METHOD OF SIZING PACKETS FOR ROUTING OVER A COMMUNICATION NETWORK FOR VOIP CALLS ON A PER CALL BASIS

• US 20080031229A1
• Filed: 10/11/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property II LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: MICHELSON, STEVEN, Robinson, Jerry, Russell, Larry
• Granted Patent: US 8,199,762 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/36 by determining packet size, e.g. maximum transfer unit [MTU]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1245 where a network other than PSTN/ISDN interconnects two PSTN/ISDN networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1275 Methods and means to improve the telephone service quality, e.g. reservation, prioritisation or admission control

Abstract

A method for reducing latency of VoIP communications while efficiently using network resources and maintaining voice quality. This is achieved by managing packet size on a per-call basis, using factors such as distance between gateways, current backbone network status, service requested or access mechanism for a given call is disclosed. Packet size is selected on a per-call basis based on the distance between endpoints in the call. If the endpoints are far apart, the selected packet size is small. If the endpoints are close together, the selected packet size is large.

Claims

1. A method for sizing packets over a network on a per communication basis, the method comprising:

receiving a request for a communication to be setup to a destination;

determining an originating gateway and a terminating gateway to be involved in the communication;

selecting a packet size for packets associated with a voice communication to be communicated between the originating gateway and the terminating gateway;

commanding the originating gateway to establish a packet stream comprising the selected packet size toward the terminating gateway; and

commanding the terminating gateway to establish a packet stream comprising the selected packet size toward the originating gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting a packet size comprises calculating a distance between the originating gateway and terminating gateway.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the distance is calculated based on a vertical coordinate and a horizontal coordinate associated with the terminating gateway.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the vertical coordinate and the horizontal coordinate are provisioned manually.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the vertical coordinate and the horizontal coordinate are determined by a global positioning system.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein said calculating the distance comprises:

assigning zones in the network; and

determining how many zones are between the originating gateway and terminating gateway.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein said calculating the distance comprises:

establishing a first data pair comprising a first Destination Point Code (DPC) and a first Circuit Identification Code (CIC) to identify a location for the originating gateway;

establishing a second data pair comprising a second DPC and a second CIC to identify a location for the terminating gateway; and

using the first data pair and the second data pair to determine the distance between the originating gateway and the terminating gateway.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the packet size is selected in accordance with at least one of:

an end-to-end delay between the originating gateway and the terminating gateway is less than a fixed value, based on a location of the originating gateway, based on a location of the terminating gateway, based on a congestion in the network, based on available routes in the network between the originating gateway and terminating gateway, based on an existing delay in the network, or based on a class of service.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said class of service is defined by an amount paid per communication by a user or is defined by an access mechanism utilized by said user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the access mechanism comprises at least one of:

a wireless device, a digital subscriber line, a cable modem or a dial-up access.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless device identifies its geographic location to the network.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is an Internet Protocol (IP) network.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication is a Voice over IP (VoIP) call or a voice-band data call.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein a parameter in a signaling message is used to communicate information to be used in determining a distance between the originating gateway and the terminating gateway.

15. A method for sizing packets over a network on a per communication basis, said communication being communicated between a calling party and a called party via a gateway, the method comprising:

acquiring data from the gateway, said data comprising location data for the gateway;

sending the data to a soft switch based on a predefined parameter;

receiving additional data from the soft switch relating to a second gateway;

determining a packet size for the communication based on the data about the gateways; and

instructing the gateway to use packets of said packet size for the communication.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said soft switch is an originating soft switch and the second gateway is an originating gateway.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said soft switch is a terminating soft switch and the second gateway is a terminating gateway.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said predefined parameter is a distance measurement between the gateway and the second gateway.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the distance measurement is calculated based on a vertical coordinate and a horizontal coordinate associated with the second gateway.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the vertical coordinate and the horizontal coordinate are provisioned manually.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the vertical coordinate and the horizontal coordinate are determined by a global positioning system.

22. A method for sizing packets over a network on a per communication basis, said communication being communicated in a packet stream between a calling party and a called party via a gateway, the method comprising:

acquiring data from the packet stream flowing across the gateway;

determining a packet size for the communication based on the data acquired from the packet stream; and

using packets of the determined packet size for the communication.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the acquired data represents at least one of:

a delay incurred by the packet stream, a jitter incurred by the packet stream, or a loss incurred by the packet stream.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the packets are Internet Protocol (IP) packets.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the packet stream is a Real Time Protocol (RTP) stream or an Real Time Control Protocol (RTCP) stream.