US 6,157,648 A · Network session management

Abstract

A communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks, such as a telephone network and the Internet, which are connectable to terminals, such as telephones and computers, for selective communication therebetween. The communication system includes a directory object in the packet switched network, multiple gateways between the circuit switched and packet switched networks providing controlled connectivity between those networks, and an interface between the directory object and the gateways. The directory object is preferably provided in hierarchical architecture as a unitary logical object having distributed instances. In addition to the customary address translation capability the directory object polls or communicates with the gateways through the additional interface and provides an intelligent routing function. The directory object is of an enhanced type with access to a storage of customer routing and handling selections. It includes routing algorithms for determining best routing based on customer prescribed parameters, and also based on provider parameters in the absence of customer preferences. Reservability of communication paths and/or bandwidth may be provided. The system architecture and methodology permits provision of specified bandwidth either on a subscribed basis or on point of call demand. Terminal to terminal communication paths of specified parameters may be reserved in advance.

Claims38

Dependent claims

A communication system providing telephony communication comprising:

circuit switched and packet switched networks connectable to terminals for selective communication between said terminals,
a directory object interfaced with the packet switched network, and
a plurality of gateway objects interfaced with the packet switched network and capable of communication with the directory object, which gateway objects provide selectable controlled hop-off connectivity for telephone communications between the circuit switched and packet switched networks,
wherein responsive to a request for information for establishment of a communication path for a telephone communication, said directory object:
communicates with at least one of a group of the gateway objects that are potentially capable of providing a hop-off to reach an intended destination, to obtain information regarding substantially immediate availability of a resource to handle the telephone communication through the at least one gateway object to the circuit switched network, and
transmits a response to said request identifying a selected one of the group of gateway objects for providing the hop-off to reach the intended destination, wherein the selection of the one gateway object by the directory object is based at least in part on the substantially immediate availability of the resource to handle the telephone communication at the at least one gateway object.

3 more elements

In a communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks connectable to terminals for selective communication between said terminals, and having a directory object interfaced with the packet switched network and having a plurality of gateway objects, which gateway objects provide selectable controlled connectivity for telephony communication between said circuit switched and packet switched networks, a method comprising the steps of:

receiving in said directory object a request for an address of a hop-off gateway object for establishing a telephony communication path at least partially through said packet switched network to a specified destination terminal;
identifying a group of the gateway objects potentially capable of providing a hop-off from the packet switched network to the circuit switched network to reach the specified destination terminal;
communicating with at least one of the gateway objects of the group and obtaining information therefrom regarding respective status of the at least one gateway object, wherein the obtained status information comprises status of availability of a port to the circuit switched network on each gateway object of the group;
selecting an optimum one of the gateway objects in the group based at least in part on the obtained status information regarding port availability;
and
transmitting from said directory object a response through said packet switched network, the response comprising an address of the selected gateway object for use in establishing a telephony communication path through said packet switched and circuit switched networks via the selected gateway object.

3 more elements

A method of communicating across a circuit switched network and a packet switched network connected by a plurality of gateway objects comprising the steps of:

transmitting to a directory object in said packet switched network a request for an address of a gateway object to establish a communication path between an identified requesting terminal and an identified destination terminal, said request including a parameter specifying the desired quality of service through the packet switched network comprising a guarantee of connection;
communicating between said directory object and a plurality of said gateway objects to determine a resource status relating to availability of connection to the circuit switched network at each of the plurality of gateway objects;
selecting one gateway, through which said desired quality of service may be satisfied, from the plurality of gateway objects, based at least in part on the resource status relating to availability of connection of each of the plurality of gateway objects;
transmitting an address of the selected gateway object to the identified requesting terminal;
and
establishing a communication path between the identified requesting terminal and said destination terminal which satisfies the desired quality of service through the selected gateway object.

3 more elements

A directory object comprising:

a programmable processor;
a memory, coupled to the processor, for storing translations;
a network interface, coupled to the programmable processor, for enabling the directory object to send and receive messages via a packet switched network;
and
a program comprising code for execution by the processor, wherein execution of the program by the processor causes the directory object to:
receive from an originating device a message requesting a translation to identify a telephony gateway from among a plurality of telephony gateways coupled between the packet switched network and a circuit switched telephone network, the request message comprising an identification of an intended destination;
access a translation in the memory to identify a group of the telephony gateways that may provide hop-off service from the packet switched network for telephony communication through the circuit switched telephone network to the intended destination;
launch a query through the packet switched network to each telephony gateway in the group requesting status as to substantially immediate availability of a resource of each respective telephony gateway for handling a telephone communication to the circuit switched telephone network;
receive a response through the packet switched network from at least one telephony gateway in the group containing information regarding availability status of the requested resource for handling the telephone communication;
select one telephony gateway from the group based at least in part on the received information regarding availability status of the requested resource for handling the telephone communication;
and
transmit a response message to the originating device, the response message comprising routing information for initiating the telephone communication via the selected telephony gateway through the packet switched network.

9 more elements

A software product, comprising:

a computer readable medium;
and
a set of executable instructions contained on the medium for execution by a directory server computer system coupled to send and receive messages via a packet switched network, wherein execution of the instructions by the directory server computer system causes the directory server computer system to perform the following steps:
receive from an originating device a message requesting a translation to identify a telephony gateway from among a plurality of telephony gateways coupled between the packet switched network and a circuit switched telephone network, the request message comprising an identification of an intended destination;
access a translation in memory associated with the directory server computer system to identify a group of the telephony gateways that may provide hop-off service from the packet switched network for telephony communication through the circuit switched telephone network to the intended destination;
launch a query through the packet switched network to each telephony gateway in the group requesting status as to substantially immediate availability of a resource of each respective telephony gateway for handling a telephone communication to the circuit switched telephone network;
receive a response through the packet switched network from at least one telephony gateway in the group containing information regarding the substantially immediate availability of the requested resource for handling the telephone communication;
select one telephony gateway from the group based at least in part on the received information regarding resource availability;
and
transmit a response message to the originating device, the response message comprising routing information for communication with the selected telephony gateway through the packet switched network.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Network session management

Life of this patent

Network session management

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims38