Abstract: The creation of “virtual telephony endpoints” within a subscriber's location allows for diverse types of telephone sets, connected via different types of communication networks (e.g., PSTN, Ethernet, power line connections, etc.), to be grouped together and perform as “extensions” as in the sense of traditional wired telephone networks, with a “virtual” telephone number assigned to each virtual telephony endpoint (VTEP). The grouping of the telephone sets within each VTEP can be configured and continuously re-configured by the subscriber, as can the number of separate VTEPs within a single location.

Abstract: In one embodiment, a test tone is placed in an outbound path of a full-duplex transmission system. An echo cancellation capability is disabled, enabling an echo signal of the test tone to pass through the inbound path of the full-duplex transmission system, which echo signal is analyzed to determine the condition of the full-duplex paths. In another embodiment a standard DSP generates DTMF tones which are looped-back and tested by the DSP, under control of a CPU. The DSP is a standard DSP avoiding the need for any hardware/software modification of the DSP to perform the test mode. The tests are performed the local level, i.e. at the subscriber's location, eliminating the need for central office intervention, for example.

Abstract: An arrangement for controlling multiple telephone lines terminating in a single residence uses a multiplexer within a communications gateway and a plurality of demultiplexers, each demultiplexer coupled to a separate one of telephone lines. The communications gateway functions to convert all received analog telephony signals into a digital format and then multiplexes the digital signals onto a single telephone line connected to the residence. The various telephone lines in the residence are connected in series along the line, using a number of drop-off points. The demultiplexer on each telephone line is configured to recognize the time slots within the multiplexed signal destined for its associated telecommunications device. In a similar fashion, separate time slots are assigned for upstream transmission from each telecommunication device into the HFC network.

Abstract: Television programming information comprising an electronic programming guide is compressed by more than fifty percent, and decompressed in environments with only moderate processing power and storage space. The coding scheme of the present invention is based on Huffman coding of characters comprising the electronic programming guide and replacement character strings occurring in the data that have high savings values. A look-up table and binary tree are constructed from the Huffman codes for use in compressing and decompressing the electronic programming guide, and a set-top box for use in the decompression operation is provided.