Method and apparatus for interfacing a public switched telephone network and an internet protocol network for multi-media communication

A method of providing real-time voice communication between devices connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network and devices connected to the public switched telephone network (PSTN), the steps of the method comprising:

• interfacing the digital data signals of the IP network with the voice signals of the PSTN;
• interfacing the control signals of the IP network with the PSTN to perform address translation, admission control, bandwidth management and zone management;
• routing calls between the devices connected to the IP network and devices connected to the PSTN;
• maintaining information corresponding to subscribers;
• storing for each individual subscriber destination addresses on the PSTN and the IP network;
• automatically routing calls to a subscriber to each destination address stored for that subscriber, and
• receiving an incoming call from the IP network or the PSTN network and simultaneously routing the call to a plurality of predesignated destinations on the IP network, on the PSTN network, or on both the IP network and the PSTN network.

A system for providing real-time voice communication between devices connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network and devices connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN), comprising:

• a computer controlled switch adapted for connection to the public switched telephone network, receiving calls from the IP network and the PSTN, and routing calls to the PSTN and IP network;
• and
• gate interface circuitry connected to the computer controlled switch and adapted for connection to the IP network,
• wherein the computer controlled switch is operable to simultaneously route a received call to a plurality of pre-designated destination addresses comprising at least one IP address and at least one PSTN number.

A method of providing real-time voice communication between devices connected to an Internet Protocol (IP) network and devices connected to a public switched telephone network (PSTN), the method comprising:

• interfacing the IP network and the PSTN;
• receiving a call originating from a source selected from the group consisting of the IP network and the PSTN;
• and
• routing the call simultaneously to a plurality of predesignated destination addresses comprising at least one IP address and at least one PSTN number.

A customer premise equipment gateway for enabling a telephone to communicate through the Internet and a public switched telephone network (PSTN), the gateway operable to

• locally connect with the telephone to receive depacketized voice information therefrom;
• packetize the depacketized voice information to form packetized digital voice data;
• couple with the Internet without utilizing a private branch exchange (PBX);
• couple with a computer controlled switch through the Internet;
• and
• provide the packetized digital voice data to the computer controlled switch to enable the telephone to communicate through the Internet and the PSTN.

A system for providing real-time voice communication, the system comprising:

• a customer premise equipment gateway operable to
• couple with the Internet without utilizing a private branch exchange (PBX),
• locally connect with a telephone to receive depacketized voice information therefrom, and
• packetize the depacketized voice information to form packetized digital voice data;
• and
• a computer controlled switch operable to
• couple with the Internet and a public switched telephone network (PSTN),
• receive the packetized digital voice data from the gateway,
• determine a subscriber destination address corresponding to packetized digital voice data, and
• if the determined destination address of the call corresponds to the PSTN,
• depacketize the packetized digital voice data to form depacketized voice information and route the depacketized voice information to the PSTN to enable real-time voice communication between the telephone and a device coupled with the PSTN.