[Technical Field] The present invention relates to a desktop box for integrating a phone function and a Personal Computer (PC) function, and more particularly to a desktop box for integrating a phone function and a PC function, which conducts the phone function using a network according to a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), and conducts the PC function by allowing a user to remotely control a PC located at a remote site using a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

[Background Art] Typically, the most important device for office workers has been considered to be a telephone. However, at present, most office tasks are carried out by PCs, such that PCs have indispensable office devices. Therefore, a plurality of external devices are additionally placed on a worker's desk on which only the telephone was placed in the past, such that they occupy a large area on the desk. A plurality of cables, for example, a phone cable, a PC power cable, and a network connection cable, etc., are additionally connected to the desk whereas only the phone cable has conventionally been connected to the desk, resulting in a complicated wiring system. Because the PC is considered to be one of the requisite basic instruments of the office environment, most employers must additionally purchase PCs for their employees, must periodically upgrade software of the PCs, and must purchase a plurality of software programs for each employee, resulting in increased management costs. Also, if any individual user PC is infected with a virus or is hacked, other PCs may also be infected or hacked, such that a security program for preventing PCs from being infected or hacked must be installed in each PC.

[Disclosure] [Technical Problem] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a desktop box for integrating a phone function and a PC function, which implements a phone function and a PC function in the form of a phone-sized box to minimize the area occupied by a phone and a PC, and integrates a phone cable and an Internet connection cable in one cable to simplify a wiring system inside an office. It is another object of the present invention to provide a desktop box for integrating a phone function and a PC function, which allows a small number of PCs to be shared by a plurality of users, such that upgrade costs of PCs and purchase costs of PCs or programs are greatly reduced. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a desktop box for integrating a phone function and a PC function, which allows a small number of PCs to be shared by a plurality of users, such that PC security and management operations are facilitated and a process for preventing PCs from being infected with a virus is also facilitated. The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned objects, and those skilled in the art may clearly understand other objects other than the above- mentioned objects from the following description.

[Technical Solution] In accordance with the present invention, the above and other objects can be accomplished by the provision of a desktop box apparatus for integrating a phone function and a Personal Computer (PC) function, comprising: a handset for transmitting a voice signal of a user to a called party, and transmitting a voice signal of the called party to the user; an Input/Output (I/O) module for transmitting/receiving information to/from PC peripheral devices, which receive a signal from the user and display the result of the received user-entry signal for the user; a memory including a chip in which a Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) for implementing a phone function using the handset and a Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) for implementing a PC function using the I/O module are contained; a control module for controlling information I/O operations associated with the handset and the I/O module and information transmission/reception operations associated with a network according to the VOIP and the RDP stored in the memory; and a network module for transmitting information required for using a phone or a common PC to the network or receiving the same information from the network according to a control signal of the control module. Preferably, the desktop box apparatus further includes a numerical keypad for allowing the user to enter a phone number of the called party in the VOIP stored in the memory. Preferably, the chip contained in the memory includes a VOIP client module and an RDP client module based on Embedded Linux.

[Advantageous Effects] The above-mentioned desktop box of the present invention has the following effects. Firstly, the desktop box according to the present invention implements a phone function and a PC function in the form of a phone-sized small box to minimize the size of an area occupied by a phone and a PC, and integrates a phone cable and an Internet connection cable in one cable to simplify a wiring system inside an office. Secondly, the desktop box according to the present invention allows a small number of PCs to be shared by a plurality of users, such that upgrade costs of PCs and purchase costs of PCs or programs are greatly reduced. Thirdly, the desktop box according to the present invention allows a small number of PCs to be shared by a plurality of users, such that PC security and management operations are facilitated and a process for preventing PCs from being infected with a virus is also facilitated.

[Description of Drawings] The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a desktop box according to the present invention; and Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system including a desktop box according to the present invention.

[Mode for Invention] Fig. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a desktop box according to the present invention. Referring to Fig. 1, the desktop box includes a memory 110, a network module 120, an Input/Output (I/O) module 130, a handset 140, a numerical keypad 150, and a control module 160. The memory 110 is generally comprised of a Read Only Memory (ROM) made of a nonvolatile memory and a Random Access Memory (RAM) made of a volatile memory. The ROM is indicative of a non-volatile memory, which retains stored information even when the desktop box is powered off, and includes a specific chip including embedded Linux in which a VOIP client and an RDP client are implemented in a Linux environment. The RAM is indicative of a volatile memory, wherein stored information is lost when the desktop box is powered off, and serves as a working area capable of temporarily storing information generated when a program is executed. VOIP is indicative of an Internet application technology based on an IP address, which compresses a voice signa, and transmits packetized voice data over a network, resulting in the implementation of a phone function. The RDP has been designed to provide Windows application programs with remote display/input functions over a network. In this case, the remote display/input functions are called a remote desktop function. The RDP is operated in all TCP/ICP connections, for example, a LAN, a WAN, an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), and a VPN (Virtual Private Network), etc. The remote desktop function can be easily operated even in the case of a low transmission bandwidth, because all the application programs are contained and executed in a terminal server. In more detail, information transferred over the network is composed of input information entered by a keyboard or mouse and display information indicative of status and result information of application programs, the remote desktop function can be easily operated under low transmission bandwidth conditions. For example, the remote desktop function can allow a user to access his office computer at home, such that the user can freely access all of application programs, files, and network resources stored in the office computer as if the user were in their office. VOIP and RDP technologies are based on the same Internet protocol, and are capable of being implemented in the Linux environment. The reason why the present invention utilizes Linux is that Linux is open-source software such that it can implement a desired chip composed of only necessary components. However, it should be noted that the desired chip can also be implemented by Windows systems or other Operating Systems (OSs) instead of the above- mentioned Linux. The network module 120 allows the control module 160 to be connected with an external network, such that a user can make a telephone call with a called party by accessing a telephone network over a VOIP gateway or can use a PC function by accessing a common PC. For example, a LAN card or a MODEM is adapted as the network module 120. The I/O module 130 allows the control module 160 to transmit information to PC peripheral devices, or allows the control module 160 to receive the information from the PC peripheral devices. The I/O module 130 includes a VGA module for displaying data on a monitor 200, a keyboard module for receiving data from a keyboard 300, a mouse module for receiving data from a mouse 400, and a sound module for allowing a speaker 500 to output audible sound. The handset 140 is generally required when the user uses the phone function, and may also be replaced with any one of general handsets. The numerical keypad 150 is adapted to allow the user to enter a desired phone number, and may also be replaced with a number pad of the keyboard 300 acting as an external device. The control module 160 controls the information flow between the above- mentioned components and operations of individual components, and can execute a program stored in the memory 110. Fig. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a system including a desktop box according to the present invention. Referring to Fig. 2, the system including the desktop box includes a desktop box 100, a monitor 200, a keyboard 300, a mouse 400, a speaker 500, a VOIP gateway 600, and a common PC 700. The above-mentioned desktop box 100 according to the present invention includes a main memory 100 and a control module 150 in a main body. The network module 120 and the I/O module 130 are partially protruded in the desktop box 100, such that cables necessary for individual modules can be easily connected to the desktop box 100. Also, a handset 140 and a numerical keypad 150 are placed on the top of the main body. In the case of using the PC function, the monitor 200 receives application program process or result data from the I/O module 130 from the desktop box 100, and displays the received data thereon. In the case of using the PC function, the keyboard 300 and the mouse 400 transmit user-selected application program category information or user-desired information to the I/O module 130. Upon receiving acoustic information from the I/O module of the desktop box 100, the speaker 500 converts the received acoustic information into sound, and outputs the sound. The VOIP gateway 600 converts a voice signal received over a telephone network into a digital signal suitable for the Internet, compresses the digital signal, and transmits the compressed digital signal to an IP address indicative of a destination of the voice signal. The VOIP gateway 600 converts the digital signal received from the Internet into the voice signal, and transmits the voice signal to a specific phone designated by the digital signal. The common PC 700 indicative of a PC capable of substantially performing the PC function is indicative of at least one PC including an OS capable of executing the RDP. Detailed operations of the above-mentioned modules will hereinafter be described. If a user picks up the handset 140 of the desktop box 100 to make a telephone call with a called party, and enters a phone number of the called party using the numerical keypad 150 or the keyboard 300, the control module 160 accesses the telephone network according to a VOIP such that it can access a phone of the called party. Thereafter, the control module 160 converts a user's voice signal received from the handset 140 according to the VOIP of the memory 100 during the telephone call between the user and the called party into a digital signal, compresses the digital signal, forms a packetized digital signal, and transmits the packetized digital signal to the VOIP gateway 600 over the network module 120. The VOIP gateway 600 converts received voice data into other data suitable for the telephone network, transmits the converted data to a called party's phone number entered by either the keypad 150 or the keyboard 300, converts voice data received from the telephone network into a digital signal, compresses the digital signal, and forms a packetized digital signal, such that it transmits the packetized digital signal to the network module 120 of the desktop box 100. The control module 160 converts the called party's signal received over the network module 120 into an analog voice signal according to the VOIP of the memory 110, and transmits the analog voice signal to the handset 140, such that a phone call between the user and the called party can be established. If the user enters desired information using the keyboard 300 or the mouse 400 to use PC application programs, the control module transmits information received from the I/O module 130 according to the RDP of the memory 110 to the common PC 700 over the network module 130. The common PC 700 executes a program according to information entered by the RDP. According to the execution result of the program, the common PC 700 transmits necessary display information and acoustic information required when the executed program is indicative of a program requiring an acoustic signal to the desktop box 100. The control module 160 displays information received over the network module 130 on the monitor 200 using the I/O module 130. When acoustic information is present, the control module 160 outputs an acoustic signal to the speaker 500. Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.