DATA INTERFACE CONNECTED IN LINE BETWEEN A KEYBOARD AND A KEYBOARD PORT OF A PERSONAL COMPUTER

A telecommunications data interface (24) installs in line between a PC keyboard (20) and a PC (10) and transparently transfers data between the keyboard and the PC. The keyboard has a relatively slow manual data rate at which the keyboard data are synchronously transferred into the PC by a clock line (46). Caller ID data bytes extracted from a telephone line (34, 36) are preceded by a tag byte, impressed on a keyboard data line (44), and synchronously transferred into the PC using the same clock line. Keyboard device driver software installed in the PC separates the keyboard data from the caller ID data and transfers both to appropriate locations for processing and storage. The caller ID interface substantially eliminates the data conflicts and interrupt availability problems that are possible in prior RS-232 based caller ID interfaces. Processors (50, 52) and a memory (62) in the caller ID interface provide self-testing, caller ID data processing, stand alone operation, and inbound and outbound telephone call record storage. Call records include caller ID logging, call origination date and time, and call duration timing.