Method and apparatus for telephone routing between PTN and PSTN

• US 20070123218A1
• Filed: 01/23/2006
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Chiao Tung University (Government of The Republic of China), Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Original Assignee: National Chiao Tung University (Government of The Republic of China), Industrial Technology Research Institute
• Inventors: Liang, Ching-Feng, Lin, Yi-Bing, Chang, Ming-Feng
• Granted Patent: US 7,627,101 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.100
• 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 7/009 in systems involving PBX or KTS networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems

Abstract

Disclosed is a method and apparatus applicable to an interface between PSTN and PTN for telephone routing. The interface includes a branch switch, a key system, a network branch switch, and media gateway, etc. The telephone routing method and apparatus of the present invention creates, maintains, and utilizes a call-back routing table to enable a specified PSTN user to call the callback external leased line to reach a specified PTN user in a one-stage dialing manner. The process of one-stage dialing includes PTN call origination to PSTN, PSTN call origination to PTN, and callback tag insertion in the call-back routing table. The call-back routing table consists of a plurality of call-back tags. Each call-back tag consists of at least a data triple, i.e. PTN user identifier, PSTN called party telephone number, and callback leased line identifier.

Claims

1. A method for telephone routing between a private telephone network (PTN) and a public switched telephone network (PSTN), said method is applicable to an interface apparatus between said PSTN and said PTN, said interface apparatus connects to a least one PSTN by using a plurality of external lines, and also connects to a plurality of telephony devices via an intranet, when a PTN user make a call to a PSTN user, said telephone routing method comprises the steps of:

(a) creating and inserting a new call-back tag into a call-back routing table including a plurality of call-back tags;

(b) dividing all external lines connected to said PSTN into two sets, callback lines and non-callback lines; and

(c) searching said call-back table for said new inserted call-back tag, and directly connecting a corresponding PSTN called party number of said PSTN user to a corresponding PTN caller identifier of said PTN user via one of said external lines in a one-stage dialing scheme.

2. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said call-back tag comprises at least three fields, PTN caller identifier, PSTN called party number, and used external line number.

3. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein said one-stage dialing procedure includes said PTN call origination to said PSTN, said PSTN call origination to said PTN, and inserting call-back tags in said call-back routing table.

4. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in said PTN environment, a connection unit between said PSTN and said PTN is a network branch switch.

5. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein, in said PTN environment, a connection unit between said PSTN and said PTN is a media gateway.

6. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 3, wherein said PTN call origination to PSTN comprising the steps of:

(c11) receiving a call setup request from said PTN user indicating the called party number in said PSTN;

(c12) using said PTN caller identifier and said PSTN called party number as the key to search said call-back routing table;

(c13) checking if there is a matched call-back tag; and

(c14) if no matched call-back tag is found, then creating a new call-back tag, establishing the connection with an unused external line and inserting said new call-back tag into said call-back table.

7. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 3, wherein said PSTN call origination to said PTN comprising the steps of:

(c21) recognizing the identifier of the called party number of said PSTN and used external line number for said PSTN call origination to said PTN;

(c22) using said identifier of the called party number of said PSTN and used external line number as the key to search said call-back routing table;

(c23) if a matched call-back tag is found, then directly routing said PSTN call to said PTN user indicated by said PTN identifier in said found call-back tag; and

(c24) if no matched call-back tag is found, then routing said PSTN call to an interactive voice response.

8. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 3, wherein said inserting call-back tags in said call-back table is done by adding a new entry to said call-back table through a web page interface.

9. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 3, wherein said inserting callback tags in said callback table is done by adding a new entry to said callback table through a voice interface.

10. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein said PSTN is either a cable PSTN or a wireless mobile phone network.

11. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein said interface apparatus includes a branch switch, a key system, a network branch switch, and a media gateway.

12. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein said call-back table is a storage media that resides on said interface apparatus.

13. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein said callback routing table is initialized as an empty table when said interface apparatus resets.

14. The method for telephone routing between a PTN and a PSTN as claimed in claim 1, wherein said callback routing table is initialized with a preset call-back table loaded from a memory device when said interface apparatus resets.

15. An apparatus for telephone routing between a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and a private telephone network (PTN), comprising:

an interface unit that connects to at least one PSTN via a plurality of external lines, and connects to a plurality of internal telephony devices via an intranet, and provides the calling/receiving functions between an internal telephony device and a PSTN user; and

a storage media that stores a callback table including a plurality of callback tags;

wherein said telephone routing apparatus utilizes said callback tags to enable a PSTN user reaches its corresponding PTN user in a one-stage dialing scheme.

16. The apparatus for telephone routing as claimed in claim 15, wherein said interface unit includes an interface facility that includes a branch switch, a key system, a network branch switch, and a media gateway.

17. The apparatus for telephone routing as claimed in claim 15, wherein said plurality of external lines are divided into at least two sets, one for call-back lines, and one for non-call-back lines.

18. The apparatus for telephone routing as claimed in claim 15, wherein said storage media includes a memory facility, a web page interface, and a voice interface.

19. The apparatus for telephone routing as claimed in claim 15, wherein said internal telephony device is a network telephone.

20. The apparatus for telephone routing as claimed in claim 15, wherein each said call-back tag consists of at least three fields that are the PTN caller'"'"'s identity, the PSTN called party number, and the external line number used for the call.