Method and apparatus for staggering internet protocol teleconferencing calls
AssigneeAT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
InventorsMarian Croak, Hossein Eslambolchi
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for enabling providers of PSTN toll free services to stagger simultaneous transmission of call setup signaling messages into an IP based teleconference bridge, supported by a VoIP network, by suspending a subset of calls and placing them on hold while placing other calls to be connected to the conference bridge are disclosed. The PSTN network can stagger calls by limiting the number of call setup signaling messages to be sent to the VoIP network within a predefined period of time interval and spread all the calls over multiple of such predefined periods. Prerecorded announcements or music can be played while the calls that have been placed on hold are in queue.
Claims20
A method for staggering a plurality of call setup signaling messages via a time division multiplexing based telephone network that is in communication with a packet network, comprising:
- receiving the plurality of call setup signaling messages by a switch in the time division multiplexing based telephone network, where the plurality of call setup signaling messages is destined to an internet protocol based teleconference bridge located on the packet network;
- and
- controlling a flow of the plurality of call setup signaling messages destined to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge by the switch, wherein the controlling comprises:
- assigning the plurality of call setup signaling messages over a plurality of periods of a predefined time interval, wherein the assigning is based on a capacity limitation of the packet network to simultaneously process the call setup signaling messages;
- sending only a predefined number of the plurality call setup signaling messages to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge in each of the plurality of periods of the predefined time interval;
- and
- placing on hold a remaining number of the plurality of call setup signaling messages that have not yet been sent to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations for staggering a plurality of call setup signaling messages via a time division multiplexing based telephone network that is in communication with a packet network, the operations comprising:
- receiving the plurality of call setup signaling messages by a switch in the time division multiplexing based telephone network, where the plurality of call setup signaling messages is destined to an internet protocol based teleconference bridge located on the packet network;
- and
- controlling a flow of the plurality of call setup signaling messages destined to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge by the switch, wherein the controlling comprises:
- assigning the plurality of call setup signaling messages over a plurality of periods of a predefined time interval, wherein the assigning is based on a capacity limitation of the packet network to simultaneously process the call setup signaling messages;
- sending only a predefined number of the plurality call setup signaling messages to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge in each of the plurality of periods of the predefined time interval;
- and
- placing on hold a remaining number of the plurality of call setup signaling messages that have not yet been sent to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge.
An apparatus for staggering a plurality of call setup signaling messages via a time division multiplexing based telephone network that is in communication with a packet network, comprising:
- a time division multiplexing based telephone network switch comprising hardware and configured to:
- receive the plurality of call setup signaling messages, where the plurality of call setup signaling messages is destined to an internet protocol based teleconference bridge located on the packet network;
- and
- control a flow of the plurality of call setup signaling messages destined to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge from the time division multiplexing based telephone network by:
- assigning the plurality of call setup signaling messages over a plurality of periods of a predefined time interval, wherein the assigning is based on a capacity limitation of the packet network to simultaneously process the call setup signaling messages;
- sending only a predefined number of the plurality call setup signaling messages to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge in each of the plurality of periods of the predefined time interval;
- and
- placing on hold a remaining number of the plurality of call setup signaling messages that have not yet been sent to the internet protocol based teleconference bridge.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.