Multiplex communications – Pathfinding or routing – Combined circuit switching and packet switching
Reexamination Certificate
1997-03-11
2003-04-01
Nguyen, Steven (Department: 2665)
Multiplex communications
Pathfinding or routing
Combined circuit switching and packet switching
C370S401000, C370S338000, C455S561000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06542497
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a localized installation of a gateway system, for private or limited public wireless telephone communication, with at least the interexchange portion of telephone calls via the localized wireless gateway system utilizing a public packet switched data network such as the Internet.
BACKGROUND ART
In our increasingly mobile society, there has been an ever increasing demand for mobile communications to allow a person to roam freely while making and receiving telephone calls from virtually any location. A wide range of wireless systems are in use today and more are now scheduled for near term future deployment, including cellular telephone systems (both analog and digital) and lower power portable handset type systems now commonly referred to as personal communications service (PCS) systems.
Public cellular telephone systems and the emerging low-power, digital cellular PCS systems provide a high degree of mobile communications, as subscribers roam over large geographic areas. However, such systems are expensive to deploy, and as a result, air time charges for use of such systems are high. A number of applications have been recognized where wireless communications are desirable, but implementation of a full public cellular telephone system is unnecessary. This specification refers to these more limited systems as ‘localized’ wireless or cordless telephone type communications systems.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,907 to Raith et al. discloses a wireless communication system with roaming capabilities. Each portable radio terminal can operate at a subscriber's residence as part of residential equipment, or in a commercial subscriber's business area as an extension to a PABX. When away from the normal residential or business location, however, the portable radio terminal can operate through public transceivers referred to as telepoint terminals. Each residential installation, PABX and telephone terminal connects through a telephone line or trunk to an exchange of a public switched telecommunication network (PSTN).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,231 to Hara et al. discloses a radio telephone system, which includes a base station connected to a telephone exchange and a plurality of mobile stations. The mobile stations communicate with the base station through a control channel and a number of communication channels.
Each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,965,849 and 5,014,295 to Kunihiro discloses a cordless telephone system, wherein the master station connects to two outgoing telephone lines. The master station includes a number of base transceiver units for simultaneously communicating with a number of portable wireless handsets.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,878,238 and 5,020,094 to Rash et al. describe a cordless telephone network which allows each hand-held cordless telephone unit to be used with any of a number of strategically located base units, for example located at truck stops, rest areas along interstate highways, convention centers and the like. A base unit connects via a telephone line to a conventional commercial telephone network. The base unit includes an FM transmitter, FM receiver, CPU and a telephone line interface circuit. The Rash et al. Patents mention that it would be possible to have multiple base units at one location, each one being attached to a different land line and each one operating on a cordless telephone channel.
As shown by the above description, the cordless telephone systems utilized in the prior art have all relied on an existing public telephone network to transport communications outside of the cordless telephone systems themselves. In such a situation, for example, a long distance call typically would go through a local exchange carrier to the point of presence of an interexchange carrier for routing to the area of the called party. Although fees and billing arrangements vary widely, each carrier imposes some form of charge for its handling of a portion of such a call. The long distance and international charges by the interexchange carriers, in particular, can be quite high.
Concurrent with developments in wireless communications, outlined above, attention recently has been directed to implementing a variety of communication services, including voice telephone service, over the worldwide packet switched data network now commonly known as the Internet. The Internet had its genesis in U.S. Government programs funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). That research made possible national internetworked data communication systems. This work resulted in the development of network standards as well as a set of conventions, known as protocols, for interconnecting data networks and routing information across the networks. These protocols are commonly referred to as TCP/IP. The TCP/IP protocols were originally developed for use only through ARPANET but have subsequently become widely used in the industry.
TCP/IP is flexible and robust. TCP takes care of the integrity, and IP moves the data.
Internet provides two broad types of services: connectionless packet delivery service and reliable stream transport service. The Internet basically comprises several large computer networks joined together over high-speed data links ranging from ISDN to T1, T3, FDDI, SONET, SMDS, ATM, OT1, etc. The most prominent of these national nets are MILNET (Military Network), NSFNET (National Science Foundation NETwork), and CREN (Corporation for Research and Educational Networking) In 1995, the Government Accounting Office (GAO) reported that the Internet linked 59,000 networks, 2.2 million computers and 15 million users in 92 countries. However, since then it is estimated that the number of Internet users continues to double approximately annually.
In simplified fashion the Internet may be viewed as a series of packet data switches or ‘routers’ connected together with computers connected to the routers. The Information Providers (IPs) constitute the end systems which collect and market the information through their own servers. Access providers are companies such as UUNET, PSI, MCI and SPRINT which transport the information. Such companies market the usage of their networks to the actual end users.
FIG. 5
shows a simplified diagram of the Internet and various types of systems typically connected thereto. Generally speaking the Internet consists of Autonomous Systems (AS) type packet data networks which may be owned and operated by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as PSI, UUNET, MCI, SPRINT, etc. Three such AS/ISPs appear in
FIG. 5
at
310
,
312
and
314
. The Autonomous Systems (ASs) are linked by Inter-AS Connections
311
,
313
and
315
. Information Providers (IPs)
316
and
318
, such as America Online (AOL) and Compuserve, connect to the Internet via high speed lines
320
and
322
, such as T1/T3 and the like. Information Providers generally do not have their own Internet based Autonomous Systems but have or use Dial-Up Networks such as SprintNet (X.25), DATAPAC and TYMNET.
By way of current illustration, MCI is both an ISP and an IP, SPRINT is an ISP, and the MicroSoft Network (MSN) is an IP using UUNET as its ISP. Other information providers, such as universities, are indicated in exemplary fashion at
324
and are connected to the AS/ISPs via the same type connections here illustrated as T1 lines
326
. Corporate Local Area Networks (LANs), such as those illustrated in
328
and
330
, are connected through routers
332
and
334
and high speed data links such as T1 lines
336
and
338
. Laptop computers
340
and
342
are representative of computers connected to the Internet via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and are shown connected to the AS/ISPs via dial up links
344
and
346
.
Recently, several companies have developed software for use on personal computers to permit two-way transfer of real-time voice information via an Internet data link between two personal computers, for example between PCs
340
and
342
. In one of the directions, the sending computer converts voice signals from analog t
Curry James E.
Farris Robert D.
Nguyen Steven
Rader & Fishman & Grauer, PLLC
Suchyta Leonard
Swingle Loren
Verizon Services Corp.
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