ACCESS INDEPENDENT COMMON ARCHITECTURE FOR REAL-TIME COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES FOR NETWORKING ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20080056243A1
• Filed: 10/29/2007
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alireza Faryar, Barbara Kittredge, Enrique Cuevas, Karen Mcgregor-Barnes, Larry Russell, Magda Nassar, Marian Croak, Radhika Roy, Samuel Glazer, Siroos Afshar, Steve Fisher
• Original Assignee: Alireza Faryar, Barbara Kittredge, Enrique Cuevas, Karen Mcgregor-Barnes, Larry Russell, Magda Nassar, Marian Croak, Radhika Roy, Samuel Glazer, Siroos Afshar, Steve Fisher
• Inventors: Roy, Radhika, Kittredge, Barbara, Nassar, Magda, Cuevas, Enrique, Croak, Marian, Afshar, Siroos, Fisher, Steve, Faryar, Alireza, McGregor-Barnes, Karen, Glazer, Samuel, Russell, Larry
• Granted Patent: US 8,625,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1245 where a network other than PSTN/ISDN interconnects two PSTN/ISDN networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/126 Interworking of session control protocols

Abstract

An access architecture for real-time communications is described. The architecture includes an inter-architecture network utilizing a single protocol, a plurality of border elements in communication with the inter-architecture network and with an external network, and one or more call control elements in communication with said inter-architecture network. The external network utilizes any of a variety of known networking technologies and protocols. The inter-architecture network utilizes a single protocol such as SIP. The present architecture provides a single common infrastructure for offering real-time communications services independent of call control protocols and networking technologies.

Claims

1. A method of placing a call using an access architecture for real-time communications, comprising:

connecting a caller'"'"'s phone to a first border element (BE);

communicating a request for a destination phone number from said first BE to a call control element (CCE);

communicating between said CCE and a second BE connected to a destination phone;

establishing a call between said caller'"'"'s phone and said destination phone;

receiving a hangup message from said destination phone;

communicating a hangup message to said first BE; and

disconnecting said caller'"'"'s phone from said first BE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said caller'"'"'s phone is connected to a first BE using an access-specific technology comprising at least one of:

Internet Protocol (IP), Ethernet, Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Frame Relay (FR), or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said caller'"'"'s phone is connected to a first BE using an access-specific protocol comprising at least one of:

Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), H.323, or ISDN User Part (ISUP).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating said request for said destination phone number comprises sending an INVITE command to the CCE.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating between said CCE and said second BE comprises sending an INVITE command to said second BE.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a call between said caller'"'"'s phone and said destination phone comprises establishing communications between said caller'"'"'s phone and a first BE, establishing communications between said first BE and said CCE, establishing communications between said CCE and said second BE, and establishing communications between said second BE and said destination phone.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving said hangup message from said destination phone comprises sending a BYE command from said second BE to said CCE.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating said hangup message to said first BE comprises sending a BYE command from said CCE to said first BE.