Inmate calling system with geographic redundancy
AssigneeGlobal Tel*Link Corporation
InventorStephen L. HODGE
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A geographically redundant inmate calling system is described. The geographically redundant inmate calling system includes two or more session border controllers that share session state information and provide for automatic failover in the event of the loss of availability of one session border controller. The geographically redundant inmate calling system eliminates any single point of failure such that communication services are highly available to inmates.
Claims20
An inmate calling system for providing a call session to an inmate at an inmate facility, the inmate calling system comprising:
- a first session border controller disposed within a first datacenter at a first location;
- a second session border controller disposed within a second datacenter at a second location remote from the first location;
- and
- an automatic failover mechanism configured to cause a calling client to automatically fail over from the first session border controller to the second session border controller in response to the first session border controller becoming unavailable to the client;
- wherein both the first session border controller and the second session border controller are able to communicate with the calling client.
A method for communications failover in an internet protocol client located at an inmate facility between a first session border controller and a second session border controller remotely located from the first session border controller, the method comprising:
- establishing a communication session between the internet protocol client and the first session border controller;
- in the internet protocol client located at the inmate facility, detecting a loss of communication with the first session border controller;
- in response to the detecting a loss of communication with the first session border controller in the internet protocol client located at the inmate facility, establishing communication with the second session border controller remotely located from the first session border controller;
- and
- continuing the communication session between the internet protocol client located at the inmate facility and the second session border controller.
A method of sharing data between a first session border controller providing a call session to an inmate of an inmate facility utilizing a voice over internet protocol (“VOIP”) client and a second session border controller, the method comprising:
- receiving at the first session border controller a request from the VOIP client;
- the first session border controller transmitting a copy of the request to the second session border controller;
- receiving an acknowledgement from the second session border controller that the copy of the request was received;
- processing the request at the first session border controller to produce a response;
- the first session border controller transmitting a copy of the response to the second session border controller;
- receiving an acknowledgement from the second session border controller that the copy of the response was received;
- transmitting the response to the voice over internet protocol client.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.