Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-11
2002-11-26
Kizou, Hassan (Department: 2738)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C375S222000, C379S093340
Reexamination Certificate
active
06487197
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved wireline (also referred to as circuit) communications system and in particular to wireline communications utilizing packet based telecommunication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Going “off-hook” is a term in the telecommunications industry that refers to lifting the telephone handset, or the equivalent, from its cradle. A hookswitch, in the handset, alerts a local central office that the user wants to dial a number. The central office then provides a dial tone to the handset. The user dials or enters numbers that correspond to the telephone number to which the user wishes to connect.
Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (“DTMF”) is a term describing push button dialing. When a button on a telephone button pad is touched, a tone (combining two frequencies) is generated. Dialing, or pushing, a telephone number generates a combination of frequencies that the central office interprets as a telephone number. The central office routes the call to the target phone number.
A data call, generated by a modem, is accomplished in much the same way: a) the modem goes off-hook, b) the central office provides a dial tone, c) the modem automatically dials a phone number, d) the central office routes the call to the target number, e) the modem makes a connection with a digital communications device at the target number and f) communications between digital communication devices begins.
A majority of connections made to a telephone service provider are voice connections. A dial tone is provided to an off-hook communications device regardless of the type of device, voice or data. If the device is a analog voice communication device, the tone is a signal that the device is connected with the local switch. The switch provides connection to the target telephone number.
Digital communication with sites on the Internet, or World Wide Web (WWW, a convention for linking together text documents, interactive programs and images over the Internet), is becoming a significant portion of circuit communications. Internet addresses and links, utilizing HyperText Markup Language (HTML) provide the navigation means between sites on the internet. The communications protocol employed by the internet via telecommunication devices is Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). TCP/IP, a known packet based protocol, breaks a transmission into information packets and sends the packets to other addresses on the Internet or on an intranet. An intranet, as opposed to the Internet, provides a method of distributing information between different personal computers (PC) within a company on a limited scale, i.e., a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN).
In the wireline world (wireline is also referred to as circuit), Internet and data communications, in general, bypass the wireline switch and revenues are siphoned off to other service providers, limiting the role of local telephone companies (telcos) to access providers. A telco, or access provider, typically provides a subscriber a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that, in turn, connects to the global Internet. A new type of ISP, cable television, has emerged that provides extremely fast connections to the Internet. This service with its broad bandwidth capability is able to provide very good voice over Internet Protocol transmissions, which will reduce the cost of long distance calls and provide equivalent voice quality. Thus, the future of most long distance data and voice communication is directed at the Internet.
Access to the Internet is generally accomplished by a browser operating on a computer, via modem, through wireline services. A user (also, subscriber) activates a browser, which connects through a modem to dial up an ISP. Connection is made through a local telephone company switch via circuit (wires) to an Internet gateway, in this example an ISP. A modem at the ISP connects with the user's modem and routes/connects the user's computer to the Internet.
An ISP usually has many incoming telephone lines and more customers than telephone lines. Wireline, or circuit, service charges to the ISP are typically based on the number of lines and type of service provided. ISPs commonly charge flat monthly rates that are relatively cheap compared with an equivalent amount of time spent on a voice call. With the advent of Internet telephony, long distance phone calls (voice or analog, not just data) are also being made through the ISP, bypassing the traditional long distance carrier.
Voice networks, including long distance, are generally designed on the proposition that there will be about 10% residential and 20% simultaneous business usage. An average voice call length is generally three minutes. In a study, by Bellcore™ (Bell Communications Research of Morristown, N.J.), the average connect time for an Internet call (data) was 20 minutes and some calls lasted more than 24 hours. According to Bellcore's estimates, the cost to the telephone companies (telco) of moving Internet traffic over the voice network may exceed one billion dollars.
As discussed previously TCP/IP is a packet based protocol and is primarily utilized to transmit data communications. TCP/IP is the communications protocol of the Internet and is the most accepted networking protocol available. Referring to
FIG. 4
, a block diagram demonstrating a known connection procedure to a packet based communication system, is illustrated. Terminal
400
may be a regular circuit connected telephone, a fax or a modem. Terminal
400
, when it goes off-hook, sends an offhook signal to Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM)
402
. A function of DSLAM
402
is to recognize and separate voice transmissions from data transmissions and route each to networks that are optimized to support them. Switch
404
is a digital switch within a Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) and switch
404
sends a dial tone to terminal
400
as soon as it receives the offhook signal from DSLAM
402
. In this instance, DSLAM
402
receives and transmits DTMF tones dialed by terminal
400
to digital switch
404
. DSLAM
402
recognizes DTMF tones and if the tones are associated with an ISP (not shown), switch
404
connects terminal
400
, via DSLAM
402
, directly to modem pool
406
. Modem pool
406
makes connection with a server within the ISP and initiates a data communication session with server
408
, within the ISP. Server
408
communicates with terminal
400
until receiving a termination request from
400
. Server
408
then sends an acknowledge signal to terminal
400
which then sends an onhook signal to DSLAM
402
. DSLAM
402
passes the onhook signal to digital switch
404
, and releases the connection from DSLAM
402
to modem pool
406
.
If DSLAM
402
does not recognize the received tones as a telephone number for an ISP, digital switch
404
sends a ringback signal to terminal
400
, connecting the terminal to the dialed number via the Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) and a voice connection is made. The communications session initiated between terminal
400
and the dialed number continues until terminal
400
goes onhook. This action sends an onhook signal to DSLAM
402
which in turn passes the signal to digital switch
404
and the connection between terminal
400
and the dialed number is ended.
Referring now to
FIG. 6
, a known system for accessing the Internet via voice and multimedia terminal is illustrated. In this instance, multimedia terminal
602
connects with DSLAM
604
via wireline means. DSLAM
604
routes a transmission from terminal
602
via modem pool
606
which seeks a data communications session with, in this instance, ISP
612
. ISP
612
then makes connection to either internal intranet servers
613
or provides a portal to the Internet
614
and routes the transmission accordingly. Alternatively, if the call were a voice call, the call would be routed through DSLAM
604
via voice circuit (wires) and through digital switches in central of
Bracewell & Patterson L.L.P.
Crane John D.
Nortel Networks Limited
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