Integrated telephone central office systems for integrating the internet with the public switched telephone network
First Claim
1. For use in a telephone central office system of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a central office system, comprising:
- (a) a switching system providing telephone service to client subscriber devices for placing and receiving telephone calls on the PSTN;
(b) connection means associated with said switching system for receiving a connection from the PSTN to place and receive telephone calls;
(c) a central office switching system interface device for providing Internet and telephony services to client devices capable of placing or receiving calls on the PSTN, said interface device providing an interface between said client devices of said interface device and said switching system;
(d) a plurality of said interface devices integrated into an assembly of interface devices comprising an integrated interface device system;
(e) said central office system having means for enabling a calling device to establish an Internet communication with a called device by dialing its telephone number, wherein either or both of said calling and called devices are a client of one of said interface devices or of said switching system; and
(f) wherein said means for enabling a calling device to establish an Internet communication with a called device by dialing its telephone number is a messaging communications means, said messaging communications means conveying call setup and-call management messages to include Internet Protocol (IP) address information of a calling or called device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Telephone central office-switching system integrated interface devices such as those for DSL, Voice over IP, cable-TV, fixed wireless, and Internet capable wireless cellular are further integrated into integrated interface device systems. Such systems share common facilities including a router function, messaging function, and a common voice communications channel. The messaging function is arranged to provide call setup and associated messages which enable a calling device which calls an Integrated Device to establish an Internet communication simply by dialing the telephone number of the Integrated Device. Integrated Devices have both an Internet connection and a telephone number; the Internet connection has an associated IP address. Call setup messages include telephone numbers and IP addresses. The integrated router function is enabled to edge route Internet data traffic within the system and to and from other such systems, without the data traversing further into the Internet. Further integration is achieved by incorporating the associated central office switch into the integrated assembly, forming an integrated central office system. Conversion of the switch into a pure packet switch which packetizes analog voice traffic into IP format enables voice, data, and inter-system messaging traffic to be edge routed via the integral routing function, transforming the PSTN to a network based entirely on Internet protocols.
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Citations
29 Claims
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1. For use in a telephone central office system of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a central office system, comprising:
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(a) a switching system providing telephone service to client subscriber devices for placing and receiving telephone calls on the PSTN;
(b) connection means associated with said switching system for receiving a connection from the PSTN to place and receive telephone calls;
(c) a central office switching system interface device for providing Internet and telephony services to client devices capable of placing or receiving calls on the PSTN, said interface device providing an interface between said client devices of said interface device and said switching system;
(d) a plurality of said interface devices integrated into an assembly of interface devices comprising an integrated interface device system;
(e) said central office system having means for enabling a calling device to establish an Internet communication with a called device by dialing its telephone number, wherein either or both of said calling and called devices are a client of one of said interface devices or of said switching system; and
(f) wherein said means for enabling a calling device to establish an Internet communication with a called device by dialing its telephone number is a messaging communications means, said messaging communications means conveying call setup and-call management messages to include Internet Protocol (IP) address information of a calling or called device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29)
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28. A central office system, comprising:
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(a) a switching system providing telephone service to client subscriber devices for placing and receiving telephone calls on the PSTN;
(b) said switching system having means for receiving a connection from the PSTN to place and receive telephone calls;
(c) a central office switching system interface device for providing Internet and telephony services to client devices capable of placing or receiving calls on the PSTN, said interface device providing an interface between said client devices of said interface device and said switching system;
(d) said switching system and at least one of said interface devices being integrated into an assembly comprising an integrated central office system;
(e) said central office system having means for enabling a calling device to establish an Internet communication with a called device by dialing its telephone number, wherein either or both of said calling and called devices are a client of one of said interface devices or of said switching system; and
(f) wherein said means for enabling a calling device to establish an Internet communication with a called device by dialing its telephone number is a messaging communications means, said messaging communications means conveying call setup and call management messages to include Internet Protocol (IP) address information of a calling or called device.
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Specification