US 8,780,890 B2 · Hybrid packet-switched and circuit-switched telephony system

Abstract

A hybrid telephony system with packet switching as well as circuit switching optimizes utilization of transport networks, and is accessible from any conventional telephone set. A call originating from a circuit-switched network is passed through a gateway computer to a backbone packet-switched network, and then through a second gateway computer to a second circuit-switched network where it terminates. The voice of both the originating party and the terminating party is converted to data packets by the near-end gateway computer and then converted back to voice by the far-end gateway computer. In an alternative scenario, the originating party uses a computer on the packet-switched network, which replaces the originating circuit-switched network and the originating computer. Powered by CPUs, DSPs, ASICs disks, telephony interfaces, and packet network interfaces, the gateway computers may have media conversion modules, speech processing modules and routing resolution modules, and are capable of translating telephony call signaling as well as voice between circuit-switched and packet-switched networks. Optionally, the gateway computers may also have analog trunking modules, MF and DTMF digit modules and special services modules, in order to support analog circuit-switched networks and secure telephone calls.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

receiving, by a first gateway device, a destination address of a called device, the destination address being received from a calling device associated with
a first circuit-switched network;
transmitting, by the first gateway device and based on receiving the destination address, a connection request to a second gateway device over a packet-switched network,
the second gateway device being connected to the called device through a second circuit-switched network using the destination address;
establishing, by at least one of the first gateway device or the second gateway device, a call connection between the calling device and the called device through the first circuit-switched network, the packet-switched network, and the second circuit-switched network based on billing information received via out-of-band signaling,
data related to the call connection being routed through the packet-switched network;
storing, by one or more of the first gateway device or the second gateway device, packets received from the packet-switched network,
the packets being related to the call connection;
and
rearranging, by the one or more of the first gateway device or the second gateway device, the stored packets to maintain a packet order for the call connection.

7 more elements

A system comprising:

a first gateway device in communications with a first circuit-switched network and with a packet-switched network,
the first gateway device being to:
receive, over the first circuit-switched network and from a calling device, a destination address of a called device, and
based on the destination address and billing information received via out-of-band signaling, transmit a connection request over the packet-switched network;
and
a second gateway device in communications with the packet-switched network and with a second circuit-switched network,
the second gateway device being to:
receive, via the packet-switched network, the connection request from the first gateway device,
establish a connection to the called device through the second circuit-switched network using the destination address, and
after establishing the connection, send an acknowledgement message to the first gateway device,
based on the second gateway device establishing the connection to the called device through the second circuit-switched network, the first gateway device and the second gateway device being further to:
establish a call connection between the calling device and the called device through the first circuit-switched network, the packet-switched network, and the second circuit-switched network, and
route data related to the call connection through the packet-switched network.

10 more elements

A non-transitory memory device to store instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by a processor associated with a first one or more gateway devices, cause the processor to:
receive, from a calling device and over a first circuit-switched network, a destination address of a called device,
transmit, based on the destination address and billing information received via out-of-band signaling, a connection request over a packet-switched network,
establish, based on transmitting the connection request, a connection to the called device through a second circuit-switched network using the destination address,
receive an acknowledgement message based on establishing the connection to the called device through the second circuit-switched network using the destination address,
establish a call connection between the calling device and the called device through the first circuit-switched network, the packet-switched network, and the second circuit-switched network, and
route data associated with the call connection through the packet-switched network.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Hybrid packet-switched and circuit-switched telephony system

Life of this patent

Hybrid packet-switched and circuit-switched telephony system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20