Abstract: A telephone mouthpiece modular coupler for directly connecting a modular telephone line cord to a conventional non-modular telephone unit having electrical contacts and a telephone handset. A substantially cylindrical, flexible coupler cup containing center and annular electrical coupler contacts and a modular line jack is provided. The coupler cup is removably attachable to a mouthpiece portion of a telephone handset. When attached, the center and annular coupler contacts create electrical connections to electrical contacts of the telephone mouthpiece. The modular line cord can be connected at one end to the clip receptacle of a direct connect modem, and at an opposite end to the modular line jack of the modular coupler, directly connecting the modem to the telephone system without using a bulky and relatively inefficient acoustical coupler device.

Abstract: A data communication system including a central host terminal and a large number of remote terminals communicating with the host terminal through telephone lines. The remote terminal decodes frequency-shift-keyed signals and modulates an RF generator to display the data represented by the FSK signals on a conventional television screen. The remote terminal also includes a keypad and conventional two-tone signal generator for transmitting data to the host terminal. The remote terminal may also include a card reader and a frequency-shift-keyed modulator for generating FSK signals corresponding to information magnetically recorded on a card. The host terminal includes a TOUCH-TONE decoder for providing data signals indicative of the information from the remote terminals, an FSK decoder for generating data signals indicative of the information contained on cards read by the remote terminals, and an FSK modulator for transmitting FSK signals to the remote terminals.