Arrangement for interfacing a telephone device with a personal computer

[54] ARRANGEMENT FOR INTERFACING A TELEPHONE DEVICE WITH A PERSONAL COMPUTER

[75] Inventors: Jon Louis Bentley, New Providence;

Greg E. Blonder, Summit, both of
N.J.; Paul W. Hutchison, Oakland,
Calif.; Kevin M. Ow-Wing, Castro
Valley. Calif.; Michael S. Raven;
Joseph E. Schlessinger, both of
Berkeley, Calif.; Dennis W. Specht,
Basking Ridge; Eric E. Sumner, Jr.,
Bernardsville, both of N.J.; Ralph J.
Weaver, III. Carmal. Lad.

[73] Assignee: Lucent Technologies Inc., Murray Hill, N.J.

[21] Appl. No.: 368,678
[22] Filed: Apr. 26,1995

[51] Int. CI6 H04M 11/00; H04M 1/64

[52] U.S. CI 379/93; 379/90; 379/98;

379/100; 379/67

[58] Field of Search 379/100, 110,

379/98, 97, 96, 142, 376. 386, 396. 67.

68, 204; 364/919

[56] References Cited

U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS

4,653,090 3/1987 Hayden 379/204

4,701,946 10/1987 Olivaetal 379/93

4,776,005 10/1988 Petricdcme et al 379/142

4,860,339 8/1989 D'Agosto, HI et al 379/110

4,922,450 5/1990 Rose et al 364/900

5,008,927 4/1991 Weiss et al 379/110

5,317,630 5/1994 Fienberg et al 379/142

5,333,152 7/1994 Wilber 379/98

5,343,516 8/1994 Lallele et al 379/142

5,373,551 12/1994 Baals etal 379/110

5,550,649 8/1996 Wong etal 379/100

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Brochure for Cermetek Microelectronics, "a New Generation of Information Terminals", Apr. 1987.

Primary Examiner—Curtis Kuntz
Assistant Examiner—Stephen W. Palan
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Samuel R. Williamson

[57] ABSTRACT

An arrangement provides an interface between a telephone device and a personal computer in such a manner that enhanced capability for both the telephone device and the computer in processing information in an analog telephone environment is provided. The telephone device attaches to an analog telephone line and advantageously operates either as a stand-alone device when the computer is powered-off or in tandem with the computer when the computer is poweredon. A user is able to access any of the available telephony features from the telephone device at all times and from the computer when it is powered-on. Such available telephony features include, by way of example. Caller ID for decoding available information presented on the analog telephone line and an integrated telephone answering system, which provides for reception, transmission, and storage of voice, facsimile, and electronic mail messages.

25 Claims, 7 Drawing Sheets