PRODUCING ROUTING MESSAGES FOR VOICE OVER IP COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20170111265A1
• Filed: 12/30/2016
• Published: 04/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.
• Inventors: Perreault, Clay, Nicholson, Steve, Thomson, Rod, Bjrsell, Johan Emil Viktor, Arafa, Fuad
• Granted Patent: US 9,813,330 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 39/39558 against tumor tissues, cells, antigens
• CPC Class Codes: A61K 45/06 Mixtures of active ingredients without chemical characterisation, e.g. antiphlogistics and cardiaca
• CPC Class Codes: C07K 16/18 against material from animals or humans
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1439 time-based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1496 involving discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/3065 for real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3226 using a predetermined code, e.g. password, passphrase or PIN network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using passwords in a packet data network H04L63/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/06 Recording class or number of calling , i.e. A-party or called party , i.e. B-party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/51 for resellers, retailers or service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/56 for VoIP communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/63 based on the content carried by the session initiation protocol [SIP] messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8055 Selecting cheaper transport technology for a given service
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8083 involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8228 Session based
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/887 : limit per user or user related number
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/888 : severing connection after predetermined time or data
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4211 : where the identifier is used to access a profile
• 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: H04M 7/0075 : Details of addressing, directories or routing tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13091 : CLI, identification of calling line
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 : Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13196 : Connection circuit/link/trunk/junction, bridge, router, gateway
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1322 : PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13384 : Inter-PBX traffic, PBX networks, e.g. corporate networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 : Traffic distributors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/70 : Identification of class of calling subscriber

Abstract

A process and apparatus to facilitate communication between callers and callees in a system comprising a plurality of nodes with which callers and callees are associated is disclosed. In response to initiation of a call by a calling subscriber, a caller identifier and a callee identifier are received. Call classification criteria associated with the caller identifier are used to classify the call as a public network call or a private network call. A routing message identifying an address, on the private network, associated with the callee is produced when the call is classified as a private network call and a routing message identifying a gateway to the public network is produced when the call is classified as a public network call.

Claims

1. A method for routing a communication in a communication system between an Internet-connected first participant device associated with a first participant and a second participant device associated with a second participant, the method comprising:

in response to initiation of a communication by the first participant device, receiving over the Internet a first participant identifier and a second participant identifier;

causing at least one processor to access a database comprising user profiles using the first participant identifier, each user profile comprising a respective plurality of attributes for a respective user, to locate a user profile for the first participant including a plurality of first participant attributes;

comparing at least a portion of the second participant identifier, using the at least one processor, with at least one of the plurality of first participant attributes;

classifying the communication, based on the comparing, as a system communication or an external network communication, using the at least one processor;

when the communication is classified as a system communication, producing a system routing message identifying an Internet address associated with the second participant device, using the at least one processor; and

when the communication is classified as an external network communication, producing an external network routing message identifying an Internet address associated with a gateway to an external network, using the at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein producing the system routing message causes the communication to take place over an Internet protocol (IP) network;

and

wherein producing the external network routing message causes a portion of the communication to take place over a circuit switched network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the database to locate a user profile for the second participant, using the at least one processor;

wherein the Internet address associated with the second participant device is based on the user profile for the second participant.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the database to locate a user profile for the second participant including communication blocking information for the second participant, using the at least one processor; and

blocking the communication when the communication blocking information identifies the first participant identifier.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

accessing the database to locate a user profile for the second participant including communication blocking information for the second participant, using the at least one processor; and

blocking the communication when the communication blocking information identifies the first participant identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the database to locate a user profile for the second participant including communication forwarding information for the second participant, using the at least one processor; and

wherein classifying the communication is based on the communication forwarding information for the second participant.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the communication forwarding information for the second participant comprises a plurality of destination identifiers.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing a plurality of communications from the first participant device to a plurality of communication recipients to classify each of the plurality of communications as a system communication or an external network communication, wherein the plurality of communications are concurrent; and

producing a respective plurality of routing messages, based on the classifying of each respective one of the plurality of communications, each respective routing message identifying an Internet address associated with a recipient device or identifying an Internet address associated with a gateway to an external network.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the first participant profile, via the at least one processor, to cause at least one of the plurality of first participant attributes to be modified.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising updating the first participant profile, via the at least one processor, to cause at least one of the plurality of first participant attributes to be modified.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein the external network routing message comprises a code identifying a communication supplier associated with the gateway to the external network.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with program code for directing the at least one processor to execute the method of claim 1.

12. An apparatus for routing communications in a communication system between an Internet-connected first participant device associated with a first participant operable to establish a communication to a second participant device associated with a second participant, the apparatus comprising:

a controller comprising at least one processor operably configured to access at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is operably configured to;

in response to initiation of a communication by the first participant device, receive over the Internet a first participant identifier and a second participant identifier;

access a database comprising user profiles using the first participant identifier, each user profile comprising a respective plurality of attributes for a respective user, to locate a user profile for the first participant including a plurality of first participant attributes;

compare at least a portion of the second participant identifier with at least one of the plurality of first participant attributes to generate a comparison result;

classify the communication, based on the comparison result, as a system communication or an external network communication;

when the communication is classified as a system communication, produce a system routing message identifying an Internet address associated with the second participant device; and

when the communication is classified as an external network communication, produce an external network routing message identifying an Internet address associated with a gateway to an external network.

13. The apparatus of claim 12,

wherein the at least one processor is operably configured to cause the communication to take place over an Internet protocol (IP) network when the communication is classified as a system communication;

and

wherein the at least one processor is operably configured to cause a portion of the communication to take place over a circuit switched network when the communication is classified as an external network communication.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further operably configured to:

access the database to locate a user profile for the second participant including communication blocking information for the second participant; and

block the communication when the communication blocking information identifies the first participant identifier.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further operably configured to:

access the database to locate a user profile for the second participant including communication forwarding information for the second participant comprising a plurality of destination identifiers; and

use the communication forwarding information for the second participant to classify the communication.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the at least one processor is further operably configured to:

process a plurality of communications from the first participant device to a plurality of communication recipients to classify each of the plurality of communications as a system communication or an external network communication, wherein the plurality of communications are concurrent; and

produce a respective plurality of routing messages, based on the classifying of each respective one of the plurality of communications, each respective routing message identifying an Internet address associated with a recipient device or identifying an Internet address associated with a gateway to an external network.

17. An apparatus for routing communications in a communication system between an Internet-connected first participant device associated with a first participant operable to establish a communication to a second participant device associated with a second participant, the apparatus comprising:

a controller comprising at least one processor operably configured to access at least one memory storing processor-readable instruction codes, wherein the at least one processor is operably configured by the processor-readable instruction codes to;

in response to initiation of a communication by the first participant device over the Internet, receive a first participant identifier and a second participant identifier;

access a database comprising user profiles using the first participant identifier, each user profile comprising a respective plurality of attributes for a respective user, to locate a user profile for the first participant including a plurality of first participant attributes;

compare at least a portion of the second participant identifier with at least one of the plurality of first participant attributes to generate a comparison result;

access the database to locate a user profile for the second participant including communication blocking information for the second participant; and

classify the communication, based on the comparison result and the communication blocking information for the second participant, as a system communication, an external network communication or a blocked communication;

when the communication is classified as a system communication, produce a system routing message identifying a first Internet address associated with the second participant device, causing the communication to take place entirely over an Internet protocol (IP) network; and

when the communication is classified as external network communication, produce an external routing message identifying an Internet address associated with a gateway to an external network, causing a portion of the communication to take place over a circuit switched network.

18. The apparatus of claim 17,

wherein the user profile for the second participant includes communication forwarding information for the second participant including a plurality of destination identifiers;

and

wherein the at least one processor is further operably configured to use the communication forwarding information for the second participant to classify the communication.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further operably configured to update the first participant profile to cause at least one of the plurality of first participant attributes to be modified.