Multiplex communications – Special services – Conferencing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-07-13
2002-06-11
Vu, Huy D. (Department: 2664)
Multiplex communications
Special services
Conferencing
C379S900000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06404746
ABSTRACT:
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is related to the following commonly assigned, co-pending patent applications: Ser. No. 08/719,163, entitled INTERACTIVE INFORMATION TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM WITH UNIVERSAL TELEPHONY GATEWAY CAPABILITIES, by Michael Polcyn, filed Sep. 24, 1996; Ser. No. 08/846,961, entitled SWITCHLESS CALL PROCESSING, by Ellis Cave, filed Apr. 29, 1997; and Ser. No. 09/163,234, entitled INTERACTIVE INFORMATION TRANSACTION PROCESSING SYSTEM ON IP TELEPHONY PLATFORM, by Michael Polcyn, filed Sep. 29, 1998, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/719,163; all of which applications are incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates generally to a system and method for facilitating the transfer of information via an asynchronous packet network, and more particularly to a system and method for redirecting media in an asynchronous packet network.
BACKGROUND
Voice Response Units (“VRUs”) have existed in the prior art for many years, and are generally defined as robotic systems that automatically interact with one o r more persons for the exchange of information and the enhancement of communications. There are numerous enhanced services capable of being provided by a VRU, including voice messaging, automated collect calling, international callback, prepaid & postpaid calling card, store & forward, one number service, find me, follow me, 800/900 service, automated customer service, automated agents or attendants, voice activated dialing, prepaid & postpaid wireless, conferencing, and other such enhanced services.
In the prior art, synchronously switched VRUs were initially connected to the Plain Old Telephone system (“POTS”) network (i.e., the Public Switched Telephone Network (“PSTN”)) via analog interfaces. Although POTS analog connections still exist, the use of digitized voice transmissions is becoming increasingly common on the PSTN. Because of the advantages of digitized transmission, a synchronous VRU is now typically connected to the POTS network via a digital interface, as disclosed in co-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,912, entitled FULLY DIGITAL CALL PROCESSING PLATFORM, by Daniel Hammond, issued Oct. 6, 1998, which application is incorporated herein by reference. An example of such a VRU is shown in
FIG. 1
, wherein synchronous VRU
100
is digitally connected to PSTN
102
via T1 trunk
104
using a standard Integrated Services Digital Network (“ISDN”) format. Digitized voice signals transmitted over the PSTN normally consume approximately 64 Kilobits-per-second (“Kbps”) of bandwidth when digitized and encoded according to the G.711 compressed format using pulse code modulation (“PCM”) and the standard &mgr;-law or A-law logarithmic algorithms.
Generally, in the prior art, the PSTN was originally designed to be managed and controlled by a single entity, and later developed such that very few entities control the primary switches that make up the network infrastructure. Generally, because control of the network is centered inside the PSTN switches and because the PSTN switches are of a proprietary nature, very little control over the switching mechanisms is available to other entities that do not own the switches in the network. For example, each specific connection made by VRU
100
, e.g., to telephone
106
a,
generally requires its own port and a 64 Kbps channel. If the enhanced service being provided by VRU
100
requires connecting telephone
106
a
to another device external to VRU
100
, for example to telephone
106
c,
there are limited options available to VRU
100
, each with its own tradeoffs as explained below.
First, PSTN
102
may transfer a call via Release Link Trunking (“RLT”) by sending control signals to a switch in the network. For example, a calling party using telephone
106
a
may wish to call another party at telephone
106
c
using an 800 calling card service provided by VRU
100
. After the calling party enters a Card Number, personal identification number (“PIN”) and the phone number for telephone
106
c,
VRU
100
verifies the information and then connects the two parties using RLT via PSTN
102
. In using RLT, VRU
100
gives up control of the call to PSTN
102
, although VRU
100
may send the customer's card number and PIN to PSTN
102
for tracking purposes. Generally, a useful and desirable 800 calling card service feature known as call re-origination allows the calling party to disconnect from the called party and reconnect to another called party without breaking the calling party's initial connection. Typically, the calling party on telephone
106
a
may hold down the # key for more than two seconds to signal to the network the calling party's desire to make a new call, although many other signals and durations may be used. Because VRU
100
has relinquished control of the call to PSTN
102
, PSTN
102
must monitor the call for the # key dual-tone multi-frequency (“DTMF”) signal so that PSTN
102
may then reconnect the calling party on telephone
106
a
to VRU
100
. PSTN
102
also sends the customer ID and PIN back to VRU
100
so that the customer does not have to reenter this information. This approach has the advantage of freeing up the VRU ports for other callers, but it requires PSTN
102
to have an application running for tracking the customer's ID and PIN, and for monitoring the call for DTMF signals.
Second, a user such as VRU
100
may use a hook flash to request that PSTN
102
directly connect telephone
106
a
to telephone
106
c.
This also has the advantage of freeing up ports on VRU
100
, but VRU
100
permanently loses the call context. Unlike RLT, the hook flash does not allow VRU
100
to retrieve the call context from PSTN
102
. The VRU then cannot perform important call control or administrative functions such as monitoring, recording, timing, or charging for the phone call. Because the call context is lost for VRU
100
, the calling party generally must reenter the Card Number and PIN, in addition to the new destination phone number, and VRU
100
must re-verify the calling party's information. Reentering these numbers can be frustrating to customers, and consumes extra connection time and processing resources.
Alternatively, the connection between the two parties may be bridged between the telephones within VRU
100
. Internal synchronous switch
112
and another port and 64 Kbps channel are required to complete the connection to telephone
106
c.
VRU
100
does not relinquish control of the call to PSTN
102
, so VRU
100
may still perform call control and administrative functions. In addition, VRU
100
may monitor the call for DTMF signals. If in the calling party using an 800 calling card service wishes to make another call, the calling party may hold the # key for more than two seconds. VRU
100
detects this signal directly, and can disconnect the called party on one port from the calling party on the other port. Because VRU
100
maintained the call context, the calling party's Card Number and PIN do not have to be reentered and re-verified. The calling party may simply enter the new destination phone number, and VRU
100
may then set up a new connection using another port. However, this alternative requires VRU
100
to implement internal switch
112
, and uses two circuits in the network and two ports on VRU
100
, one for each party. Thus the VRU ports generally stay engaged for the entire duration of the phone call, instead of being made available for use on other phone calls. This is undesirable because unlike a simple switch, VRU ports are generally expensive resources that provide enhanced functions, such as voice recognition, DTMF detection/generation or text-to-speech conversion, for interacting with callers. Normally, the network owners would like to always keep the VRU port busy handling new calls. However, since the VRU ports ate used to access the internal switch, the VRU ports are engaged during the entire call, even though the port is idle.
In addition to internal switch
112
and e
Cave Ellis K.
El-Khoury Roland
Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
Harper Kevin C.
Intervoice Limited Partnership
Vu Huy D.
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