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Dual-tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signaling is used for telephone signaling over the line in the voice-frequency band to the call switching center. The version of DTMF used for telephone tone dialing is known by the trademarked term Touch-Tone, and is standardised by ITU-T Recommendation Q.23. A different version is used for signaling internal to the telephone network. DTMF is an example of a multifrequency shift keying (MFSK) system. Today DTMF is used for most call setup to the telephone exchange, at least in developed regions of the world, and trunk signalling is now done out of band using the SS7 signaling system. The in band trunk signalling tones were different from the DTMF tones known as Touch-Tone, with a two out of six code being used rather than a square matrix. See: blue box for more details on multi-frequency switching tones.
History Prior to DTMF the phone systems had used a system known as pulse or loop disconnect (LD) signalling to dial numbers, which works by rapidly disconnecting and connecting the calling party's phone line, like flicking a light switch on and off. The repeated connection and disconnection sounds like a series of clicks. The LD range was restricted for technical reasons, and placing calls over longer distances required either operator assistance or the provision of subscriber trunk dialling equipment. DTMF was developed at Bell Labs in order to allow dialing signals to dial long-distance numbers, potentially over nonwire links such as microwave links or satellites. Encoder/decoders were added at the end offices that would convert the standard pulse signals into DTMF tones and play them down the line to the remote end office. At the remote site another encoder/decoder would decode the tones and perform pulse dialing. It was as if you were connected directly to that end office, yet the signaling would work over any sort of link. This idea of using the existing network for signaling as well as the message is known as in-band signaling. It was clear even in the late 1950s when DTMF was being developed that the future of switching lay in electronic switches, as opposed to the mechanical crossbar systems then in use. In this case pulse dialing made no sense at any point in the circuit, and plans were made to roll DTMF out to end users as soon as possible. Various tests of the system occurred throughout the 1960s where DTMF became known as Touch Tone. Touch tone phones were introduced to the public at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The Touch Tone system also introduced a standardized keypad layout. After testing 18 different layouts, they eventually chose the one familiar to us today, with 1 in the upper-left and 0 at the bottom. The adding-machine layout, with 1 in the lower-left was also tried, but at that time few people used adding machines, and having the 1 at the "start" (in European language reading order) led to fewer typing errors. In retrospect, many people consider that this was a mistake. With the widespread introduction of computers and bank machines, the phone keyboard has become "oddball", causing mistakes. The engineers had also envisioned phones being used to access computers, and surveyed a number of companies to see what they would need for this role. This led to the addition of the number sign ( Public payphones that accept credit cards use these additional codes to send the information from the magnetic strip. The U.S. Military also used the letters, relabeled, in their now defunct Autovon phone system. Here they were used before dialing the phone in order to give some calls priority, cutting in over existing calls if need be. The idea was to allow important traffic to get through every time. The levels of priority available were Flash Override (A), Flash (B), Immediate (C), and Priority (D), with Flash Override being the highest priority. Pressing one of these keys gave your call priority, overriding other conversations on the network. Pressing C, Immediate, before dialing would make the switch first look for any free lines, and if all lines were in use, it would hang up any non-priority calls, and then any priority calls. Present-day uses of the A, B, C and D keys on telephone networks are few, and exclusive to network control. For example, the A key is used on some networks to cycle through different carriers at will (thereby listening in on calls). Their use is probably prohibited by most carriers. The A, B, C and D tones are used in amateur radio phone patch and repeater operations to allow, among other uses, control of the repeater while connected to an active phone line. Every modern handheld can generate these tones. DTMF tones were also used by some cable television networks to signal the local cable company to insert a local advertisement. These tones were often heard during a station ID preceding a local ad insert. Terrestrial television stations also used DTMF tones to shut off and turn on remote transmitters. Keypad The DTMF keypad is laid out in a 4×4 matrix, with each row representing a low frequency, and each column representing a high frequency. Pressing a single key such as '1' will send a sinusoidal tone of the two frequencies 697 and 1209 hertz (Hz). The two tones are the reason for calling it multifrequency. These tones are then decoded by the switching center in order to determine which key was pressed. DTMF Event Frequencies The tone frequencies, as defined by the Precise Tone Plan, are selected such that harmonics and intermodulation products will not cause an unreliable signal. No frequency is a multiple of another, the difference between any two frequencies does not equal any of the frequencies, and the sum of any two frequencies does not equal any of the frequencies. The frequencies were initially designed with a ratio of 21/19, which is slightly less than a whole tone. The frequencies may not vary more than ±1.5% from their nominal frequency, or the switching center will ignore the signal. The high frequencies may be the same volume or louder as the low frequencies when sent across the line. The loudness difference between the high and low frequencies can be as large as 3 decibels (dB) and is referred to as "twist". DTMF can be decoded using the Goertzel algorithm. Synonyms include multifrequency pulsing and multifrequency signaling. DTMF Waveform and Spectrum See also | ||||||||
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