Subscriber Line Interface Circuitry

Abstract

An integrated circuit having sense inputs for a sensed tip signal and a sensed ring signal of a subscriber loop is disclosed. The integrated circuit processes the sensed signals to generate an analog control signal for a subscriber loop linefeed driver. The linefeed driver does not reside within a same integrated circuit.

1 . An apparatus comprising: 
 an integrated circuit having sense inputs for a sensed tip signal and a sensed ring signal of a subscriber loop, wherein the integrated circuit processes the sensed signals to generate an analog control signal for a subscriber loop linefeed driver, wherein the linefeed driver does not reside within a same integrated circuit.    
   
   
       2 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the sensed tip signal and the sensed ring signal are analog signals.  
   
   
       3 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the integrated circuit superimposes voiceband data onto the control signal for transmission to the subscriber loop.  
   
   
       4 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the integrated circuit is a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit.  
   
   
       5 . A subscriber loop linefeed driver apparatus comprising: 
 sense circuitry providing a sensed tip signal and a sensed ring signal to sense inputs of an integrated circuit; and    power circuitry for providing battery feed to a ring node and a tip node of the subscriber loop in accordance with an analog control signal, the integrated circuit processing the sensed tip and ring signals to generate the control signal, wherein the power circuitry does not reside within the integrated circuit.    
   
   
       6 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the sensed ring signal and the sensed tip signal are analog signals.  
   
   
       7 . The apparatus of  claim 5  wherein the power circuitry comprises: 
 a tip control circuit, wherein the tip control circuit increases a tip node voltage in response to a first tip control signal, wherein the tip control circuit decreases a tip node voltage in response to a second tip control signal; and    a ring control circuit wherein the ring control circuit increases a ring node voltage in response to a first ring control signal, wherein the ring control circuit decreases a ring node voltage in response to a second ring control signal.    
   
   
       8 . The apparatus of  claim 7  wherein the tip control circuit comprises: 
 a first transistor of a first type having an emitter coupled to receive the first tip control signal;    a second transistor of the first type having an emitter coupled to receive the second tip control signal, wherein a base of each of the first and second transistors is coupled to first node;    a third transistor of a second type having a collector coupled to a collector of the first transistor and an emitter coupled to a second node; and    a resistor having a first end coupled to the second node, a second end of the resistor coupled to a base of the third transistor and a collector of the second transistor.    
   
   
       9 . The apparatus of  claim 8  wherein the first type is a PNP bipolar junction transistor, wherein the second type is an NPN bipolar junction transistor.  
   
   
       10 . The apparatus of  claim 5  further comprising: 
 voiceband circuitry for bi-directional communication of voiceband data between the ring and tip nodes and an analog voiceband data interface, wherein the voiceband circuitry provides the analog voiceband data interface with d.c. isolation from the ring and tip nodes.    
   
   
       11 . The apparatus of  claim 10  wherein the voiceband circuitry further comprises: 
 a first voiceband data output node;    a load coupled to the first voiceband data output node;    a first voiceband data input node, wherein the load and the first voiceband data input node are capacitively coupled to a selected one of the tip and ring nodes.    
   
   
       12 . The apparatus of  claim 5  further comprising voiceband circuitry for bi-directional communication of voiceband data between the ring and tip nodes and a voiceband data interface, wherein the voiceband circuitry further comprises: 
 a first voiceband data input node capacitively coupled to a selected one of the ring and tip nodes for receiving voiceband data from the subscriber loop, wherein voiceband data transmitted to the subscriber loop is superimposed on the control signal.    
   
   
       13 . An apparatus comprising: 
 an integrated circuit processing a sensed tip signal and a sensed ring signal of a subscriber loop to generate analog control signals, the sensed tip and ring signals received by sense inputs of the integrated circuit; and    a linefeed driver for driving a subscriber loop in accordance with the control signals.    
   
   
       14 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the sensed tip signal and the sensed ring signal are analog signals.  
   
   
       15 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the integrated circuit superimposes voiceband data onto the control signals for transmission to the subscriber loop.  
   
   
       16 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the integrated circuit is a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuit.  
   
   
       17 . The apparatus of  claim 13  wherein the linefeed driver comprises power circuitry for providing battery feed to a ring node and a tip node of the subscriber loop in accordance with the control signals.  
   
   
       18 . The linefeed driver of  claim 17  wherein the power circuitry comprises: 
 a tip control circuit, wherein the tip control circuit increases a tip node voltage in response to a first tip control signal, wherein the tip control circuit decreases a tip node voltage in response to a second tip control signal; and    a ring control circuit wherein the ring control circuit increases a ring node voltage in response to a first ring control signal, wherein the ring control circuit decreases a ring node voltage in response to a second ring control signal.    
   
   
       19 . The linefeed driver of  claim 18  wherein the tip control circuit comprises: 
 a first transistor of a first type having an emitter coupled to receive the first tip control signal;    a second transistor of the first type having an emitter coupled to receive the second tip control signal, wherein a base of each of the first and second transistors is coupled to first node;    a third transistor of a second type having a collector coupled to a collector of the first transistor and an emitter coupled to a second node; and    a resistor having a first end coupled to the second node, a second end of the resistor coupled to a base of the third transistor and a collector of the second transistor.    
   
   
       20 . The linefeed driver of  claim 19  wherein the first type is a PNP bipolar junction transistor, wherein the second type is an NPN bipolar junction transistor.