Automation of IP phone provisioning with self-service voice application

• US 20050180403A1
• Filed: 03/23/2005
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Andrieux, Laure F., Tasker, Michael Edric, Shen, Fong, Cooke, Jawhny, Haddad, Najeeb Farhan
• Granted Patent: US 8,144,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/103 across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/34 involving the movement of software or configuration parameters network booting or remote initial program loading [RIPL] G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005

Abstract

Approaches for provisioning phones in packet voice networks are disclosed. One approach comprises determining that an Internet Protocol (IP) phone has registered in a network; receiving a unique identifier of the IP phone; determining, based on information provided by a user of the IP phone, a user identifier; generating a configuration for the IP phone based on the user identifier; and providing the configuration to the IP phone. Various approaches for determining a user identifier based on information provided by the user are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

determining that an Internet Protocol (IP) phone has registered in a network;

receiving a unique identifier of the IP phone;

determining, based on information provided by an individual user associated with the IP phone, a user identifier of the user associated with the IP phone;

generating a configuration for the IP phone based on the user identifier; and

providing the configuration to the IP phone.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining a user identifier further comprises the steps of:

receiving user identifier information from the individual user by a voice response system;

authenticating the user identifier information; and

determining a user identifier from the user identifier information.

3. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the user identifier information comprises a user identifier and password provided in an e-mail to the individual user.

4. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the user identifier information comprises user identifier information known to the individual user before receiving the associated IP phone.

5. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein the user identifier information comprises a voice sample of the individual user, and the step of determining a user identifier from the user identifier information comprises identifying a user from the voice sample, and determining a user identifier corresponding to the identified user.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining a user identifier further comprises the steps of:

displaying a text message on a display of the phone associated with the individual user; and

receiving user identifier information from the individual user through interaction with the display on the phone.

7. A method as recited in claim 6, wherein the display on the phone is created using XML over HTTP.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, additionally comprising the step of prompting the individual user to provide the user identifier information.

9. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein the step of prompting the individual user comprises displaying a text message on the phone associated with the individual user.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, additionally comprising the steps of:

sending an e-mail in an individual user that contains a user identifier and password.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining that an IP phone has registered in a network comprises the steps of requesting a call controller in the network to provide information about all IP hones that are known to the call controller, and wherein the step of receiving a unique identifier of the IP phone comprises receiving, from the call controller, a MAC address of each IP phone that is known to the call controller.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein generating a configuration comprises selecting a stored basic configuration based on the unique identifier of the IP phone and the user identifier, assigning a phone number, and assigning a feature set, to result in generating a final configuration.

13. A method as recited in claim 12, further comprising the step of provisioning a call controller in the network with the final configuration.

14. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of registering the IP phone at a call control system with a minimum configuration and a temporary number that is assigned from a pool of available numbers.

15. A method of determining a phone number to be assigned to an Internet Phone (IP) phone comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

determining that an IP phone has registered in a network;

assigning a unique temporary phone number to the IP phone;

receiving a media access control (MAC) address of the IP phone;

receiving user identifier information from a user using the IP phone through a voice response system;

retrieving, from a database of user information, a user record based on the user identifier information; and

obtaining a user phone number from the user record.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the user identifier information includes a user identifier and password assigned to the user.

17. An apparatus for configuring an Internet Protocol (IP) phone to have a phone number associated with a user of the IP phone comprising:

means for determining that the IP phone has registered in a network;

means for receiving a unique identifier of the IP phone;

means for determining, based on information provided by an individual user associated with the IP phone, a user identifier of the user associated with the IP phone;

means for generating a configuration for the IP phone based on the user identifier; and

means for providing the configuration to the IP phone.

18. An apparatus for determining a phone number to be assigned to an Internet Phone (IP) phone comprising:

means for determining that an IP phone has registered in a network;

means for assigning a unique temporary phone number to the IP phone;

means for receiving a media access control (MAC) address of the IP phone;

means for receiving user identifier information from a user using the IP phone through a voice response system;

means for retrieving, from a database of user information, a user record based on the user identifier information; and

means for obtaining a user phone number from the user record.