Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-10
2004-07-06
Nguyen, Steven H.D (Department: 2665)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C370S401000, C379S121040
Reexamination Certificate
active
06760324
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to voice over the Internet technology.
2. Related Art
a. Voice over the Internet
Worldwide deregulation and packet-switched technology have brought dramatic changes to the telecommunications industry. Voice communication over packet-switched networks, such as, the Internet, is now in demand. Voice Over the Internet technology is now available which integrates a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and the Internet. Voice over the Internet technology is also referred to as, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Voice over Network (VON), Internet Telephony, and Telephony over the Internet. See, e.g., G. Held,
Voice over Data Networks
, Mc-Graw-Hill Series on Computer Communications (McGraw-Hill Publ.: 1998), entire book; and T. Sheldon,
Encyclopedia of Networking
, Electronic Edition, (Mcgraw-Hill Publ.: 1998), pp. 1047-1050. Both of these references are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference. A PSTN is also referred to as a plain old telephone system (POTS). A PSTN can include transmission components (links), switching components (nodes), and billing facilities. See, e.g., Held, chapter 4, “Understanding Voice” and chapter 5, “Telephone Operations,” and Sheldon at pp. 959-968. The Internet can be any network or combination of networks that support packet-switching. Such a network can include, but is not limited to, a network supporting the Internet Protocol (IP) and related protocols. See, e.g., Held, chapter 2, “IP and Related Protocols,” and Sheldon, pp. 503-543.
VoIP systems allow a call originating from a PSTN to be carried over the Internet. In this way, voice traffic can be carried over the Internet bypassing more expensive long-distance carriers. For example, Toll Bypass Carrier services, multi-site corporations, and other users use VoIP systems to reduce the cost of long distance telephone calls to a fraction of one cent per minute.
Vendors provide a product or family of products to support VoIP. For example, Array Telecom Corp. of Herndon, Va., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Comdial Company, has provided an early generation of products that provide a multi-location, turn-key solution to VoIP (Array Tel Series 1000 and 2000, also called versions 1 and 2). See also B. McConnell,
How to Build an Internet PBX
, http://www.hellodirect.net/tutorial/ip-phone.htm, downloaded Aug. 16, 1999.
b. How Voice over IP Telephony Works
A VoIP system typically relies on gateways to provide an interface between PSTN and IP networks.
FIGS. 1A and 1B
illustrate how a call is placed over the Internet. As shown in
FIG. 1A
, a user calls picks up a telephone
100
and dials a phone number of a phone
140
. The called party at phone
140
answers. A connection is then established through gateways
110
and
130
over IP network
120
. Voice, fax, and data transmission is then carried out between phones
110
and
140
through this connection. In this way, an expensive long-distance carrier on a PSTN can be bypassed.
FIG. 1B
shows the operation of a conventional VoIP system in greater detail. A local PBX (private branch exchange) system
105
places a call originating from phone
100
over a PSTN to a local originating gateway
110
. Note gateways
110
and
130
are referred to herein as originating and destination gateways for convenience only. In practice, full-duplex communication is carried out and either phone can originate or receive a call. Also, PBX system
105
is programmed to automatically (and selectively) route certain calls from phone
100
to gateway
110
. In this way, a user can dial the destination phone number directly in one step. Alternatively, if no PBX or other special preconfiguration at a local exchange carrier (LEC) is performed, a two step process is used where a user calls gateway
110
directly and then in response to a prompt from gateway
110
enters the destination phone number of phone
140
.
Next, gateway
110
contacts destination gateway
130
over IP network
120
. Destination gateway
130
dials the destination phone number over a PSTN line to the destination phone
140
. Gateway
110
then packetizes the voice stream from the PSTN and routes it over IP network
120
to gateway
130
. Destination gateway
130
converts the data packets into a voice stream and sends it over a PSTN line to the called party at phone
140
. By strategically locating gateways, such as gateways
110
and
130
, in desired calling areas long-distance costs are substantially reduced. Indeed, a long-distance call is essentially replaced by two local phone calls and a low cost IP connection.
c. Shortcomings
Even though VoIP has created an enormous enthusiasm, the implementation and success of VoIP networks has been hindered due to at least following four (4) major shortcomings:
voice jitter caused by unpredictable bottlenecks of the Internet;
unacceptable voice quality due to poor compression techniques;
absence of advanced applications to offer services such as prepaid calling or carrier class global call routing; and
absence of switching functions such as trunk-to-trunk connections and PBX interfaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A method, system, and computer program product that provides voice over the Internet communication. In one embodiment, the present invention is a VoIP system that includes a gateway server, a routing server, and a database server. The gateway server handles calls received from a public switched telephone network and a packet-switched network. Messages can be sent between the gateway server, routing server, and database server over the packet-switched network.
In addition, a provisioning system is coupled to the database server. A management system is also coupled to the gateway server, routing server, and database server, over the packet-switched network.
According to one feature, a network manager automatically queries a client database to determine an update, and sends a message representative of the update to at least one of the gateway server, routing server, database server, and management system over the packet-switched network.
According to another feature of the present invention, a licensing server is used to support licensing of the VoIP system.
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Cheng Anita
Ho Simon
Irimescu George
Scott Mark
Voineag Dorel
Array Telecom Corporation
Nguyen Phuongchau Ba
Nguyen Steven H.D
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