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Skype Ringer

Well, since I recently have DTMF on the brain...
I guess you could make a skype ring tone of a couple of DTMF tones (touch tones), then get a tone decoder that clicks a relay whenever it hears that tone sequence. It would work, but it wouldn't be very cheap.
 
Ok, Ok! You have peaked my interest! I got to thinking, you could use the RS232 Serial COM Port on the back of the computer to control a relay. I was searching around and found this circuit http://stats.the-abbeys.com/blog/images/SerialSwitch.JPG the electronics part of it looks pretty straight forward. The DTR pin goes to +12 when active and to -12 when inactive. Put that signal into a solid state relay and you can control your ringer light.

However, I have no idea how to get the Skype ringer to trigger the serial port. That might require someone smarter than me.
 
Skype offer a programmer's API that allows a developer to write a program that can send/receive commands on a Skype system. You can use Delphi, VBScript, Visual Basic or .NET. It would be quite simple to grab the CallStatus event to trigger a flip-flop timer to pulse DTR line.
http://developer.skype.com/

The little app could sit in the SystemTray of the Skype machine and essentially be transparent to the user.
 
I Googled around a bit in hopes I could find where someone published instructions on how to attach an external Skype ringer to your computer. I did find that there are cordless phones available. But here is one that may be as economical as any ready-to-go kit as you will find:

[url]http://www.telcom-data.com/products/Audio910.aspx [/url]

I didn't go looking for the best price. Drawback on this one: 33 feet of coverage.

I did find one connector box that hooks to your computer and then lets you connect standard home land-line phones into the box.

Happy searching.
 
Charlie said:
Skype offer a programmer's API that allows a developer to write a program that can send/receive commands on a Skype system. You can use Delphi, VBScript, Visual Basic or .NET. It would be quite simple to grab the CallStatus event to trigger a flip-flop timer to pulse DTR line.
http://developer.skype.com/

The little app could sit in the SystemTray of the Skype machine and essentially be transparent to the user.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a good project, Charlie. Hint, hint.
 
Lazy J said:
Ok, Ok! You have peaked my interest! I got to thinking, you could use the RS232 Serial COM Port on the back of the computer to control a relay. I was searching around and found this circuit http://stats.the-abbeys.com/blog/images/SerialSwitch.JPG the electronics part of it looks pretty straight forward. The DTR pin goes to +12 when active and to -12 when inactive. Put that signal into a solid state relay and you can control your ringer light.

However, I have no idea how to get the Skype ringer to trigger the serial port. That might require someone smarter than me.
Click to expand...
You can do the same on the parallel port. However, many new computers do not have serial or parallel printer ports. It's USB or nothing. There are IO cards available if you have a spare slot. The real trick is getting Charlie to write the code. :)

Does anyone know of a sound level detector that could be used to interface with a light? It would be pretty trivial to build one with an op-amp and a comparator, but I'm not into making printed circuit boards any more. Maybe a silence detector in reverse would do the trick.
 
(I would edit my prior post rather than create a new one, but the board software does not permit me to do so.)

I may have figured out a solution. It is possible to add a custom ringing tone. So, if I make a single tone ring file, say 400Hz or DTMF, and then put an appropriate detector on the output, I may be able to create a visual ring detector. The audio would need to be picked off pre-fader as the audio would be potted down when the call is not active.

So, where's a cheap DTMF decoder, maybe even a kit?
 
Have you considered searching aftermarket equipment for handicapped persons? Could be a unit with a contact closure available for a light bulb or some other signalling device that hooks up to a computer via usb/serial/parallel. Maybe even Skype has a solution for hearing impaired persons. Just a thought.
 
pellmell said:
I may have figured out a solution. It is possible to add a custom ringing tone. So, if I make a single tone ring file, say 400Hz or DTMF, and then put an appropriate detector on the output, I may be able to create a visual ring detector. The audio would need to be picked off pre-fader as the audio would be potted down when the call is not active.

So, where's a cheap DTMF decoder, maybe even a kit?
Click to expand...

Hey..! That's a great idea! I just recently installed a couple of Broadcast Tools DTD tone decoders and they work great. They have 4 relays that you can program to trigger when they see a certain DTMF tone sequence. Just get a 12v light and run one side of the power through one of the relays.

Of course, $169 for the decoder is a lot just to turn on a light....   :(

Oh, and BTW, you can buy a USB to Serial cable for $10 and add a serial port to almost any computer. I would love to see a solution to this problem that uses the serial port, that would be cool. Could be very useful elsewhere.....
 
pellmell said:
Sounds like a good project, Charlie. Hint, hint.
Click to expand...

I had a quick look - but couldn't get the Call Status Event to work. Outgoing actions (call/chat etc) worked but I wasn't getting any response back from the Skype system.

I'll have another go during the week. Whatever I come up with, it'll be free :)
 
I believe I have totally nailed the problem of having a Skype ringer, particularly for podcasters. The solution is as I described above. The output of the computer with Skype will by fed to a DTMF decoder that will provide a switch to ground to light a light for three seconds after it detects a DTMF signal. That DTMF signal will be set as the ring tone for incoming Skype calls. When the light rings, the host answers the call and pots the caller up. The great part is that the solution may be very cheap.

A company is modifying one of their standard DTMF decoder products for me to test. It should be here in about a week. If it works as planned, I'll post his contact information, and you can buy it where I'm buying it.

If you're NOT using Skype-to-Skype when possible for on-air calls, you're missing a lot of quality. All you need is a computer and a mix-minus. Sweet.
 
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