METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN PACKET-SWITCHED AND CIRCUIT-SWITCHED NETWORKS
First Claim
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;
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
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.
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Citations
25 Claims
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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:
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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;
- View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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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:
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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. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A gateway apparatus for connecting a circuit-switched communication network to a packet-switched data network, the gateway apparatus comprising:
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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.
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Specification