Method of providing virtual private network telephone service
First Claim
1. In a telephone system including a plurality of telephone offices (12, 18), a plurality of telephone stations (23), and a data base (10) accessible by ones of the offices, a method of providing private network types of services for prescribed ones of the stations via the public switched network, characterized by the steps ofstoring information at the data base defining a virtual private telephone network, said information including a description of the capacity of the virtual network in terms of virtual telephone facility resources of a prescribed type,responsive to a call received at one of the offices directed to the virtual private network, verifying at the data base that the call is entitled to be completed via the virtual network, and that an idle virtual resource remains for assignment to the call,assigning the idle resource to the call, and completing the call over the public switched network.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method is disclosed for providing private network types of telephone services via the public switched network without having it provide private hardware facilities. The method is described with respect to a telephone system comprising plural telephone stations and offices, a data base, and a data communications network connecting some of the offices to the data base. Information is stored at the data base defining a virtual private network. The information includes a description of the bounds of the virtual network and its capacity in terms of virtual telephone facility resources of a prescribed type. In response to a call directed to the virtual network, a verification is made at the data base that this call is entitled to complete via the virtual network and that an idle virtual resource is available for assignment to the call. The idle resource is assigned to the call, and the call is completed via the public switched network.
220 Citations
28 Claims
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1. In a telephone system including a plurality of telephone offices (12, 18), a plurality of telephone stations (23), and a data base (10) accessible by ones of the offices, a method of providing private network types of services for prescribed ones of the stations via the public switched network, characterized by the steps of
storing information at the data base defining a virtual private telephone network, said information including a description of the capacity of the virtual network in terms of virtual telephone facility resources of a prescribed type, responsive to a call received at one of the offices directed to the virtual private network, verifying at the data base that the call is entitled to be completed via the virtual network, and that an idle virtual resource remains for assignment to the call, assigning the idle resource to the call, and completing the call over the public switched network.
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2. In a telephone system including a plurality of telephone offices (12, 18), a plurality of stations (23) served by the offices and a data base (10), a method of providing private network types of services for prescribed ones of the stations via the public switched network, characterized by the steps of
storing at the data base a first indication (41) of a number of telephone facility resources of a certain type that are allocated for calls between the prescribed stations, and a second indication (42) of the total number of such resources that are assigned to calls at any given time, comparing the first and second indications responsive to a call from a calling one of the prescribed stations to a called one of the prescribed stations, and completing the call via the public switched network if said completion will not cause the number of assigned resources to exceed the allocated number of resources.
Specification