of first digital signals and for multiplexing a plurality of other digital signals to produce a digital signal multiplexed to be coupled to said at least one digital line of said PSTN, a2) multiple base channel transceiver means coupled to said base multiplexer / demultiplexer means, said multiple base channel transceiver responds to said first digital signals to transmit said signals by means of the placement of selected portions of said first digital signals in po selected units of a multiplex structure, and for receiving other digital signals and coupling said other digital signals to said base multiplexer / demultiplexer means, and a3) programmable switching means for associating the selected ones of said PSTN lines and the selected portions of said structure multiplex, b) at least one wireless interface unit comprising: bl) coupling means for connecting to a line-type DATA TERMINAL equipment for passing the second digital signals received from said line-type DATA TERMINAL equipment , and b2) remote transceiver means coupled to said remote encoder / decoder means, said remote transceiver means responds to said second digital signals to transmit said second digital signals by placing said second digital signals in selected portions of said multiplex structure, and for receive other digital signals to connect dich and other digital signals to said coupling means, whereby said line-type DATA TERMINAL equipment is coupled to said PSTN without requiring a conductive path between them.
4. 4. A wireless telephone subsystem for coupling the line type DATA TERMINAL device to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) comprising: a) a base unit adapted to be coupled to a plurality of lines of the PSTN, said base unit includes: al) a base encoding / decoding means for transforming the analog signals received from said lines of said PSTN into first digital signals and for transforming other digital signals into analog signals for coupling said lines of said PSTN, a2) multiple transceiver means base channels coupled to said base encoder / decoder means, said multiple base channel transceiver responds to said first digital signals to transmit said signals by placing selected portions of said first digital signals in selected portions of a multiplex structure, and for receiving other digital signals and coupling said other signals digital aids to said base encoder / decoder means, and a3) programmable switching means for associating the selected ones of said PSTN lines and selected portions of said multiplex structure, b) at least one wireless interface unit comprising: bl) means coupling to connect to a line type DATA TERMINAL device that responds to second digital signals received from said line type telephony equipment, and b2) remote transceiver means coupled to said coupling means, said remote transceiver means responds to said second digital signals to transmit said second digital signals by placing said second digital signals in selected portions of said multiplex structure, and to receive other signals digital devices for coupling said other digital signals to said coupling means, whereby said line-type DATA TERMINAL equipment is coupled to said PSTN without requiring a conductive path therebetween.
5. 5. A wireless telephone subsystem according to any of claims 1-4, characterized in that they further include c) at least one remote handset including: cl) a microphone and a speaker, c2) a remote handset encoder / decoder means for transforming the analog signals received from said microphone in third digital signals and to transform other digital signals into analog signals to be coupled to said speaker, and c3) an earphone transceiver coupled to said receiver encoder / decoder means, whereby said microphone and The horn is coupled to said PSTN without requiring a conductive path between them.
6. A subsystem according to claim 5, characterized in that said wireless interface unit is adapted to connect to a modem.
7. 7. A telephone subsystem according to claim 5, characterized in that said wireless interface unit is adapted to be coupled to a facsimile machine.
8. 8. An interface sub-system that communicates the line-type telephone equipment with the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) through a wireless communication system, said interface subsystem comprising: a) an interface unit with a two-cable side and one side of four cables, said side of two cables adapted to be coupled to said line type telephone equipment, said interface unit includes a power source to supply call power to said line type telephone equipment, b) encoding means / decoders with two ports for converting the digital information presented in a first port to an analogous form that is emitted in a second port and for converting the analogous information presented in said second port in digital information that is emitted in said first port, coupled said side of two cables of said interface to said second port, c) transceiver means for transmitting the digital information present in an input and to receive the digital information and output said digital information received in an output, said input and output of said transceiver means coupled to the first port of said encoder / decoder means, and d) microprocessor means coupled to said source of energy and that responds to said transceiver means to initiate the operation of said power source so that it supplies call power to said line type telephone equipment.
9. The interface subsystem according to claim 8, characterized in that said interface unit includes a hybrid of two cables to four cables and said transceiver means comprises transceiver means of TDMA.
10. The interface subsystem according to claim 8, characterized in that said line-type telephone equipment comprises a telephone.
11. The interface subsystem according to claim 8, characterized in that said line type telephone equipment comprises a modem.
12. The interface subsystem according to claim 8, characterized in that said line type telephone equipment comprises a facsimile machine.
13. A subsystem according to claim 1, characterized in that it further includes: a4) a hybrid with two-wire to four-wire interfaces, said two-wire interface coupled to said lines of said PSTN and said four-wire interface coupled to said encoder means / base decoder.
14. 14. A subsystem according to claim 13, characterized in that said coupling means of said wireless interface unit includes a hybrid with a two-wire interface and a four-wire interface, said two-wire interface coupled to said line-type telephone equipment and said four-wire interface coupled to said remote encoder / decoder means. A subsystem according to any of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that said coupling means includes a call generator for generating call signal energy. SUMMARY A wireless telephone subsystem is described for coupling line-type telephone equipment to the public switched telephone network. A base unit is provided which is adapted to be coupled to a plurality of lines of the PSTN. The base unit includes a base encoder / decoder that transforms the analog signals received from the PSTN lines into digital signals and conversely transforms the digital signals into analog signals to be coupled to the PSTN lines. The base unit includes a multi-channel transceiver coupled to the base encoder / decoder that responds to the digital signals provided by the base encoder / decoder to transmit those signals by placing selected portions of the digital signals in selected portions of a multiplex structure. The multi-channel base transceiver also receives digital signals and couples those digital signals to the base encoder / decoder. The programmable switching means are provided to associate the selected lines of the PSTN and the selected portions of the multiplex structure. The subsystem also includes a wireless interface unit to connect to the line type telephony equipment. The wireless interface unit also includes a remote encoder / decoder for transforming the analog signals received from the line-type telephony equipment into digital signals and for transforming other digital signals into analog signals for coupling to the line-type telephony equipment. The wireless interface also includes a remote transceiver that is coupled to the remote encoder / decoder. The remote transceiver responds to the digital signals from the remote encoder / decoder to transmit the signals in selected portions of the multiplex structure and receives other digital signals and couples those to the remote encoder / decoder.