IP telephony apparatus providing simultaneous SIP communication for multiple IP phones and method for the same

• US 20060072546A1
• Filed: 09/24/2004
• Published: 04/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Zyxel Communications Corporation (Unizyx Holding Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Zyxel Communications Corporation (Unizyx Holding Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Chi-Wen
• Granted Patent: US 7,609,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1026 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1036 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

An IP telephony apparatus provides simultaneous SIP communication for multiple IP phones and a method is proposed for the same. The IP telephony apparatus comprises a network connection port connected to a network; a plurality of telephone connection ports connected to a plurality of telephone sets; a voice codec unit connected to the telephone connection ports and used for converting a voice signal to a digital voice packet and for converting a digital voice packet to a voice signal; and an IP telephony allocation unit connected to the network connection port and the plurality of telephone connection ports. The IP telephony allocation unit creates an SIP control block containing an SIP call-leg for a local SIP number, and allocates the SIP control block to a destination telephone set according to the SIP call-leg, whereby the telephone sets have bi-directional digital voice packet transmission with a remote SIP number.

Claims

1. An IP telephony apparatus providing simultaneous SIP communication for multiple IP phones, the IP telephony apparatus comprising:

a network connection port connected to a network;

a plurality of telephone connection ports connected to a plurality of telephone sets;

a voice codec unit connected to the telephone connection ports and used for converting a voice signal to a digital voice packet and for converting a digital voice packet to a voice signal; and

an IP telephony allocation unit connected to the network connection port and the plurality of telephone connection ports, the IP telephony allocation unit creating an SIP control block containing an SIP call-leg for a local SIP number, and allocating the SIP control block to a destination telephone set according to the SIP call-leg, whereby the telephone sets have bi-directional digital voice packet transmission with a remote SIP number.

2. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the IP telephony apparatus is one of IP gateway, ADSL modem, cable modem and a wireless network access point.

3. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the network is Internet.

4. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the network connection port is an RJ-45 jack.

5. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein each of the telephone connection port is a PSTN RJ-11 jack.

6. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the voice codec unit is a digital signal processor.

7. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, further comprising:

an FXS (Foreign eXchange Station) interface unit connected between the telephone connection ports and the voice codec unit and producing an FXS simulation signal for simulating a PSTN telephone line signal, whereby the telephone connection ports are directly connected to telephone set, fax or telephone line of PBX.

8. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of telephone line connection ports connected to extension lines of PBX or telephone line of central exchange; and

an FXO (Foreign eXchange Office) interface unit connected between the telephone line connection ports and the voice codec unit and producing an FXO simulation signal for simulating a telephone set signal.

9. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the IP telephony allocation unit is an SIP processor to process SIP phone packet.

10. The IP telephony apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the SIP call-leg comprises a call from field, a call to field and a call-ID field.

11. A method providing simultaneous communication for multiple IP phones, the method being used for an IP telephony apparatus connected to a network and a plurality of telephone sets, the IP telephony apparatus adopting SIP protocol and using a local SIP number for communication, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) dialing a remote SIP number with at least one telephone set;

(b) finding a local SIP number for communication with the remote SIP number by a mapped policy means;

(c) creating at least one SIP control block containing an SIP call-leg for the local SIP number; and

(d) allocating the SIP control block to the dialing telephone set according to the SIP call-leg and establishing a bi-directional digital voice packet transmission between the dialing telephone set and the remote SIP number.

12. The method as in claim 11, wherein the IP telephony apparatus is one of IP gateway, ADSL modem, cable modem and a wireless network access point.

13. The method as in claim 11, wherein the network is Internet.

14. The method as in claim 11, wherein the telephone set is a PSTN telephone set.

15. The method as in claim 11, wherein the SIP call-leg in step (c) comprises a call from field, a call to field and a call-ID field.

16. The method as in claim 11, further comprising steps before the step (c):

examining whether an SIP control block is present;

executing the step (c) if the SIP control block is not present; and

skipping the step (d) and executing the step (d) if the SIP control block is present.

17. A method providing simultaneous communication for multiple IP phones, the method being used for an IP telephony apparatus connected to a network and a plurality of telephone sets, the IP telephony apparatus adopting SIP protocol and using a local SIP number for communication, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a phone call from a remote SIP number for calling a local SIP number;

(b) creating at least one SIP control block containing an SIP call-leg for a telephone group containing a plurality of telephone sets for making a ringing for all telephone sets in the telephone group;

(c) when a telephone set of the telephone group being off hook, allocating the SIP control block to the off-hook telephone set and blocking the SIP control block from connecting to other telephone sets to establish a bi-directional digital voice packet transmission between the off-hook telephone set and the remote SIP number.

18. The method as in claim 17, wherein the IP telephony apparatus is one of IP gateway, ADSL modem, cable modem and a wireless network access point.

19. The method as in claim 17, wherein the network is Internet.

20. The method as in claim 17, wherein the telephone set is a PSTN telephone set.

21. The method as in claim 17, wherein the SIP call-leg comprises a call from field, a call to field and a call-ID field.

22. The method as in claim 17, further comprising steps before the step (b):

examining whether an SIP control block is present;

executing the step (b) if the SIP control block is not present; and

skipping the step (c) and executing the step (b) if the SIP control block is present.