Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
1997-03-06
2001-03-20
Kizou, Hassan (Department: 2738)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C370S354000, C379S221050
Reexamination Certificate
active
06205135
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to communications equipment, and, more particularly, to telephony.
It could be argued that the Internet is the fastest growing network in the United States and around the world. Indeed, in the last couple of years use of the Internet has been extending to multimedia communications.
In this regard, current “Internet technology” supports real-time audio communications from one person to another person over the Internet. Typically, this requires at least one of these people to have a personal computer with special hardware and software. For example, International Discount Telephone (IDT), a New Jersey based company, provides a service that enables a personal computer user in one country to call a person with an ordinary telephone in another country over the Internet for a small fraction of the cost charged for calls over the traditional public-switched-telephone-network. In this service, the long distance portion of the call uses an Internet connection between the personal computer user and an IDT “access platform,” which is associated with a particular Internet Protocol address in the area of the called telephone number. This access platform is typically a high-performance computer (also known in the art as a “server”). The IDT access platform completes the telephone call to the called party via a plain-old-telephone-service call. Once established, real-time audio communications across the Internet typically uses compressed audio packets since the Internet is a packet-switched communications network. In the IDT approach only the calling party is required to have a personal computer with associated hardware and software that supports multimedia communications over the Internet.
The significant cost reduction with the use of the Internet for long distance telephone communications comes at the expense of lowered quality and reliability. However, this trade-off is acceptable to many users, particularly for overseas callers, who pay very high per minute charges (compared to domestic charges). As the technology advances and the Internet bandwidth capacity increases, it is expected that the quality and reliability of such a Internet-based telephone call should improve.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Notwithstanding that the quality and reliability of an Internet-based telephone call through a dedicated Internet access platform may, eventually, improve, we have realized that it is advantageous to develop an access platform that provides different grades-of-service using either Internet-type connections or traditional long distance carrier connections in establishing long distance communications for a user.
In an embodiment of the invention, an access platform is coupled to the Internet, a local-exchange-carrier (LEC), and other communications facilities such as, but not limited to, a plurality of long-distance facilities provided by any one of a number of long distance carriers, e.g., AT&T. This access platform is referred to herein as the “alternate access platform” and provides a user with alternative ways of routing a call such as a long distance telephone call. Access to the alternate access platform occurs in any one of a number of ways. For example, a user, or calling party, establishes an Internet-type connection to the alternate access platform, or dials into the alternate access platform via a local plain-old-telephone-service call. Independent of the access method, the alternate access platform selects a communications facility for routing the call as a function of a “call profile” associated with the calling party. This “call profile” uses any one of a number of parameters to determine routing such as called party, cost, quality, reliability, time-of-day, etc. For example, using the “call profile,” the alternate access platform establishes telephone calls to a predefined business location over a long distance facility to assure quality, while all other telephone calls are first attempted via the Internet, which albeit of perhaps lower quality are typically cheaper. This “call profile” is either determined by the user on a call-by-call basis, or is separately administered by the user.
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Chinni Venkata Ramana
Gudapati Krishna
Lor Kar-Wing Edward
Kizou Hassan
Lucent Technologies Inc
Opalach Joseph J.
Pezzlo John
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