DETERMINING CAPACITY OF VIRTUAL DEVICES IN A VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL SYSTEM

• US 20170026310A1
• Filed: 09/30/2016
• Published: 01/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ShoreTel Incorporated (Mitel Networks Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Dohoon, Yin, Howard
• Granted Patent: US 10,027,599 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/781 Centralised allocation of resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/80 Actions related to the user profile or the type of traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS

Abstract

A method for determining a capacity of a virtual machine in a VoIP system includes determining a resource configuration of the virtual machine including a number of CPU cores, a CPU clock rate, or a memory size. The virtual machine may be configured as a trunk, conference bridge, phone switch, session border controller, router, or another device in the VoIP system. The method also includes sending the resource configuration from the virtual machine to a VoIP system configuration application. The VoIP system configuration application may be an application running on the virtual machine or an application running on a server separate from the virtual machine. At the VoIP system configuration application, a capacity of the virtual machine is determined based on the resource configuration. The capacity may determine a number and type of telephony features supported by the telephony device in the VoIP system.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a virtual machine in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, determining a first resource configuration of the virtual machine including a number of central processing unit (CPU) cores, a CPU clock rate, and a memory size allocated to the virtual machine;

sending the first resource configuration from the virtual machine to a VoIP system configuration application;

at the VoIP system configuration application, determining a first capacity of the virtual machine based on the first resource configuration, the first capacity determining a first number of conference ports supported by the virtual machine;

at the virtual machine, determining a second resource configuration of the virtual machine, the second resource configuration being different from the first resource configuration and resulting from a change in at least one of the number of CPU cores, the CPU clock rate, or the memory size allocated to the virtual machine;

sending the second resource configuration from the virtual machine to the VoIP system configuration application; and

at the VoIP system configuration application, determining a second capacity of the virtual machine based on the new resource configuration, the second capacity determining a second number of conference ports supported by the virtual machine that is different from the first number of conference ports supported by the virtual machine.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the VoIP system configuration application is an application running on the virtual machine.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first resource configuration of the virtual machine is changed to the second resource configuration by changing at least one of the number of CPU cores, the CPU clock rate, or the memory size allocated to the virtual machine.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the memory size includes at least one of random access memory (RAM) or hard disk memory allocated to the virtual machine.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first number of conference ports and the second number of conference ports include at least one of a number of audio conference ports, a number of video conference ports, or a number of web conference ports.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at the VoIP system configuration application, assigning the virtual machine to a site of a plurality of sites in the VoIP system, the assignment determining a primary association between endpoints within the site and the virtual machine.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the first capacity and the second capacity also determine at least one of a number instant messaging users supported by the virtual machine, a number of conference calls supported by the virtual machine, or a number of conference recordings supported by the virtual machine.

8. A method comprising:

at a virtual machine in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, determining a first resource configuration of the virtual machine including a number of central processing unit (CPU) cores, a CPU clock rate, and a memory size allocated to the virtual machine;

sending the first resource configuration from the virtual machine to a VoIP system configuration application;

at the VoIP system configuration application, determining a first capacity of the virtual machine based on the first resource configuration, the first capacity determining a first number of phones supported by the virtual machine; and

at the virtual machine, determining a second resource configuration of the virtual machine, the second resource configuration being different from the first resource configuration and resulting from a change in at least one of the number of CPU cores, the CPU clock rate, or the memory size allocated to the virtual machine;

sending the second resource configuration from the virtual machine to the VoIP system configuration application; and

at the VoIP system configuration application, determining a second capacity of the virtual machine based on the new resource configuration, the second capacity determining a second number of phones supported by the virtual machine that is different from the first number of phones supported by the virtual machine.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the memory size includes at least one of random access memory (RAM) or hard disk memory allocated to the virtual machine.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein:

the virtual machine is configured as a phone switch for providing telephony services;

the first capacity and the second capacity also determine at least one of a number of hunt groups supported by the phone switch, a number of workgroups supported by the phone switch, a number of backup auto attendant menus supported by the phone switch, a number of make-me conference sessions supported by the phone switch, or a number of bridged call appearance extensions supported by the phone switch.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

at the VoIP system configuration application, assigning the virtual machine to a site of a plurality of sites in the VoIP system, the assignment determining a primary association between phones within the site and the virtual machine.

12. A method comprising:

at a virtual machine in a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, determining a first resource configuration of the virtual machine including at least one of a number of central processing unit (CPU) cores, a CPU clock rate, or a memory size;

sending the first resource configuration from the virtual machine to a VoIP system configuration application;

at the VoIP system configuration application, determining a first capacity of the virtual machine based on the first resource configuration, the first capacity determining a first number and type of telephony features supported by the virtual machine;

at the virtual machine, determining a second resource configuration of the virtual machine, the second resource configuration being different from the first resource configuration and resulting from a change in at least one of the number of CPU cores, the CPU clock rate, or the memory size allocated to the virtual machine;

sending the second resource configuration from the virtual machine to the VoIP system configuration application; and

at the VoIP system configuration application, determining a second capacity of the virtual machine based on the second resource configuration, the second capacity determining a second number and type of telephony features supported by the virtual machine that is different from the first number and type of telephony features supported by the virtual machine.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the memory size includes at least one of random access memory (RAM) or hard disk memory allocated to the virtual machine.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the virtual machine is configured as a phone switch in the VoIP system.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the first capacity and the second capacity determine at least one of a number of phones supported by the phone switch, a number of hunt groups supported by the phone switch, a number of workgroups supported by the phone switch, a number of backup auto attendant menus supported by the phone switch, a number of make-me conference sessions supported by the phone switch, or a number of bridged call appearance extensions supported by the phone switch.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the virtual machine is configured as a trunk, and the first capacity and the second capacity determine a number of SIP trunks supported by the trunk.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the virtual machine is configured as a conference bridge.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the first capacity and the second capacity determine at least one of a number of audio conference ports supported by the conference bridge, a number of web conference ports supported by the conference bridge, or a number instant messaging users supported by the conference bridge.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the virtual machine is configured as either a session border controller or a router.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the VoIP system configuration application is an application running on the virtual machine.