Granted Patent B2

US 7,743,164 · App. 10/778,556 · Granted Jun 22, 2010

Abstract

Claims (40)

1. A method for handling frequency shift key (FSK) data of a voiceband data communication to be passed through an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the method comprising:

identifying the FSK data;

determining that the FSK data is to be transmitted through the IP network separate from a voice stream for the voiceband data communication;

encoding the FSK data as a binary representation;

packetizing the encoded FSK data within Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) data packets, each RTP data packet including a header portion with a payload type identifying a redundancy scheme and a payload portion with at least one RTP payload, each RTP payload comprising a bit count, an end of data bit, an FSK data block, and a pad, the RTP data packet includes a first data packet with a first primary FSK data block, a second data packet with a second primary FSK data block and a first redundant FSK data block, a third data packet with a third primary FSK data block and the first redundant FSK data block and a second redundant FSK data block; and,

transmitting the packetized FSK data in the RTP data packets out-of-band from transmission of voice packets associated with the voice stream, wherein the RTP data packets are multiplexed with the voice packets.

2. A system for handling frequency shift key (FSK) data of a voiceband data communication to pass through an Internet Protocol (IP) network, the system comprising:

means for identifying the FSK data;

means for determining that the FSK data is to be transmitted through the IP network separate from a voice stream for the voiceband data communication;

means for encoding the FSK data as a binary representation;

means for packetizing the encoded FSK data within Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) data packets, each RTP data packet including a header portion with a payload type identifying a redundancy scheme and a payload portion with at least one RTP payload, each RTP payload comprising a bit count, an end of data bit, an FSK data block, and a pad, the RTP data packet includes a first data packet with a first primary FSK data block, a second data packet with a second primary FSK data block and a first redundant FSK data block, a third data packet with a third primary FSK data block and the first redundant FSK data block and a second redundant FSK data block; and,

means for transmitting the packetized FSK data in the RTP data packets out-of band from transmission of voice packets associated with the voice stream, wherein the RTP data packets are multiplexed with the voice packets.

3. A data format for a voiceband data communication including a voice stream and frequency shift key (FSK) data, comprising:

a Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) header portion with a payload type identifying a redundancy scheme; and,

a Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) payload portion with at least one RTP payload, each RTP payload comprising a bit count, an end of data bit, an FSK data block, and a pad, wherein each FSK data block comprises frequency shift key (FSK) data separated from the voice stream for the voiceband data communication;

wherein the RTP header and RTP payload portions form an RTP data packet for transmission out-of-band from voice packets associated with the voice stream in a multiplexed fashion in relation to transmission of the voice packets, the RTP data packet includes a first data packet with a first primary FSK data block, a second data packet with a second primary FSK data block and a first redundant FSK data block, a third data packet with a third primary FSK data block and the first redundant FSK data block and a second redundant FSK data block.

4. the method as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising: synchronizing the packetized FSK data with at least one of the voice stream and signaling events associated with the voiceband data communication that frame the FSK data.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 , further comprising: selectively replacing voice packets with RTP data packets based at least in part on available bandwidth.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the packetizing is accomplished at about a 10 millisecond packetization rate and the transmitting is accomplished at about a 1200 baud rate.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

a digital loop carrier (DLC) receiving a voiceband data communication including a voice stream and frequency shift key (FSK) data; and

a multimedia terminal adapter (MTA) in operative communication with the DLC via an internet protocol network;

wherein the DLC transmits the voiceband data communication to the MTA by separating the FSK data from the voice stream, encoding the FSK data as a binary representation, packetizing the encoded FSK data using a real-time transport protocol (RTP) to form RTP data packets, and transmitting the RTP data packets out-of-band from transmission of voice packets associated with the voice stream, the RTP data packets being multiplexed with the voice packets;

wherein each RTP data packet includes a header portion with a payload type identifying a redundancy scheme and a payload portion with at least one RTP payload, each RTP payload comprising a bit count, an end of data bit, an FSK data block, and a pad, each FSK data block including at least a portion of the FSK data from the voiceband data communication, the RTP data packet includes a first data packet with a first primary FSK data block, a second data packet with a second primary FSK data block and a first redundant FSK data block, a third data packet with a third primary FSK data block and the first redundant FSK data block and a second redundant FSK data block.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the RTP data packets include a fourth data packet with the second redundant FSK data block and a third redundant FSK data block, and a fifth data packet with the third redundant FSK data block, wherein the first redundant FSK data block is the same as the first primary FSK data block, the second redundant FSK data block is the same as the second primary FSK data block, and the third redundant FSK data block is the same as the third primary FSK data block.

9. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first data packet includes a first redundant FSK data block.

10. The method as set forth in claim 9 wherein the first data packet includes a second redundant FSK data block.

11. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the first redundant FSK data block is the same as the first primary FSK data block.

12. The method as set forth in claim 11 wherein the second redundant FSK data block is the same as the second primary FSK data block.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the RTP data packets include a fourth data packet with the second redundant FSK data block, and a third redundant FSK data block, wherein the third redundant FSK data block is the same as the third primary FSK data block.

14. The method as set forth in claim 13 wherein the RTP data packets include a fifth data packet with the third redundant FSK data block.

15. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bit count indicates a number of data bits in the FSK data block of the corresponding RTP payload.

16. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the end of data bit indicates whether or not the FSK data block of the corresponding RTP payload is the end of the encoded FSK data.

17. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein the padding includes enough data bits to fill the corresponding FSK data block to an even byte boundary.

18. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein the RTP data packets include a first data packet with a first primary a fourth data packet with the second redundant FSK data block and a third redundant FSK data block, and a fifth data packet with the third redundant FSK data block, wherein the first redundant FSK data block is the same as the first primary FSK data block, the second redundant FSK data block is the same as the second primary FSK data block, and the third redundant FSK data block is the same as the third primary FSK data block.

19. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first data packet includes a first redundant FSK data block.

20. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein the first redundant FSK data block is the same as the first primary FSK data block.

21. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein the bit count indicates a number of data bits in the FSK data block of the corresponding RTP payload.

22. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein the end of data bit indicates whether or not the FSK data block of the corresponding RTP payload is the end of the encoded FSK data.

23. The apparatus as set forth in claim 7 wherein the padding includes enough data bits to fill the corresponding FSK data block to an even byte boundary.

Assignments (8)