System and method for providing alternate routing in a network
AssigneeLevel 3 Communications, LLC
InventorsHarry Mussman, James O'Brien, Eric R. Sporel, Robert K. Israel, Michael Baj
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Abstract
Methods and systems are described for performing alternate routing of communications in a network. The system initiates a communication from an origination endpoint in a packet-switched network, such as a VOIP network, to a destination endpoint, and determining, according to selection criteria, whether to route the communication to the destination endpoint using at least a second circuit-switched network, such as the PSTN.
Claims8
A non-transitory computer-readable medium with computer-executable instructions stored thereon, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processing device in a network, enabling the processing device to establish a telephone call from an origination endpoint to a destination endpoint by performing the operations of:
- receiving a destination telephone number at a gatekeeper in a packet-switched network, the destination telephone number being in a private dialing plan (PDP) format associated with a site corresponding to the destination endpoint;
- determining whether to route the telephonic call using the packet-switched network or a circuit-switched network based on network selection criteria, wherein the selection criteria includes an available bandwidth measurement, and the available bandwidth measurement is based on a comparison of a number of call counts processed by an enterprise gatekeeper with a specified threshold;
- appending a site identifier to the PDP number that identifies the site of the destination telephone endpoint;
- and
- based on the site identifier, initiating a connection to the destination endpoint over the circuit-switched network using the destination telephone number, and initiating call setup procedures at an outbound gateway.
A gatekeeper for facilitating alternate routing of communications in a packet-switched network, the gatekeeper comprising:
- a memory for storing instructions;
- a processing module coupled to the memory, and configured to transceive call routing information with a call mediator in the packet-switched network;
- wherein the call routing information is associated with a call initiation request sent from an origination endpoint to a destination endpoint, the origination endpoint being associated with an origination enterprise and the destination endpoint being associated with a destination enterprise, the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise associated with a private dialing plan (PDP) over the packet-switched network;
- wherein the processing module is configured to determine, according to selection criteria, whether to route the communication from the origination endpoint to the destination endpoint over a circuit-switched network, wherein the selection criteria includes an available bandwidth measurement, and the available bandwidth measurement is based on a comparison of a number of call counts processed by an enterprise gatekeeper with a specified threshold;
- and
- wherein the processing module is further configured to route the communication to the destination endpoint via the circuit-switched network based on a customer-specific identifier (CSID) received from the call mediator, the CSID having been appended to a PDP number associated with the communication by the call mediator;
- wherein the processing module is further configured to cause the call mediator to initiate call setup procedures at an outbound gateway in the packet-switched network, wherein the call is to be set UP between the origination endpoint and the destination endpoint.
A call mediator for facilitating alternate routing of communications in a packet-switched network, the call mediator comprising:
- a memory for storing instructions;
- a processing module coupled to the memory, and configured to process a communication sent from an origination endpoint associated with an origination enterprise to a destination endpoint associated with a destination enterprise, the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise associated with a private dialing plan (PDP) over the packet-switched network;
- wherein the processing module is configured to detect a PDP number in the communication and append a customer-specific identifier (CSID) to the detected PDP number, the CSID uniquely identifying the origination enterprise or the destination enterprise;
- and
- wherein the processing module is further configured to transceive call routing information with a gatekeeper in the packet-switched network, the gatekeeper being able to determine, according to selection criteria, whether to route the communication from the origination endpoint to the destination endpoint over a packet-switched network or circuit-switched network, wherein the selection criteria includes an available bandwidth measurement, and the available bandwidth measurement is based on a comparison of a number of call counts processed by an enterprise gatekeeper with a specified threshold;
- wherein the processing module is further configured to initiate call set up procedures to a destination endpoint with an outbound gateway.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.