Method and apparatus for co-socket telephony
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods and apparatus for allowing a caller on a telephone network to establish an internet co-socket. In a first embodiment, a protocol stack establishes an Internet connection over a public switched telephone network (PSTN) link and then operates and maintains the Internet connection on a second link. Internet socket establishment is initiated with a caller-ID packet so the distant end may pick up with an Internet form instead of a interactive voice response system (IVR). This allows the caller to interact with a graphical form instead of a voice prompt, and provides new methods of operation for web call-back systems for call centers. The invention also enables mixed PSTN/internet multimedia telephone calls. In an exemplary embodiment, when a point-to-point telephone PSTN connection is established, a screen of information automatically appears at both ends via the Internet. This allows users who have computers connected to an internet to easily mix PSTN calling with internet services.
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Citations
95 Claims
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1-61. -61. (canceled)
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62. A computerized wireless handset, comprising:
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a wireless air interface which enables both circuit-switched and packet-switched wireless communications between the computerized wireless handset and a network access device that is coupled to both a circuit-switched telephone network and to an Internet, using a wireless air interface protocol;
a user interface which enables a user to specify a set of dialing digits corresponding to a telephone number of a callee where the callee can be reached via telephone calls originated from a public switched telephone network (PSTN); and
executable instructions which implement a plurality of functions, including;
(i) sending a first Internet Protocol (IP) packet comprising the set of dialing digits to a remote database server, via the network access device and via a wide area network connection at least partially through the Internet;
(ii) receiving from the remote database server, via the network access device, a second IP packet comprising an Internet address where a remote device associated with the callee can be presently reached via an Internet connection; and
(iii) establishing, using the Internet address, a voice telephony connection between the computerized wireless handset and the remote device, via the network access device and at least partially via the Internet;
wherein at least a portion of the voice telephony connection uses a Voice over Internet (VoIP) communication protocol; and
wherein the computerized wireless handset can place dialed telephone calls to the remote device via the wireless air interface, the network access device and a path at least partially through the Internet, irrespective of whether the remote device is only an Internet telephony device, or only a PSTN telephony device. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71)
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72. A computerized wireless handset, comprising:
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a wireless air interface which enables both circuit-switched and packet-switched wireless communications between the computerized wireless handset and a network access device that is coupled to both a circuit-switched telephone network and to an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network;
a user interface which enables a user to specify a subscriber address to identify a remote device associated with a callee;
executable instructions which implement a plurality of functions, including;
(i) sending a first IP packet comprising the subscriber address to a remote database server, via the network access device and the IP packet-switched network;
(ii) receiving from the remote database server, via the network access device and the IP packet-switched network, a second IP packet comprising an IP address where the remote device can be reached via the IP packet-switched network; and
(iii) establishing a voice over Internet (VoIP) communication connection between the computerized wireless handset and the remote device associated with the callee, via the network access device and the IP packet-switched network, using the IP address;
wherein the computerized wireless handset is configured to be able to place a dialed circuit-switched telephone call to the remote device via the wireless air interface and the network access device, and is also configured to be able to initiate a VoIP connection to the remote device via the wireless air interface, the network access device, and the IP packet-switched network. - View Dependent Claims (73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83)
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84. A computerized wireless handset, comprising:
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a wireless air interface which enables both circuit-switched and packet-switched wireless communications between the computerized wireless handset and a network access device that is coupled to both a circuit-switched telephone network and to an Internet Protocol (IP) packet-switched network;
a non-graphical user interface which enables a user to specify a set of dialing digits corresponding to a telephone number of a callee where the callee can be reached via telephone calls originated from a circuit-switched telephone network, and a graphical user interface which enables the user to make selections via interaction with the graphical user interface; and
executable instructions which implement a plurality of functions, including;
(i) sending a first IP packet comprising subscriber information related to the callee to a remote database server, via the network access device;
(ii) receiving from the remote database server, via the network access device, a second IP packet comprising an IP address where a remote device associated with the callee can be presently reached via an active IP connection; and
(iii) establishing a voice telephony communication connection between the computerized wireless handset and the remote device, at least partially via the circuit-switched telephone network; and
(iv) establishing an IP communication connection between the computerized wireless handset and the remote device, via the network access device and via the IP packet-switched network, using the IP address, in support of at least one other media type in addition to voice. - View Dependent Claims (85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95)
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Specification