SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SEAMLESS COMMUNICATIONS RECOVERY AND BACKUP USING NETWORKED COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• US 20120239822A1
• Filed: 11/22/2011
• Published: 09/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disaster Recovery Center, Inc., Telecom Recovery
• Original Assignee: Telecom Recovery
• Inventors: Poulson, Chris Stewart, Gledhill, James Rex, Ruff, Timothy Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,775,674 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/239
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0654 using network fault recovery ring fault isolation or reconfiguration in loop networks without recovery actions by a network management system H04L12/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/28 using route fault recovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/04 for emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42314 in private branch exchanges
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13145 Rerouting upon failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13166 Fault prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13167 Redundant apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1337 Operator, emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0079 involving restoration of networks, e.g. disaster recovery, self-healing networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 Traffic distributors

Abstract

A recovery network may provide communication recovery and backup services to an organization. The organization may comprise an internal network, such as Internet Protocol (IP) network. An alternative communication path communicatively couples communication devices of the organization to a public communication network. A recovery application operates on devices of the organization. The recovery network receives periodic availability indicators from devices within the organization. The recovery network identifies a communication endpoint of the intended recipient of a communication request using the availability indicators.

Claims

1. A recovery network to provide communication services, comprising:

an alternative communication path configured to couple an internal network of an organization to a public communication network, wherein the alternative communication path communicatively couples the internal network to the public communication network independent of one or more primary communication paths coupling the internal network to the public communication network; and

a soft switch configured to receive availability indicators from endpoint devices, wherein one or more of the availability indicators are received via the alternative communication path from endpoint devices communicatively coupled to the internal network of the organization;

wherein the soft switch is configured to receive a communication request directed to an intended recipient of the organization;

wherein the soft switch is configured to identify an endpoint device associated with the intended recipient using the availability indicators; and

wherein the soft switch is configured to service the communication request using the identified endpoint device, the public communication network, and the alternative communication path.

2. The recovery network of claim 1, wherein the alternative communication path comprises one of a satellite network and a wireless network.

3. The recovery network of claim 1, wherein the alternative communication path couples an Internet protocol (IP) network of the organization to the public communication network.

4. The recovery network of claim 3, wherein the soft switch receives availability indicators from IP-enabled endpoint devices communicatively coupled to the soft switch through the alternative communication path.

5. The recovery network of claim 1, wherein an availability indicator comprises one of a user identifier and a role, and wherein the soft switch identifies the endpoint device for the communication request by matching the intended recipient to one of the user identifier and the role.

6. The recovery network of claim 1, wherein the soft switch is configured to access recovery rules that define a plurality of endpoint devices associated with the intended recipient, wherein the soft switch is configured to select a first one of the endpoint devices associated with the intended recipient based upon the availability indicators and to service the communication request using the first endpoint device.

7. The recovery network of claim 6, wherein the soft switch is configured to select a second one of the endpoint devices associated with the intended recipient in response to a failure in servicing the communication request using the first endpoint device, wherein the first and the second endpoint devices are selected based upon a respective priority of the plurality of endpoint devices associated with the intended recipient and the availability indicators.

8. The recovery network of claim 1, wherein an availability indicator is received from a recovery application operating a computing device communicatively coupled to one of the public communication network and the internal network of the organization.

9. The recovery network of claim 1, wherein the communication request comprises a mass notification message directed to a plurality of intended recipients, and wherein the soft switch is configured to identify endpoint devices associated with the intended recipients of the mass notification message using the availability indicators and to transmit the mass notification message to each of the identified endpoint devices.

10. The recovery network of claim 9, wherein the soft switch is configured to receive a confirmation message indicating that an intended recipient received the mass notification message, and wherein the soft switch continues transmitting the mass notification message to the identified endpoint devices until a confirmation message is received from a threshold number of the intended recipients.

11. The recovery network of claim 9, wherein the soft switch is configured to identify a plurality of endpoint devices associated with one of the intended recipients of the mass notification message, and wherein the soft switch transmits the mass notification message to one or more of the plurality of endpoint devices until receiving a confirmation message from the one intended recipient.

12. A method for providing communication services to an organization, comprising:

receiving a plurality of availability indicators at a soft switch operating on a computing device comprising a processor and a memory, each availability indicator corresponding to a respective communication endpoint of the organization;

receiving a communication request directed to an intended recipient of the organization;

identifying an endpoint device to service the communication request using the availability indicators; and

servicing the communication request using the identified endpoint device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

providing an alternative communication path to communicatively couple a network of the organization to the soft switch; and

receiving one or more of the availability indicators via the alternative communication path.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein each availability indicator is associated with one of a user identifier and a role, and wherein the endpoint device is selected by matching the intended recipient of the communication request with one of the user identifier and role of an availability indicator.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the intended recipient of the communication request is identified by one of a role and a user identifier.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the intended recipient of the communication request is associated with a plurality of endpoint devices, the method further comprising:

selecting one of the plurality of endpoint devices based on the availability indicators and a relative priority of the plurality of endpoint devices; and

servicing the communication request using the selected endpoint device.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the communication request comprises a mass notification message directed to a plurality of intended recipients, the method further comprising:

identifying a plurality of endpoint devices using the availability indicators, each endpoint device associated with an intended recipient of the mass notification message; and

transmitting the mass notification message to the plurality of identified endpoint devices.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a confirmation message indicating that an intended recipient received the mass notification message; and

continuing to transmit the mass notification message to one or more of the plurality of identified endpoint devices until a confirmation message is received from a threshold number of the intended recipients.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

identifying a plurality of endpoint devices associated with one of the intended recipients of the mass notification message; and

transmitting the mass notification message to one or more of the plurality of endpoint devices until receiving a confirmation message indicating that the one intended recipient has received the mass notification message.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions to cause a computing device to perform a method for providing communication services to an organization, the organization comprising an internal network in communication with a public communication network via one or more primary communication paths, the method comprising:

providing an alternative communication path to communicatively couple the internal network of the organization to the public communication network independent of the one or more primary communication paths;

receiving a plurality of availability indicators, each availability indicator corresponding to a respective communication endpoint of the organization, wherein one or more of the availability indicators are received via the internal network of the organization and the alternative communication path;

receiving a communication request via the public communication network directed to an intended recipient of the organization;

identifying an endpoint device to service the communication request using the availability indicators; and

servicing the communication request using the identified endpoint device, the internal communication network of the organization, and the alternative communication path.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the communication request comprises a mass notification message directed to a plurality of intended recipients, the method further comprising:

identifying a plurality of endpoint devices using the availability indicators, each endpoint device associated with an intended recipient of the mass notification message;

transmitting the mass notification message to the plurality of endpoint devices;

receiving confirmation messages indicating that an intended recipient received the mass notification message; and

continuing to transmit the mass notification message to the plurality of endpoint devices until receiving a confirmation message from a threshold number of the intended recipients.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein a first subset of the plurality of endpoint devices are communicatively coupled to the public communication network and a second subset of the plurality of endpoint devices are not communicatively coupled to the public communication network, the method further comprising:

transmitting the mass notification message to the first subset of endpoint devices using the public communication network; and

transmitting the mass notification message to the second subset of endpoint devices using the alternative communication path.