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Application for a voice over IP (VoIP) telephony gateway and methods for use therein

  • US 20020101860A1
  • Filed: 09/21/2001
  • Published: 08/01/2002
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/10/1999
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for a telephony gateway for routing a telephony call to or from a near-end telephony device, connected through a private branch exchange (PBX) to the gateway, and through either a public switched telephone network (PSTN) or a data network to a far-end telephony device situated at a far-end location, the apparatus comprising:

  • a processor;

    a memory, connected to the processor and storing computer executable instructions therein; and

    interface circuitry, controlled by and connected to the processor and also connected to the PBX and via corresponding network and telephony links to the data network and the PSTN, respectively, for selectively establishing a suitable communicative connection between the telephony device, through the PBX and the gateway, to either the PSTN or the data network;

    wherein the processor, in response to performing the executable instructions;

    (a) establishes a network connection over the data network to carry the telephony call from the near-end telephony device to the far-end telephony device;

    (b) dynamically measures at least one predefined characteristic of a connection, over the data network and extending from the gateway to a peer gateway serving the far-end location, throughout a duration of the telephony call so as to define network measurements; and

    (c) switches the telephony call from being carried over the data network to being carried over the PSTN if quality of service (QoS) of the network connection, as determined in response to said network measurements, decreases below a predefined threshold; and

    (d) subsequently switches the telephony call back to being carried over the data network from the PSTN when the QoS increases above the predefined threshold.

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