COMMUNICATION FAILOVER IN A DISTRIBUTED NETWORK

• US 20140325258A1
• Filed: 06/25/2013
• Published: 10/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Mendiratta, Harsh V., Ravipati, Chandra, Baldwin, Christopher D., Meis, Rickie E., Rolfs, Mark T.
• Granted Patent: US 9,426,021 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/4.11
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2002 where interconnections or communication control functionality are redundant flexible arrangements for bus networks involving redundancy H04L12/40176
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0668 by dynamic selection of recovery network elements, e.g. replacement by the most appropriate element after failure

Abstract

An initial request is received to establish a communication session. The initial request contains a communication address of a first communication device. A communication server detects that the communication session cannot be established across a primary network. In response, the initial request is repurposed by changing the first communication address to a second communication address. The changed request is sent to a communication system, which adds a field to the changed request that indicates that the changed request is to be sent via a secondary network. The changed request is sent with the field to the communication server. The changed request with the second communication address is sent to a gateway to establish the communication session across a secondary network. A portion of the communication session is established using the second communication address. The first communication address is sent in the portion of the communication session using Dual-Tone-Multi-Frequency (DTMF).

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving an initial request, from a second communication device, to establish a communication session with a first communication device across a primary network, wherein the initial request comprises a first communication address of the first communication device;

detecting, in a communication server or a communication system, that the communication session across the primary network cannot be established;

in response to detecting that the communication session across the primary network cannot be established, repurposing the initial request by changing the first communication address in the initial request to a second communication address;

sending the changed request to the communication system;

adding, by the communication system or the communication server, a field to the changed request that contains a parameter that indicates that the changed request is to be sent via a secondary network; and

sending the changed request with at least the second communication address to a gateway to establish the communication session across the secondary network;

establishing a portion of the communication session using the second communication address; and

sending the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using Dual-Tone-Multi-Frequency (DTMF).

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the changed request with the field to the communication server; and

completing establishment of the communication session with the second communication device using the first communication address.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending an identifier in the portion of the communication session using DTMF, wherein the identifier is used to distinguish between a failover communication and a regular communication.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a pass code; and

in response to receiving the pass code, sending the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using in-band signaling.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second communication address is a designated address for failover communications.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial request to establish the communication session across the primary network is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) request and wherein the secondary network is a Public Switched Telephone Network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a remote communication system related to the communication address of the first communication device does not support the sending of the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using DTMF; and

in response to determining that the remote communication system related to the communication address of the first communication device does not support the sending of the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using DTMF, directly calling the remote communication system on the secondary network using the first network address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication address cannot be directly dialed from the secondary network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the primary network is an Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN) or an H.323 network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial request is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE and wherein the second address is in a SIP invocation attachment.

11. A system comprising:

a communication server configured to receive an initial request, from a second communication device, to establish a communication session with a first communication device across a primary network, wherein the initial request comprises a first communication address of the first communication device, detect that the communication session across the primary network cannot be established, repurposing the initial request by changing the first communication address in the initial request to a second communication address in response to detecting that the communication session across the primary network cannot be established, send the changed request to a communication system, and send the changed request with at least the second communication address to a gateway to establish the communication session across a secondary network;

the communication system configured to add a field to the changed request that contains a parameter that indicates that the changed request is to be sent via the secondary network and send the changed request with the field to the communication server, and send the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using Dual-Tone-Multi-Frequency (DTMF); and

the gateway configured to initiate establishment of a portion of the communication session using the second communication address.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication system is further configured to complete establishment of the communication session with the second communication device using the first communication address.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication system is further configured to send an identifier in the portion of the communication session using DTMF, wherein the identifier is used to distinguish between a failover communication and a regular communication.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication system is further configured to receive a pass code and in response to receiving the pass code, send the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using in-band signaling.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the second communication address is a designated address for failover communications.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the initial request to establish the communication session across the primary network is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) request and wherein the secondary network is a Public Switched Telephone Network.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the communication system is further configured to determine that a remote communication system related to the communication address of the first communication device does not support the sending of the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using DTMF and directly call the remote communication system on the secondary network using the first network address in response to determining that the remote communication system related to the communication address of the first communication device does not support the sending of the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using DTMF.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the first communication address cannot be directly dialed from the secondary network.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the primary network is an Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN) or an H.323 network.

20. A non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that cause a processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

instructions to receive an initial request, from a second communication device, to establish a communication session with a first communication device across a primary network, wherein the initial request comprises a first communication address of the first communication device;

instructions to detect, in a communication server or a communication system, that the communication session across the primary network cannot be established;

in response to detecting that the communication session across the primary network cannot be established, instructions to repurpose the initial request by changing the first communication address in the initial request to a second communication address;

instructions to send the changed request to the communication system;

instructions to add, by the communication system or the communication server, a field to the changed request that contains a parameter that indicates that the changed request is to be sent via a secondary network; and

instructions to send the changed request with at least the second communication address a gateway to establish the communication session across the secondary network;

instructions to establish a portion of the communication session using the second communication address; and

instructions to send the first communication address in the portion of the communication session using Dual-Tone-Multi-Frequency (DTMF).