Method and apparatus of providing audio feedback over a digital channel

DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention is a novel apparatus and method of providing the ability to audibly monitor the progress of a data connection over a digitally encoded radio channel.
The audible feedback feature is used over a digital connection such as a digital wireless link.
The base station, upon receiving the initiation of a data connection, assigns a vocoder to listen to the analog signals produced from the connection process.
The base station transmits the vocoded analog signals to the mobile unit.
The mobile unit processes the received vocoded analog signals to provide the analog signals to the mobile unit user.
Several enhancements and alternative embodiments allow an expanded use of the audible feedback feature.
For instance, the received vocoded analog signal could be routed directly to the terminal equipment.
The terminal equipment could house the decoding portion of a vocoder and a speaker.
Also, for mobile units capable of simultaneous voice and data connections, the audible feedback feature could be disabled by the user if a voice call were in progress, or the voice could be automatically paused by the receipt of the vocoded analog signal, or the voice signal and the received vocoded analog signal could be added and output as a combined signal to the user.