METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN PACKET-SWITCHED AND CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS

• US 20010055299A1
• Filed: 08/14/1997
• Published: 12/27/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/1996
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Net2Phone, Inc. (IDT Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NetSpeak Corporation (IDT Corporation)
• Inventors: KELLY, KEITH C.
• Granted Patent: US 6,347,085 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4557 Directories for hybrid networks, e.g. including telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1285 Details of finding and selecting a gateway for a particular call
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0025 Provisions for signalling

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enabling communication between packet-switched data networks and circuit-switched communication networks utilizes the existing domain name system infrastructure of the Internet to resolve traditional PSTN telephone numbers into domain names, and, using one or more domain name servers, locate the network protocol address of a gateway capable of connecting an executing task on the packet-switched data network to the desired terminating apparatus on the circuit switched communication network. Also disclosed is a gateway architecture capable of performing the cross network connections as well as domain name server architecture which stores the segments of a telephone number, such as country code, area code and exchange, in a hierarchical tree configuration.

Claims

1. A method for establishing communication between an executing task on a packet-switched data network and a terminating apparatus on a circuit switched communication network, the packet switched data network being operatively coupled to the circuit switched communication network by one or more gateway apparatus, the gateway apparatus and executing task being addressable over the packet-switched data network through respective network protocol addresses, the terminating apparatus and gateway apparatus being accessible over the circuit switched communication network through respective telephone numbers, the method comprising the steps of:

A. generating a telephone number domain name identifying a telephone number;

B. supplying a telephone number domain name to a domain name server operatively coupled to the packet switched network;

C. obtaining a network protocol address of a gateway operatively coupled to the packet switched network;

D. establishing a communication connection with the terminating apparatus identified by the telephone number domain name;

2. The method of

claim 1

wherein the telephone number domain name has a plurality of segments at least one of which represents a domain name server.

3. The method of

claim 2

wherein step C comprises:

C.1 forwarding the telephone number domain name to the primary name server on the packet-switched data network; and

C.2 receiving from the primary name server the network protocol address of the gateway.

4. The method of

claim 1

wherein the telephone number domain name comprises a segment representing a PSTN carrier and step C comprises:

C.1 obtaining the network protocol address of a carrier name server;

C.2 forwarding the telephone number domain name to the carrier name server.

5. The method of

claim 1

wherein the telephone number domain name further comprises a data representing a country code domain name and wherein claim C further comprises the steps of:

C.1 obtaining the network protocol address of a country code domain name server;

C.2 forwarding the telephone number domain name to the country code domain name server.

6. The method of

claim 1

wherein the telephone number domain name further comprises an area code domain name and wherein step C further comprises the steps of:

C.1 obtaining the network protocol address of an area code domain name server;

C.2 forwarding the telephone number domain name to an area code domain name server.

7. The method of

claim 1

wherein the telephone number domain name further comprises a exchange domain name and wherein step C further comprises the steps of:

C.1 obtaining the network protocol address of an exchange domain name server; and

C.2 forwarding the telephone number domain name to the exchange domain name server.

8. The method of

claim 1

wherein step C further comprises the step of:

C.1 receiving the network protocol address of the gateway.

9. The method of

claim 1

wherein step D comprises the step of:

D.1 supplying the telephone number domain name to the gateway indicated by the network protocol address.

10. The method of

claim 1

wherein step D further comprises the step of:

D.1 transmitting data to the terminating apparatus through the gateway.

11. The method of

claim 1

wherein step A comprises the step of:

A.1 receiving user-defined data representing the telephone number.

12. The method of

claim 1

wherein step A comprises the steps of:

A.1 reversing the order in which the data representing the telephone number were received.

13. The method of

claim 1

wherein step A comprises:

A.1 appending a carrier domain name to the telephone number domain name.

14. A computer program product for use with a computer system, the computer system operatively coupled over a packet-switched data network to a domain name server, a connection server and at least one gateway, the computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having program code embodied in the medium for enabling communication from a task executing on a packet-switched network to a subscriber apparatus connected to a circuit-switched data network, the program code comprising:

program code for receiving data identifying a traditional telephone number associated with a subscriber apparatus;

program code for generating from the received data a telephone number domain name;

program code responsive to the telephone number domain name for obtaining the network protocol address of a gateway;

program code, responsive to the network protocol address of the gateway, for forwarding the telephone number domain name to the gateway; and

program code for communicating data with the subscriber apparatus.

15. The computer program product of

claim 14

wherein the program code for obtaining the network protocol address of the gateway comprises:

C.1 program code for supplying the telephone number domain name to a domain name server; and

C.2 program code for receiving the network protocol address of a gateway associated with the telephone number domain name.

16. The computer program product of

claim 14

wherein the program code for obtaining the network protocol address of a gateway comprises:

C.1 program code responsive to the received identifying data for determining whether a domain name identifier of a gateway is contained therein; and

C.2 program code for retrieving the network protocol address of the gateway identified by the domain name identifier from a directory.

17. The computer program product of

claim 16

wherein the directory containing the network protocol address of the gateway is maintained locally on the computer system on which the computer program product is utilized.

18. The computer program product of

claim 16

wherein the directory connecting the network protocol address of the gateway is maintained on a connection server operatively coupled to the computer system.

19. A method for establishing a communication link between a subscriber apparatus on a circuit switched communication network and a task executing on a packet-switched data network interconnected by a gateway apparatus, the method comprising the steps of:

A. receiving from a first subscriber apparatus on a circuit-switched communication network identifying a callee task on a packet-switched data network;

B. determining from the received identifying data the current network protocol address of the callee task; and

C. establishing a communication connection between the apparatus on the circuit-switched communication network and the callee task on the packet-switched data network.

20. The method of

claim 19

wherein the identified callee is a gateway coupled to the packet-switched data network and wherein the identifying data is supplied to the gateway.

21. The method of

claim 20

further comprising the step of:

establishing a communication link to a second, terminating apparatus on the circuit-switched network identified by the identifying data.

22. The method of

claim 19

wherein step C further comprises the step of:

C.1 processing data from the packet-switched data network into a format suitable for transmission on the circuit-switched communication network.

23. The method of

claim 19

wherein step C further comprises the step of:

C.1 processing data from the circuit switched communication network into a format suitable for transmission over the packet-switched data network.

24. The method of

claim 19

wherein the information identifying a callee task comprises a telephone number.

25. A gateway apparatus for connecting a circuit-switched communication network to a packet-switched data network, the gateway apparatus comprising:

A. a processor for manipulating data;

B. packetizing logic configured to translate data from the circuit-switched communication network into a format suitable for transmission over the packet-switched data network;

C. unpacking logic configured to translate data from the packet-switched data network to a format suitable for transmission over the circuit-switched communication network;

D. a memory, operatively coupled to the processor and transmission logics, for storing information associated with one or more tasks on the packet-switched data network.