US 8,265,062 B2 · System and method for accomplishing special call treatment in a voice over internet protocol telephone system

Abstract

A system and method for treating a VoIP call in a special fashion when the call is to be routed from an originating gateway to a destination gateway over the Internet. The system and method make use of a special decline destination gateway which may be configured to return a special cost code to the originating gateway when the originating gateway attempts to establish a telephone call with the decline destination gateway. A routing controller of the system would provide the originating gateway with a list of potential destination gateways, and the decline destination gateway would always be the last entry on the list. This would cause the originating gateway to first attempt to place the call through the other potential destination gateways. However, if none of the other destination gateways can be used, the originating gateway will ultimately attempt to place the call through the decline destination gateway. When the originating gateway receives back the special cost code from the decline destination gateway, the originating gateway would know to treat the call in a special fashion. In some embodiments, the decline destination gateway itself might treat the call in the special fashion.

Claims53

Dependent claims

A method of determining when to decline a call request from a customer, wherein the call is to be routed from an originating gateway to one of a plurality of destination gateways over the Internet, comprising:

obtaining call routing information that indicates destination gateways that are potentially capable of completing the call, wherein the routing information includes the address for a decline destination gateway that will cause the call to be treated in a special fashion, wherein the special fashion does not include attempting to complete the call to a destination telephony device identified in the customer's call request;
and
attempting to setup the call through at least one the destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call;
sending a call setup request from the originating gateway to the decline destination gateway when the originating gateway determines that the call cannot be setup with any destination gateways potentially capable of completing the call;
receiving a special code that is sent from the decline destination gateway to the originating gateway in response to the call setup request;
and sending a call decline message from the originating gateway to the customer in response to receipt of the special code.

3 more elements

A system for determining when to decline a call request from a customer, wherein the call is to be routed from an originating gateway to a destination gateway over the Internet, comprising:

means for obtaining call routing information that indicates destination gateways that are potential capable of completing the call, wherein the routing information includes the address for a decline destination gateway that will cause the call to be treated in a special fashion, wherein the special fashion does not include attempting to complete the call to a destination telephony device identified in the customer's call request;
means for attempting to setup the call through at least one destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call;
means for sending a call setup request from the originating gateway to a decline destination gateway when the originating gateway determines that the call cannot be setup with any of the destination gateways capable of completing the call;
means for receiving a special code sent from the decline destination gateway to the originating gateway in response to the call setup request;
and means for sending a call decline message from the originating gateway to the customer in response to receipt of the special code.

2 more elements

A system for placing telephone calls over the Internet between an originating gateway and a destination gateway in response to a call setup request from a customer, comprising:

a routing controller configured to identify destination gateways capable of completing a call to a called party and a decline destination gateway that will cause the call to be treated in a special fashion, wherein the special fashion does not include attempting to compete the call to a destination telephony device identified in a customer's call request;
and
an originating gateway configured to attempt to place a call through at least one of a plurality of destination gateways identified by the routing controller, wherein the originating gateway is configured to send a call setup request to the decline destination gateway if the originating gateway determines that the call cannot be setup through any of the destination gateways identified for the call by the routing controller, and wherein the originating gateway is configured to send a decline call message to the customer when it receives a special code from the decline destination gateway.

A system capable of treating a call request from a customer in a special fashion, wherein the call is originally intended to be routed from an originating gateway to a destination gateway over the Internet, comprising:

means for receiving a call request from a customer at an originating gateway;
means for obtaining routing information for the call from a routing controller, wherein the routing information includes the address of at least one destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call and an address for a decline destination gateway that will cause the call to be treated in a special fashion, and wherein treating the call in a special fashion does not include attempting to complete the call to a destination telephony device specified in the customer call request;
means for sending a call setup request from the originating gateway to the at least one decline destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call;
means for sending a call setup request to the decline destination gateway if the call cannot be completed through a destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call, wherein sending the call setup request to the decline destination gateway will cause the call to be treated in the special fashion;
means for receiving a special code sent from the decline destination gateway in response to the call setup request back at the originating gateway;
and
means for treating the call in the special fashion.

4 more elements

an originating gateway configured to receive a call request from a customer;
a routing controller configured to provide routing information for the call to the originating gateway, wherein the routing information includes the address of at least one destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call and an address for a decline destination gateway that will cause the call to be treated in a special fashion, wherein the special fashion does not include attempting to complete the call to a destination telephony device specified in the customer call request, wherein the originating gateway is configured to first attempt to setup the request call through the at least one destination gateway that is potentially capable of completing the call, wherein the originating gateway is also configured to send a call setup request to the decline destination gateway if the originating gateway determines that the call cannot be setup through any of the destination gateways that are potentially capable of completing the call, wherein the originating gateway receives a special code back from the decline destination gateway in response to the call setup request sent to the decline destination gateway, and wherein the call is treated in the special fashion by at least one of the originating gateway and the decline destination gateway as a result to the call setup request being sent from the originating gateway to the decline destination gateway.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for accomplishing special call treatment in a voice over internet protocol telephone system

Life of this patent

System and method for accomplishing special call treatment in a voice over internet protocol telephone system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims53