Abstract: A clocking element that automatically updates when it becomes inaccurate is provided according to the invention. Such a clocking element includes a processor, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor. It further includes a wireless telephone receiving module that is coupled to the processor. The wireless telephone receiving module is adapted to receive wireless communication signals, such as wireless telephone calls, and to extract temporal information therefrom. Further, the processor is adapted to receive the temporal information from the wireless receiving module and to perform an updating function based thereon. This updating function can be based on a threshold, such that, for example, if the clocking information stored within the device differs from that received by the wireless receiving module by more than a predetermined amount, then the device will update the clocking information to match that provided by the wireless receiving module.

Abstract: In a first embodiment, a data transmitter according to the invention includes a digital-to-analog converter adapted to receive an input signal and produce a plurality of images therefrom, each image being displaced from the other images in frequency, and a compensation filter adapted to compensate at least one of the plurality of images to adjust for a loss inherent in the digital-to-analog converter. In an alternative embodiment, a receiver includes an analog-to-digital converter adapted to receive a line signal comprising a plurality of frequency diverse images, and to produce a sampled signal representative of a single image therefrom. In another alternative embodiment, a method of transmitting a signal includes the steps of creating a plurality of images of a main signal, compensating at least one of the images, and outputting the images.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a cordless telephone according to the invention includes a base unit, including a paging mechanism, and a handset, including an alerting mechanism responsive to the paging mechanism. At least one of the base unit and the handset includes a page adjusting mechanism to affect an alerting signal output from the alerting mechanism based on a condition. Thus, the paging signal is adaptive to increase the opportunity for a user to determine the location of a misplaced handset. In another embodiment, a cordless telephone is equipped so that the base unit can provide an indication related to a distance between the base unit and the handset. In yet another embodiment, a cordless telephone is equipped so that the paging mechanism is adjusted based on user control. In a further embodiment according to the invention, a method is provided for affecting an alerting signal output by an alerting mechanism of a cordless telephone handset.

Abstract: In a receiver, a digital automatic gain control circuit receives a series of digital samples representing at least one of an in-phase component and a quadrature component of a received signal, and provides scaled in-phase components and scaled quadrature components to an equalizer. The digital automatic gain control circuit includes a gain updating unit that receives a value representing at least one of an in-phase component and a quadrature component, receives a target reference value, and updates a gain value based on a difference therebetween. The digital automatic gain control circuit also includes a scalar that scales the received signal based on the updated gain value.

Abstract: A telephone adaptively updates its speed dial memory. For example, the telephone updates the speed dial memory based on a calling history. An example of a calling history based update according to the invention is to add frequently called telephone numbers to the speed dial memory and to drop infrequently called telephone numbers from the speed dial memory. Another example is to order the telephone numbers in the speed dial memory based on the frequency with which they are called.

Abstract: A method of transmitting a voice communications signal includes the steps of sampling the signal and creating digital representations of the samples. The digital representations are speech-coded to create speech-coded data which is converted to analog symbols. A carrier in the 46-49 MHz band is modulated by the analog symbols and transmitted. A method of receiving a voice communications signal includes the steps of receiving a modulated carrier in the 46-49 MHz band and demodulating the modulated carrier to recover analog symbols. The analog symbols are converted to digital samples, which are then converted to speech-coded data. The speech-coded data are decoded to produce digitized samples, which are converted to analog samples and filtered to produce the voice communications signal. A cordless telephone system according to the invention includes a handset and a base unit.

Abstract: An integrated circuit has an improved voltage regulator for use with memory devices that utilize secondary electron injection for programming. The memory device, typically a floating-gate EEPROM, has source and drain regions formed in a doped tub region. A first voltage source is used to reverse-bias a diode, formed in the same process as the source and drain regions of the memory device, to near the breakdown voltage. A small bias current flows through the reverse-biased diode from the first voltage source to a second voltage source, thereby establishing a reference voltage. The drain voltage of the memory device is then biased, typically by a bipolar transistor, to about a diode drop (about 0.7V) below the reference voltage, and hence correspondingly below the drain-to-tub breakdown voltage of the memory device. In this manner, the reference voltage tracks changes in the memory device due to process variations, temperature variations, etc.

Abstract: A cordless telephone base unit includes a registration unit adapted to selectively register with a handset according to at least one predefined criterion, a call handling unit adapted to handle an incoming call when the handset is registered with the registration unit, and a call forwarding unit adapted to forward an incoming call to a forwarding number when the handset is not registered with the registration unit.

Abstract: A telephone according to the invention includes an indicator adapted to provide an indication of the presence of an incoming call, and a sensor adapted to sense an environmental condition and adjust the indicator based on the sensed condition. For example, the sensor can sense an ambient light level and adjust a ringer to not ring or a speaker to mute when the ambient light level is below a threshold and/or based on an ambient noise level. In an alternative embodiment, a method of responding to a ringing signal includes the steps of sensing a level of ambient light, and adjusting an audible indicator based on the sensed level of ambient light.

Abstract: In a digital receiver, an equalizing unit includes a power controller adapted to scale received components of a quadrature amplitude modulated signal based on a constellation size of the quadrature amplitude modulated signal. Alternatively, a method of scaling components of a quadrature amplitude modulated signal includes the steps of searching the quadrature amplitude modulated signal to determine a constellation size, and scaling the components of the quadrature amplitude modulated signal based on the constellation size.

Abstract: A current mirror suitable, for example, for a charge pump circuit comprises a reference device (21), an output device (22), a first amplifier (41), a follower amplifier (42), and switches (31, 32 43, 44). When switches 31 and 43 are closed, the current mirror is enabled and the low output impedance of follower (42) ensures that the gate voltage of output device (22) quickly equals the gate voltage of reference device (21), switching on the output quickly and accurately. When output device (22) is off, switch (44) closes, and the output of the first amplifier (41) bypasses the follower (42) so that the first amplifier (41) and the reference device (21) form a loop, and compensation becomes easier. The amplifiers (41, 42) are separately compensated to make them stable.

Abstract: A digital automatic gain control circuit for a receiver includes an averaging block and an adjustment block. The averaging block receives a length of a digital sample stream that represents an incoming analog signal and produces an absolute average signal. The adjustment block receives the absolute average signal and a reference signal and outputs an adjustment signal for controlling gain. The adjustment signal is based on a difference between the absolute average signal and the reference signal. In an alternative embodiment, a method of controlling gain according to the invention includes the steps of calculating an absolute average of an incoming signal, and comparing the absolute average to a reference to produce an adjustment signal based on a difference between the absolute average and the reference.

Abstract: In one embodiment according to the invention, a method is provided for handling a flash-hook signal from a telephone engaged in a first telephone call with a first distant party when a second telephone call with a second distant party is in a hold status. The method includes the steps of placing the first telephone call with the first distant party in the hold status, connecting the second telephone call, and providing a Caller ID indication to the telephone. In an alternative embodiment, a telephone according to the invention includes a flash-hook, and a Caller ID display. The telephone is adapted to display Caller ID data associated with a first call, and to be updated upon connection of a second call, in response to activation of the flash-hook, to display Caller ID data associated with the second call.

Abstract: In a first embodiment according to the invention, a cordless telephone handset of a cordless telephone system includes a user input unit, a signal processor and an output driver. The signal processor is coupled to the user input unit. The signal processor processes user input received via the user input unit. The output driver receives processed information from the signal processor and selectively outputs the processed information to at least one of a plurality of output devices. For example, in one embodiment the user input unit is a keypad, and the signal processor selectively processes the user input as telephone control information and as television control information. In a second embodiment according to the invention, a method of receiving an incoming call in a cordless telephone includes the steps of receiving an incoming call telephone signal, and outputting a television control signal in response to the incoming call telephone signal.

Abstract: According to one aspect of the invention, two lines are utilized to selectively forward calls based on caller ID data. Thus, according to one embodiment of the invention, a method of connecting a calling party to a called party includes the steps of a customer premise equipment (CPE) receiving an incoming call from the calling party on a first line, the CPE evaluating caller ID data associated with the incoming call, and the CPE placing an outgoing call to the called party on a second line based on the caller ID data. In another embodiment, a CPE includes a first line, a second line, and a calling unit adapted to place an outgoing call on the second line based on caller ID data associated with an incoming call received on the first line.

Abstract: A converter includes at least two series coupled integrators, a comparator and a feedback element. The converter provides digital domain scaling so that an output signal is a scaled version of an input signal based on a feedback factor of the feedback element.

Abstract: A method of breaking up idle tones in a converter is used for gain scaling and summing of digital input signals. The invention achieves this object by introducing dither. Further, the invention optimizes the dither introduced by adapting the magnitude of the dither based on the value of the feedback gain factor of the converter. By adapting the dither in this way, the output idle channel noise can be essentially constant and independent of the scaling factor of the converter.

Abstract: An integrated circuit includes a string of substantially similarly-shaped resistive cells, each cell having a first resistive portion and a second resistive portion, the string having an overall orientation and at least one cell, preferably substantially all cells, and more preferably all cells have their respective centerlines oriented at non-orthogonal angles, preferably about 45 degrees, relative to the overall orientation. The cells are contiguous such that a resistor is formed by the first resistive portion of one cell and the second resistive portion of an adjacent cell. The cells preferably have a substantially hexagonal shape and are arranged into substrings. If the string includes a folding point, substrings immediately adjacent to the folding point should include an odd number, preferably three, of cells, and substrings not adjacent to the folding point should comprise an even number, preferably two, of cells.

Abstract: Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a coarse frequency burst detector for use at the receiving end of a wireline communications system comprises: a digital signal filter adapted to filter a component of decoded signal samples, the decoded signal samples being derived from a baseband signal transmitted via the wireline communications system; and a threshold detector adapted to threshold the signal level of the filtered component of the decoded signal samples with respect to a substantially predetermined level. In accordance with another embodiment, a method of detecting at the receiving end of a wireline communications system a frequency burst in a baseband signal transmitted via the wireline communications system comprises the steps of: filtering a component of a decoded signal derived from the baseband signal transmitted via the wireline communications system; and thresholding the filtered component.

Abstract: Briefly, in accordance with one embodiment of the invention, a method of compensating for Doppler error in a wireless communications system employing Viterbi decoding comprises the steps of: for each signal sample in a first predetermined-sized grouping of received signal samples, performing a parallel Viterbi update and short symbol decode; and for a second predetermined-sized grouping, forming by pipeline processing an estimate of the Doppler error in accordance with the parallel short traceback decoding performed for the first grouping, and adjusting each signal sample in the second grouping in accordance with the estimated Doppler error.Briefly, in accordance with another embodiment of the invention, a Viterbi traceback reconstructed signal sample index comprises: a state counter, a traceback shift register (TBSR); a signal reconstruction table; and a comparator coupled in a configuration so as to provide the sign bit to the TBSR from a comparison of binary digital signals.