System and method for establishing PSTN calls via an IP request

• US 20050276409A1
• Filed: 06/14/2004
• Published: 12/15/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Patfield, Kevin M., Goldman, Stuart Owen
• Granted Patent: US 8,379,825 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 379/220.10
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/652 Call initiation triggered by text message
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42195 Arrangements for calling back a calling subscriber when the wanted subscriber ceases to be busy H04M3/48
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

A method of establishing a call over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) (20) is provided. The PSTN (20) includes an End Office (EO) (40) serving a calling party'"'"'s Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE) (10, 70). The method includes: receiving at a network element (22) of the PSTN (20) a message requesting establishment of the call over the PSTN (20), the message being received over a packet-switched network (30) and identifying the calling party'"'"'s CPE (10, 70) from which the call is to be placed; and, notifying the EO (40) serving the calling party'"'"'s CPE (10, 70) of the request for establishment of the call such that the EO (40) treats the call as a terminating call as opposed to an originating call.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a call over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), said PSTN including an End Office (EO) serving a calling party'"'"'s Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE), the method comprising:

(a) receiving at a network element of the PSTN a message requesting establishment of the call over the PSTN, said message being received over a packet-switched network and identifying the calling party'"'"'s CPE from which the call is to be placed; and

,

(b) notifying the EO serving the calling party'"'"'s CPE of the request for establishment of the call such that the EO treats establishment of the call like a terminating call as opposed to an originating call.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the EO'"'"'s treatment of the call includes alerting the calling party'"'"'s CPE.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the network element is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) Signaling Control Point (SCP).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the packet-switched network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the SCP includes an interface to the IP network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the calling party'"'"'s CPE is one of an IP hardphone or an IP softphone operatively connected to the IP network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein step (b) includes:

sending a Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) message to the EO over the PSTN.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein when a calling party answers the alerting CPE dial tone is provided by the EO to the calling party'"'"'s CPE such that the calling party may then use the calling party'"'"'s CPE to dial a telephone number of a called party to which the call is being placed.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the message also identifies a called party'"'"'s CPE to which the call is to be placed.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the called party'"'"'s CPE to checked to determine if it is free to receive the call before the calling party'"'"'s CPE is alerted.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein when a calling party answers their alerting CPE the call is automatically established with the called party'"'"'s CPE.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the message is sent from a computer connected to the packet-switched network and the call is automatically established with the calling party'"'"'s CPE, said calling party'"'"'s CPE being a device other than the computer.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the calling party'"'"'s CPE associated with a particular computer user is established from registration information associated with that user.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the calling party'"'"'s CPE to be used for the call is specified explicitly in the message.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said message is scheduled in advance to be sent to the network element at a designated time.

16. A system for establishing a call over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), said PSTN including an End Office (EO) serving a calling party'"'"'s Consumer Premises Equipment (CPE), the system comprising:

a network element within the PSTN for receiving a message requesting establishment of the call over the PSTN, said message being received over a packet-switched network and identifying the calling party'"'"'s CPE from which the call is to be placed; and

,

means for notifying the EO serving the calling party'"'"'s CPE of the request for establishment of the call such that the EO treats establishment of the call like a terminating call as opposed to an originating call.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the EO'"'"'s treatment of the call includes alerting the calling party'"'"'s CPE.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the network element is a Signaling System 7 (SS7) Signaling Control Point (SCP).

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the packet-switched network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the SCP includes an interface to the IP network.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the calling party'"'"'s CPE is one of an IP hardphone or an IP softphone operatively connected to the IP network.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the EO includes a class 5 telecommunications switch operatively bridged to the IP network via an IP gateway.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the EO includes a softswitch operatively connected to the IP network.