"""Plug and play"" telephone system"
US6256319A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Feb 28, 1997 |
| Grant date | Jul 3, 2001 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Feb 28, 2017 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04M1/715
- WIPO fieldTelecommunications
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A distributed processing telephone system for providing "plug-and-play" capability. In particular, a key telephone system comprises a plurality of telephone sets. Each telephone set is coupled to at least one common communications channel, or telephone line, and includes at least one tunable RF modem. There is no key service unit (KSU). That is, the system is KSU-less. Resources of the telephone system are allocated using a peer-to-peer protocol. For example, as each telephone set is newly added to the system, the new telephone set adaptively determines its own allocation of resources, e.g., intercom numbers, etc. During operation, each telephone set requests the appropriate resources from its peers.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.