WO1998006208A2

WO1998006208A2 - A method and an apparatus for transferring of sound

Info

Publication number: WO1998006208A2
Application number: PCT/FI1997/000462
Authority: WO
Inventors: Lars Silen
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 1996-08-05
Filing date: 1997-08-01
Publication date: 1998-02-12
Also published as: FI103559B; FI963089A0; FI963089A; FI103559B1; WO1998006208A3; AU3771897A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement and an apparatus for transferring sound in a digitized form. The sound is received by a microphone means (18) of a handset means (10), whereafter it is converted in said handset means (10) from an analog form into a digitized form. The digitized signal is transferred through an operational connection (19, 22, 23) to a data processing device (20), from which it is further transferred through an operational connection to a communications network (8). The data processing device (20) operationally connected to the communications network (8) can correspondingly receive a digitized sound signal from the network. Said digitized signal is transferred through an operational connection (19, 22, 23) to the handset means (10) and is thereafter converted in said handset means into a sound signal to be represented by means of a speaker means (18).

Description

A METHOD AND AN APPARATUS FOR TRANSFERRING OF SOUND

Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a method to be used in sound transferring and more specifically, to a sound transferring method which comprises conversion of sound, such as speech, into a digitized form and/or back into an analog form. The present invention relates further to an arrangement for transferring digitized sound. The present invention relates also to a handset apparatus for receiving and/or reproducing sound.

Background of the invention

So called LAN telephones (LAN = Local Area Networking) are known by the skilled person. In a LAN telephone arrangement the terminal apparatus consists of a suitable data processing device, such as a microcomputer, of a so-called sound card adapted to be used in said data processing device and of a telephone handset means connected to said sound card. In most cases the terminal apparatus is operationally connected through a so-called network card to eg. a local communications network, which in turn may be connected through an adapter to a public communications network. The local network may, for example, be a LAN or an ATM-LAN local network which is based on an Ethernet, an IsoEthernet or a Novel type protocol or similar.

The communications network can be for example a telephone network, such as a PSTN (Public Switched Telephone network), a PSPDN network (Packet Switched Public Data Network), a mobile network of various types or an ISDN or a B-ISDN network (Integrated Services Digital Network. Broadband ISDN). The connection into the public telephone network can be accomplished through wider ("public" ) networks, such as the Internet.

The sound card adapted within the data processing device comprises means for performing A/D conversion (from analog to digital) and D/A conversion. The A/D convener is used for " recording " the speech and for convening the same into a digitized form and D/A convener is correspondingly used for producing understandable sound to speakers. Such sound cards enabling the so called full duplex operation and including A/D and D/A conveners are per se known by the skilled person, and will thus not be described in more detail herein. Several advantageous features have been obtained by means of the present LAN telephones, which are based on computers, such as PC or Macintosh™ compatible microcomputers, various work stations and similar, and usually on Windows TM _or similar applications. By means of these it is. for instance, possible to transfer speech in a digital form m various, already existing communications networks. Thus they will extend the operation area of a computer connected to the network also into the area of telephone traffic transfer without any significant line costs. The LAN telephones can utilize a sound card and a network card which might already exist, whereby the implementation of the possibility for telephone calls does not cause any significant apparatus costs, especially because the additional equipments to be incorporated to the computer would in this case be simple, comprising only a handset and necessary connectors. Since the terminal device is a programmable computer, it is possible to provide easily and in a flexible manner several applications according to various needs and facilitating the use of a telephone by means of programming work only, such as various office automation services, telephone directories, telephone traffic databases etc.

The known solution has also several disadvantages. When using a LAN telephone there have been problems, for instance, in such occasions where several different software applications are trying simultaneously to utilize the same sound card, which situations often occur, for instance, in connection with so-called multimedia applications. An example of such is a situation in which the telephone rings at the same time as a CD player or any other multimedia application is in an active state. No satisfying manner to solve the conflict situations between the programs and applications and/or the prioritization thereof has been found. The LAN telephone is also dependent on sound cards of a certain type. In some occasions, the problem has been caused by the data processing capacity required by the voice processing, which cannot then be used by the other applications. Especially the older data processing devices do not usually have functions which would correspond to an integrated sound card, and thus the card should be bought and mounted separately. All data processing devices do not. however, even have the necessary space and/or capacity and/or a possibility for the connection for such separate sound card to be mounted inside the machine.

The objects of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior an and to provide a totally new type of solution to be used in sound transfer, especially in connection with telephone traffic taking place in communications networks through various data processing devices permanently or momentarily connected to the communications networks.

An object of the present invention is also to provide a solution, by means of which it is possible to transfer speech etc. telephone traffic, which has been converted into a digitized signal, in a communications network, in which solution a microcomputer, a work station or similar operates as a telephone terminal, into which a handset means provided with control electronics is operationally connected through normal interface ports thereof such that it is not necessary per se for the data processing device to comprise any particular sound card so as to be able to handle the telephone traffic.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a solution, by means of which it is possible to use the printer port of the data processing device for the telephone traffic, the port preferably being such a printer port which enables a parallel interface.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a solution, in which the required data processing capacity for accomplishing the telephone traffic is lower than in the known solutions.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a solution in which the sound card-related prioritization problem is avoided.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a solution which provides a handset means which is not dependent of the type of the data processing device, ie. can be connected by means of a driver to any data processing device having a suitable free port.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a solution in which a digitized sound signal is preferably transferred at a similar speed to the handset means as by which the digitized signal is transferred from the handset means.

Summary of the invention

The invention is based on the basic idea that by providing at least one A/D or D/A conversion in a means which is separate from the data processing device, such as in a handset part, and by connecting this separate means operationally to the data processing means trough a normal interface means thereof, such as a printer port or similar, a method and an arrangement and an apparatus is provided which realizes the objects set forth for the present invention. More precisely, the according to the present invention a method for transferring a sound in a digitized form is disclosed, wherein the sound is received by a microphone means of a handset means, the received sound is converted in said handset means from analog form into digitized form, and the digitized sound signal is transferred through an operational connection to a data processing device, from which it is further transferred through an operational connection to a communications network.

According to another form of the invention, a method for transferring a sound in a digitized form is disclosed, wherein a data processing device operationally connected to a communications network receives a digitized sound signal, said digitized sound signal is further transferred through an operational connection to a handset means and is thereafter converted in said handset means into a sound signal to be represented by means of a speaker means.

The arrangement according to the present invention for transferring a digitized sound comprises a data processing device, means for connecting the data processing device operationally to a communications network, and a handset means operationally connected to the data processing device, in which a microphone means receiving a sound signal and/or a speaker means representing a sound signal is adapted to. It is characteristic for the invention that the handset means comprises at least one microcontroller means for converting the sound signal received from the microphone means into a digitized signal and for sending it through the operational connection to the data processing device and/or for receiving a digitized signal from the data processing device through the operational connection and converting said received digitized signal into a sound signal to be represented by the speaker means.

The apparatus according to the present invention is a handset means comprising microphone means for receiving a sound and/ or speaker means for reproducing a sound. The handset further comprises at least one microcontroller means for converting a sound signal received by the microphone means into digitized form to be sent to a means receiving said digitized signal and/or for converting a received digitized signal to a sound signal to be represented by the speaker means, and means for providing an operational connection between said at least one microcontroller means and the means receiving and/or sending the digitized signal.

According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention the arrangement comprises a computer, such as a PC or MacintoshTM _etc. compatible microcomputer or a workstation, said computer being operationally connected to a communications network through a suitable link or similar means enabling the connection. The connection may be accomplished either by means of a fixed line or a wireless connection. The computer is provided with a suitable handset means operationally connected through a normal interface, either with a wire or wireless, said interface normally being adapted for some other function / auxiliary device. In a preferred solution the utilized interface is a printer port, which is usually available when the device is used in a network environment. A printer port of parallel connectable type is considered as especially preferable.

In accordance with the present invention the handset means comprises means for providing at least one D/A and/or A/D conversion. In a preferred embodiment the handset means comprises separate means for providing A/D and D/A conversions. The handset means includes at least one microcontroller means for controlling the operation of the converters. Thus there is no need to process the signal coming from the handset means or incoming to the handset means in the computer otherwise than for the purposes of accomplishing the control and possible buffering thereof between the network card of the computer enabling an interface to the network and said interface port.

The skilled person will understand that the terms 'communications network' , 'telecommunications network' or 'network' are in general terms meaning a solution which enables communications between at least two terminals. Thus this specification considers all such fixed and/or wireless connections to be networks, which connect different terminals to each other. These may either be closed networks comprising as a minimum two terminals or open networks, into which any non-predefined number of terminal devices can be connected. A network formed by computers can be formed by, for instance, the Internet or by any different combinations or variations of network solutions.

The present invention provides a sound transferring method and an arrangement which is easy to realize by means of components already available, but such that the solution provides significant benefits in the area of telephone traffic accomplished in a digital form in different networks. As an example of the obtainable benefits it can be mentioned that the sound card which can be mounted within the computer remains free for other operations, such as to be used by various multimedia applications, whereby the prioritizing problem of the telephone traffic is also removed. In addition, the capacity of the computer is no longer needed for the actual speech processing, but only for controlling the network card and the driver and for accomplishing other additional operations which do not require high capacity. In addition to the above, the handset means according to the present inven- tion is capable of accomplishing a part of the general signal processing, control and buffering. It is substantially easy to connect the handset means according to the present invention to a computer, as this can be done by utilizing standard connectors without any need for mechanical assembly of a specific sound card. The prime costs for the electronics, conductors etc. are also essentially lower when compared to the prime costs of the sound card, the connection electronics thereof, conductors etc. of the prior art solution. It is also possible to receive the supply voltage required by the handset means directly from the interface, such as from the printer port, and thus no additional voltage sources are required. The handset means according to the present invention is not dependent on the type of the computer, but can be connected, in addition to the above listed, to any computer including a free port, such as to Mac, Amiga or Unix workstation, by means of a suitable device driver.

In the following the present invention and the other objects and advantages thereof will be described by way of an example with reference to the annexed drawing, in which similar reference characters throughout the various figures refer to similar features. It should be understood that the following description of an example of the invention is not meant to restrict the invention to the specific forms presented in this connection but rather the present invention is meant to cover all modifications, similarities and alternatives which are included in the spirit and scope of the present invention, as defined by the appended claims. In this context it is further noted that the term 'handset' refers to all such means which include a microphone part receiving speech or similar sound and/or speaker part reproducing speech or similar sound and which are intended to be used in a simplex or bidirectional transfer of sound.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 discloses a simplified schematic view of one telephone system including conventional telephone apparatus, a prior art LAN telephone arrangement and a telephone arrangement according the present invention.

Figure 2 discloses a more detailed and partially sectioned view of one embodiment of the terminal according to the present invention.

Figure 3 discloses schematically one embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 4 is a more detailed schematic presentation of the handset part of the embodiment of figure 3. Figure 5 is a sectional view disclosing one handset part according to the present invention.

Description of the preferred embodiments

A highly simplified schematic view of figure 1 discloses one arrangement enabling the telephone traffic and comprising conventional telephone terminals 3, wireless or so-called mobile telephones 2 (such as GSM, NMT, CDMA, ARP), LAN telephone arrangements 1 comprising a sound card 1 ' of the prior art type and a network telephone apparatus according to the present invention. It is possible to replace the conventional wire bound fixed network by a fixed network which has been digitized by ISDN. The different telephone systems are illustrated herein to clarify the distinctions therebetween and to illustrate that it is possible for the different network systems 4, 6, generally designated by 8, and thus for the telephone apparatus 1 , 2, 3 and 10 operating in them, to communicate with each other through suitable links or gateways 5.

Several computers 20 may be connected to one LAN network 4. The signal is transferred from and to the LAN network 4 via the link 5. The link is for instance a gateway which may be a computer performing signal conversion between the sound coding and the computerized digital coding and controlling, for instance, the location of an user identified by a subscriber number and by computer's user identification. To enable a connection, the computer 20 must be "logged in". The call is routed from said gateway 5 to the telephone traffic system, such as 2 or 3, which system may consist of switches, such as eg. Ericsson MD110 switch or similar. From this the call is routed further to an exchange, eg. to Ericsson AXE exchange, from which there is an operational connection further to the terminal apparatus, such as to wireless or fixed line telephones or a handset connected to a computer.

When one wishes to use various telephone services, or so-called intelligent network (IN) services, it is possible to use eg. a UPT service (Universal Personal Telecommunication) through exchanges and switches so that the subscriber of the service can use them at one or several locations or addresses.

When making a call from a computer 20 connected to the network 4 to another device in the same network, it is not necessary to direct the call into an ordinary telephone system, but it can rather remain as an "internal call" within the network. The network 4 formed by the computers 20 can also be an Internet network to which eg. a PC or a workstation device 20 has been connected. The PC device 20 may consist of a central processing unit CPU, memories, such as program and main memory (eg. ROM, RAM, hard discs), boards for providing additional operations, a bus connecting the different parts and operations to each other and a network interface. The input and/or output of the PC may be disclosed eg. by a display or a printer. The user may feed in information to the device 20 by means of a keypad, a mouse or similar feeding apparatus.

The present PCs normally include multimedia means for processing graphic's, video, pictures, sound and text. In this case the PC has eg. a sound card or similar, to which a microphone and/or speaker can be connected for transmitting and receiving speech or similar sound. The microphone and/or speaker may be built within the PC 20, or eg. within the display thereof, or they can be external or eg. in a form of an ordinary handset. The computer includes a network card for the connection to the network.

Figure 2 is a more detailed and partially sectioned schematic view of a telephone terminal apparatus according to the present invention, comprising a microcomputer 20 as the data processing device. The back panel 21 thereof is shown such that the various ports thereof, such as 22, 25, 27 and 28, are clearly visible. The skilled person will understand the known ways to use the various interface ports, such as an interface for said printer, keypad, mouse, monitor, modem, network interface etc. Thus the structure and operation of the various ports is not described in more detail herein than only by an exemplary note that it is eg. possible to use so-called 9 pin serial port or 25 pin parallel port for the printers, and that it is possible to use a 6 pin round port for the mouse and that it is possible to use a port with 15 pins for the monitor. For the reasons of clarity, the other auxiliary devices than the sectioned handset 10 are not disclosed by figure 2.

The handset 10 is connected through a conductor 19 and a connector 23 at the end thereof to an normal printer port 22, which is preferably a so-called parallel interface port. It is preferred to utilize EEP port (Enhanced Parallel Port), but any other bidirectional port already in use, and preferably having a bit rate of at least 64 kbit/s, can be used herein. The handset 10 shown in figure 2 includes one microcontroller 14 operationally connected through conductors 13 and 15 to a speaker 16 and microphone 18, respectively. The microcontroller means 14 controls the operation of A/D and D/A converters arranged in connection with it.

It is to be noted that even though one microcontroller is enough, this kind of arrangement will usually require more complex programming operations. When using two microcont- rollers 12. 14 (figure 5) it is substantially simple to program one function, whereas the combining and programming of two functions such that a good simultaneous timing is achieved, is an essentially more complex task. Since the price and number of legs (eg. 18 legs) is low, two or more microcontrollers can well be used instead of one relatively big controller having eg. 40 legs.

The microcontroller 12 disposed within the housing 11 of the handset 10 includes a D/A converter, by means of which a digital signal, such as a 8 bit signal, can be converted into an audible and understandable sound to be repeated by the speaker means 16. A further microcontroller 14 includes an A/D converter, by means of which the signal coming from the microphone 18 can be converted into digitized form. The handset may also comprise a filter, whereby the incoming signal is filtered by eg. a programmable digital filter to, for instance, limit the bandwidth thereof and/or to filter the noise. Correspondingly, eg. some signal processing may occur in the handset 10 for compressing / decompressing the signal. In order to synchronize the data flow, it is preferred to connect the controllers 12 and 14 also to each other by a conductor 17 for the communications therebetween.

The power consumption of the handset means 10 according to the present invention is so low that it is possible to take the required supply voltage directly from the printer port 22, whereby a use of an additional voltage source is avoided. It is, however, possible to provide the handset with an additional voltage source if some special application, such as an alarming device within the handset, requires this.

It is to be noted that the operational connection between the handset 10 and the network card of the computer 20 can also be accomplished by a wireless connection, wherein the printer port means 22 is replaced by a port means connected operationally to the network card and including a suitable transceiver, said port means providing thus a similar connection. The suitable means of this kind are known eg. from the areas of telephony and sound reproduction, in connection with the wireless mouse or keypad, or from the area of remote controllers.

The schematic presentation of figure 3 illustrates the operation of the system according to the present invention. As shown by figure 3, the transfer of a digitized signal including sound data can be controlled in both directions by so-called interrupt driver. In the example the processor of computer 20, which is bounded by a dashed line, is shown to accomplish the following operations: the control of the signal transfer and the control of the operation of a buffering means 32. A part of these operations can also be arranged to be performed by the control electronics disposed in the handset means 10, if necessary. When compared to the prior art, this means an essential decrease in that data processing capacity of the computer 20 which needs to be reserved for the telephone traffic.

The schematic presentation discloses a specific Ethernet card as network card means 30, but it is, of course, possible to use any other suitable type of means between the data processing device 20 and the network without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Figure 4 discloses a more detailed diagram of the components and connections of the handset means 10 according to figure 3, starting from the connector 23 which comprises the IRQ and Strobe interfaces as well as D0...D7 interfaces illustrating the data bits. In the example the microcontroller 14 including the A/D controller is a per se known processor having a type coding PIC16C71. In the example such a D/A converter is used which has a type coding AD558.

It should be noted that the filter 25 disclosed in figures 3 and 4 is not always necessary, and that the filter means may also be included within the microphone 18. In addition, the electronics disposed within the handset means can be arranged to accomplish also such operations, either entirely or partially, which in the example are accomplished by a controller 30, buffering means 32 and the network card 33.

In the method according to the present invention a sound signal coming from a microphone 18 is read by an A/D converter 14' of a microcontroller 14 adapted into a handset 10, by means of which the signal is converted to a digitized signal. It is possible, but not necessary, to filter the signal by a suitable filter 25, such as by a programmable digital filter, eg. to limit the bandwidth thereof or to filter the noise. The digitized signal is transferred through an operational connection 19 to a printer port 22 of a computer 20, through which it is further transferred via a buffer 32 to a network card 33. From the network card the signal is transferred further to a telecommunications network 8 in a previously known manner.

Correspondingly, the signal coming from the network 8 is firstly received at the network card. The signal is recognized by the central processing unit of the computer 20 and directed through the buffering to the printer port 22, and further through the connector 23 and the connection 19 to a microcontroller 12 adapted within the handset 10, where the signal is converted by means of a D/A converter 12' into a sound signal to be represented by a speaker 16. It is possible to perform the D/A conversion by a D/A conversion circuit including a resistance network (a ladder) over which a reference voltage has been connected. The circuit connects resistances on/off in accordance with the state of the input bits. This results to a current which is directly proportional to the given binary digit. The current is converted into a voltage by an operational amplifier which is usually built within the D/A converter. Thus the circuit will then produce an output voltage which is proportional to the number fed in. By feeding numbers subsequently with a high speed, eg. with 125 μs intervals (8 Hz), it is possible to produce a speech sound of a telephone.

The D/A conversion can be alternatively accomplished by a PCM (Pulse Code Modulation) or a PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) techniques, in which the speech data is transferred as coded pulses. A short pulse corresponds then a small number and a long pulse corresponds to a big number. The D/A converter can be replaced by such a system if the microcontroller has a PWM output, ie. if it is capable of forming sufficiently short pulses which are proportional to the infed number. The above mentioned 125 μs cycle requires that at a value of 8 bits the resolution should be better than 0.5 μs. In practice, however, the speed requirement 1 number / 125 μs prevents the formation of pulses eg. by a simple program loop, since the time required by a controller command is about 0.5...1 μs / command. Some of the PIC series microcontrollers do have the PWM support, whereby a number can be fed eg. in 125 μs intervals to the counter of the controller to provide a desired pulse. The pulse sequence can thus be formulated into an analog form or sound in a per se simple low pass filtering, which in practice "rounds" the pulse sequence into the analog form.

In case the microphone is read by a 8 bit A/D converter, it is possible to transmit the signal to the computer 20 eg. as in a form of two four-bits nybble. The D/A converter 12' of the microcontroller 12 can in turn receive eg. a 8 bit digital signal coming from the computer 20 and convert it into a sound signal which can be represented by means of the speaker means 16. For the purposes of synchronizing the data flow it is preferred that it is possible for the controllers 12 and 14 to communicate with each other.

The printer interface or port provided in the computers is in most cases so-called parallel interface enabling bidirectional data communications. The computer is capable of writing to the printer port or reading from the printer port at a rate of about 100 000 bytes/s. In accordance with the above described preferred embodiment such a communications protocol is used, depending on the printer port, in which the same amount of bits, eg. 8 bits, is transferred parallel in both directions. Alternatively, depending on the direction, eg. 8 bits are transferred parallel outwards towards the handset means and 4 bits are transferred parallel towards the data processing device.

It is preferred to accomplish operations such as an alarm of an incoming call, number selection and various memory functions in a manner known for instance from the LAN telephone systems.

Thus a method, an arrangement and an apparatus is provided by means of the invention by which significant benefits are obtained in the area of telecommunications handled through so-called network telephones adapted in connection with computers.

It should be noted that the foregoing examples of the embodiments of the invention are not intended to restrict the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims, but that various modifications and variations obvious to the skilled person will fall within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. An example of such modification is a solution in which the speaker means are disposed in connection with a means which is physically separated from the microphone means, or a solution, in which the number selection keys are also disposed in the handset means, whereby even the dialling signal can be given through the interface port, or an arrangement in which the computer is adapted to automatically lower the volume of the other possible applications as a call initiates. A control command for this can be given by means of control means adapted in the handset means or the data processing means.

Claims

1. Method for transferring a sound in a digitized form, wherein the sound is received by a microphone means of a handset means, the received sound is converted in said handset means from analog form into digitized form, and the digitized sound signal is transferred through an operational connection to a data processing device, from which it is further transferred through an operational connection to a communications network.

2. Method for transferring a sound in a digitized form, wherein a data processing device operationally connected to a communications network receives a digitized sound signal, said digitized sound signal is further transferred through an operational connection to a handset means and is thereafter converted in said handset means into a sound signal to be represented by means of a speaker means.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said transfer of the digitized sound signal between the handset means and the data processing device is accomplished through an interface port of an auxiliary device of the data processing device, preferably through a printer port.

4. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that said transfer is accomplished through a parallel interface type port.

5. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the digitized signal is transferred both from the handset means to the data processing device and from the data processing device to the handset means, and that the digitized signal is transferred from the handset means to the data processing device in a different form as in which the digitized signal is transferred from the data processing device to the handset means.

6. A method according to any of claims 2...5, characterized in that the digitized signal is transferred in the form of coded pulses and that it is converted into a sound signal by means of low pass filtering.

7. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sound received by the speaker means is filtered by a programmable digital filter.

8. A method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sound to be transferred is speech sound of a telephone traffic.

9. An arrangement for transferring a digitized sound, said arrangement comprising a data processing device (20), means (33,34) for connecting the data processing device (20) operationally to a communications network (8), and a handset means operationally connected to the data processing device (20), in which a microphone means (18) receiving a sound signal and/or a speaker means representing a sound signal is adapted to, character i z e d in that the handset means (10) comprises at least one microcontroller means (14) for converting the sound signal received from the microphone means (18) into a digitized signal and for sending it through the operational connection (19,22,23) to the data processing device and/or for receiving a digitized signal from the data processing device tlirough the operational connection (19,22,23) and converting (12) said received digitized signal into a sound signal to be represented by the speaker means (16).

10. An arrangement according to claim 9, characterized in that the operational connection between the handset means (10) and the data processing device (20) is provided through an interface port for an auxiliary device of the data processing device, preferably through a printer port.

11. An arrangement according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the data processing device (20) further comprises control means (30) and/or programmable means for controlling the signal transfer, a buffer means (32) for buffering the signal to be transferred, and a network card means (33) for the traffic between the network (8) and the data processing device (20).

12. A handset means comprising microphone means (18) for receiving a sound and/or speaker means (16) for reproducing a sound, characterized in that it further comprises at least one microcontroller means (14) for converting a sound signal received by the microphone means (16) into digitized form to be sent to a means (20) receiving said digitized signal and/or for converting (12) a received digitized signal to a sound signal to be represented by the speaker means (16), and means (19,23) for providing an operational connection between said at least one microcontroller means (14,12) and the means (20) receiving and/or sending the digitized signal.

13. A handset means according to claim 12, characterized in that the means providing the operational connection comprise a connecter means (23) adapted to be fitted to an interface port (22) of an auxiliary device of the data processing device, preferably to a printer port providing a parallel interface.

14. A handset means according to claim 12 or 13, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it comprises at least two microcontroller means, the first microcontroller means (12) thereof being operationally connected to a D/A converter (12') for converting a digitized signal into a sound signal and the second microcontroller means (14) thereof being operationally connected to an A/D converter (14') for converting the sound signal into a digitized signal, and that a communications connection has been provided between the controller means (12, 14).

15. A handset means according to any of claims 12...14, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that it further comprises filter means (25), preferably programmable digital filter means, for filtering of the sound signal.

16. A handset means according to any of claims 12...15, c h a r a c t e r i z e d in that the required supply voltage thereof is supplied through said operational connection (19,23).