System and method for location management and emergency support for a voice over internet protocol device

• US 20070115935A1
• Filed: 11/23/2005
• Published: 05/24/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Qiu, Chaoxin, Dailey, Robert, Zampiello, Geoffrey, Allen, Keith, Khan, Richard
• Granted Patent: US 7,639,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/34 Signalling channels for network management communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/10 of different types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/45 Network directories; Name-to-address mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/006 Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42

Abstract

In a particular embodiment a system and method for processing a call in a Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) network are disclosed. The method includes receiving the call associated with a private identifier (PRID) at a server, classifying a call location based on the PRID and sending the call from the server to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) with a call back number associated with the PRID. The system includes a first server interface for receiving a message containing a PRID associated with the call, a second server interface to access the data base for searching for the PRID in the data structure; a third server interface to receive an output from the database indicating whether a PRID has been found in the data structure; and a fourth server interface to send the call to a PSAP.

Claims

1. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method for processing a call in a Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) network, the method comprising:

receiving a private identifier (PRID) associated with the call at a server;

classifying a call location mobility based on the PRID; and

sending the call from the server to a public safety answering point (PSAP) with a call back number (CBN) associated with the PRID.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein in the method, the PRID comprises a user equipment (UE) device identifier, the method further comprising:

reading a flag in a data structure associated with the PRID to determine if the UE associated with the PRID is at one of the set consisting of a fixed location and a visiting location; and

if the UE is at the fixed location, updating an internet protocol (IP) address in the data structure for all VoIP devices having the same VoIP gateway identifier (VGID) as the UE associated with the PRID with the IP address for the UE associated with the PRID; and

sending a CBN associated with the fixed location for the UE.

3. The medium of claim 2, wherein the method further comprises:

comparing a VoIP access port internet protocol address for the visiting location with a public internet protocol address in the data structure for the PRID, if the UE is at the visiting location, to determine if the VoIP access port is at a known location; and

returning a call back number for the VoIP access port if the VoIP access port is at a known location.

4. The medium of claim 3, the method further comprising:

inserting a location not verified disclaimer in the call when the VoIP access port location is not at a known location.

5. The medium of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises:

requesting a location further from at least one of a set consisting of a caller, global positioning system (GPS), wireless fidelity (WIFI) proximity, cellular triangulation, WIFI proximity and a national database.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein in the method the PRID is received in a session initiation protocol (SIP) message from a VoIP device to the server.

7. A system for processing a call in a Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) network comprising:

a database in memory for storing a data structure for classifying a location mobility of a device associated with the call;

a server coupled to the database, the server comprising;

a first server interface to receive a message containing a PRID associated with the call;

a second server interface access the data base for searching for the PRID in the data structure;

a third server interface to receive an output from the database indicating whether a PRID has been found in the data structure; and

a fourth server interface to send the call to a PSAP.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first server interface receives a session initiation protocol (SIP) message containing the PRID from a VoIP device.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

a computer readable medium accessible to the server; and

a computer program embedded within the computer readable medium, the computer program comprising;

instructions to compare the PRID to a PRID field in the data structure; and

instructions to read a flag in the data structure associated with the PRID to determine if the PRID is associated with a fixed location.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

a computer readable medium accessible to the server; and

a computer program embedded within the computer readable medium, the computer program comprising;

instructions to retrieve the VG ID associated with a PRID; and

instructions to further retrieve all other VoIP devices from the database that are associated with the same VG ID.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer program further comprises:

instructions to compare a VoIP access port internet protocol address with an internet protocol address for the PRID to determine if the VoIP access port is at a known location; and

instructions to return a call back number for the VoIP access port when the VoIP access port is at a known location.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the computer program further comprises

instructions to insert a location not verified disclaimer in the call when the VoIP gateway location is not known.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computer program further comprises

instructions to request a location further from at least one of a set consisting of a caller, global positioning system (GPS), WIFI, triangulation and a national database.

15. The medium of claim 13 wherein the data structure further comprises:

a public internet protocol address field for storing a public internet address for the calling device.

16. The medium of claim 13 wherein the data structure further comprises:

a VoIP gateway identifier (VGID) field for storing a VGID associated with the calling device.

18. The medium of claim 16, wherein in the method the PRID is contained in a session initiation protocol message from a VoIP device to the server.

19. The medium of claim 16, wherein in the method, classifying the call location further comprises:

comparing the PRID to a PRID field in a data structure in a server database; and

reading a flag in the data structure associated with the PRID to determine if the PRID is associated with a fixed location.

20. The medium of claim 18, wherein comparing the PRID to a PRID field in the data structure further comprises:

comparing a VoIP access port internet protocol address with a public internet protocol address for the PRID to determine if the VoIP access port associated with the PRID is at a known location; and

returning a call back number for the VoIP access port when the VoIP access port is at a known location.

21. The medium of claim 19, the method further comprising:

inserting a location not verified disclaimer in the call when the VoIP access port location is not at a known location.

14. A computer readable medium having stored thereon a data structure for storing identification information for a VoIP user equipment, the data structure:

a private identifier field for storing a private identifier associated with the UE; and

an internal flag field for storing an flag indicating a UE is a fixed location UE.

17. A computer readable medium containing instructions that when executed by a computer perform a method for sending a call in a Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) network, the method comprising:

sending a private identifier (PRID) for a user equipment (UE) associated with the call to a server for classifying a call location based on the PRID; and

sending the call to a public safety answering point (PSAP).