POTS/Packet Bridge

• US 20050249198A1
• Filed: 07/12/2005
• Published: 11/10/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/08/1997
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Romain, Dennis Matthew, Goldman, Joel, Velardo, Patrick Michael Jr., Rabiner, Lawrence Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,929,519 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: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0057 Services where the data services network provides a telephone service in addition or as an alternative, e.g. for backup purposes, to the telephone service provided by the telephone services network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1285 Details of finding and selecting a gateway for a particular call

Abstract

A system and method for bridging the POTS network and a packet network, such as the Internet, uses a set of access objects that provide the interfacing and functionality for exchanging address and payload information with the packet network, and for exchanging payload information with the payload subnetwork and signaling information with the signaling subnetwork of the POTS network. The system includes a communications management object that coordinates the transfer of information between the POTS network and the packet network; a payload object that transfers payload information between the system and the payload subnetwork of the first communications network; a signaling object that transfers signaling information between the system and the signaling subnetwork of the first communications network in accordance with a signaling protocol associated with the signaling subnetwork; and a packet object that transfers payload and address information between the system and the second communications network in accordance with a communications protocol associated with the second communications network. An alternative embodiment uses a plurality of payload, signaling and packet objects to provide a scalable system.

Claims

1. A system for bridging a first communications network having a payload subnetwork and a signaling subnetwork with a second communications network that is packet-switched, comprising:

a. a communications management object that coordinates the transfer of information between the first communications network and the second communications network;

b. a plurality of payload objects linked to the communications management object, wherein each payload object transfers payload information between the system and the payload subnetwork of the first communications network;

c. a plurality of signaling objects linked to the communications management object, wherein each signaling object transfers signaling information between the system and the signaling subnetwork of the first communications network in accordance with a signaling protocol associated with the signaling subnetwork; and

d. a plurality of packet objects linked to the communications management object, wherein each packet object transfers payload and address information between the system and the second communications network in accordance with a communications protocol associated with the second communications network.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a network for linking the plurality of payload objects, the plurality of signaling objects and the plurality of packet objects to the communications management object.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the physical locations of the plurality of payload objects, the plurality of signaling objects and the plurality of packet objects are spread across a geographic area.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of payload objects may be linked to a plurality of access points contained within the payload subnetwork of the first communications network.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of signaling objects may be linked to a plurality of access points contained within the signaling subnetwork of the first communications network.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of packet objects may be linked to a plurality of access points contained within the second communications network.

7. A method of bridging a first communications network having a payload subnetwork and a signaling subnetwork with a second communications network that is packet-switched, comprising the steps of:

a. establishing a first plurality of communications links to the payload subnetwork of the first communications network for communicating payload information;

b. establishing a second plurality of communications links to the signaling subnetwork of the first communications network for communicating signaling information in accordance with a signaling protocol associated with the signaling subnetwork;

c. establishing a third plurality of communications links to the second communications network for communicating information in accordance with a communications protocol associated with the second communications network; and

d. coordinating the transfer of information between the first communications network and the second communications network using one of the first plurality of communications links, one of the second plurality of communications links and one of the third plurality of communications links.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the first plurality of communications links is established through one of a plurality of available access points contained within the payload subnetwork of the first communications network.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the second plurality of communications links is established through one of a plurality of available access points contained within the signaling subnetwork of the first communications network.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the third plurality of communications links is established through one of a plurality of available access points contained within the second communications network.

11. A system for bridging a first communications network having a payload subnetwork and a signaling subnetwork with a second communications network that is packet-switched comprising:

a. a communications management object being configured to coordinate the transfer of information between the first communications network and the second communications network;

b. a payload object linked to the communications management object, said payload object being configured to transfer payload information between the system and the payload subnetwork of the first communications network;

c. a signaling object linked to the communications management object, said signaling object being configured to transfer signaling information between the system and the signaling subnetwork of the first communications network in accordance with a signaling protocol associated with the signaling subnetwork;

d. a packet object linked to the communications management object, said packet object being configured to transfer payload and address information between the system and the second communications network in accordance with a communications protocol associated with the second communications network; and

e. an application database linked to the communications management object, said application database being configured to determine a called user'"'"'s preferred communications mode for establishing communications contact with another user.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said application database is an active user registry database (AUR) configured to store said called user'"'"'s communications contact information including at least one of:

a telephone number, a facsimile number, a mobile telephone number, or an e-mail address.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein said AUR is further configured to store at least one of a set of user profiles and at least one user'"'"'s preferred communications option.

14. The system according to claim 11, further comprising an application resource object that is configured to coordinate the handling of operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning functions.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said application resource object and said application database are each linked to said communications management object.

16. The system according to 11, wherein said application database is configured to determine a user'"'"'s Internet Protocol (IP) address.

17. The system according to claim 11, wherein said application database includes a data set to support a plurality of service applications.

18. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a phone markup language (PML) interpreter linked to the communications management object.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein said PML interpreter is configured to convert HTML-like commands into audio server requests.

20. The system according to claim 18, further comprising an application resource object that is configured to handle interactive voice response (IVR) applications.

21. The system according to claim 18, further comprising an application resource object that is configured to handle PML applications.

22. The system according to claim 21, wherein said PML applications include at least one of:

a banking application, a sales information application, a stock price application, or a weather application.

23. The system according to claim 18, further comprising an application resource object that is configured to handle order confirmation and tracking.