In-band signaling for routing

• US 6,104,802 A
• Filed: 11/18/1997
• Issued: 08/15/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/1997
• Status: Expired

• Current Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Incorporated (Genesys Cloud Services Incorporated)
• Inventors: Perlmutter, S Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Zele, Krista
• Assistant Examiner(s): TIEU, BENNY QUOC
• Application Number:
  US08/972,772
• Time in Patent Office: 1,001 Days
• Field of Search: 379/265, 379/266, 379/309, 379/201, 379/210, 379/211, 379/220, 379/221, 379/229, 379/230, 379/207, 370/352
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/401 wherein the services involve a main real-time session and one or more additional parallel real-time or time sensitive sessions, e.g. white board sharing or spawning of a subconference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/551 Call history recording a computer conference H04L12/1831
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/12 intelligent networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/22 Automatic class or number identification arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42102 Making use of the called party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5166 in combination with interactive voice response systems or voice portals, e.g. as front-ends
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5183 Call or contact centers with computer-telephony arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5191 interacting with the Internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5233 Operator skill based call distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5237 Interconnection arrangements between ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/56 Arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities video conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/58 Arrangements for transferring received calls from one subscriber to another; Arrangements affording interim conversations between either the calling or the called party and a third party substation line holding circuits H04M1/80
• 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 7/12 for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13034 : A/D conversion, code compression/expansion
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13072 : Sequence circuits for call signaling, ACD systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13093 : Personal computer, PC
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13103 : Memory
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13106 : Microprocessor, CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13141 : Hunting for free outlet, circuit or channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13164 : Traffic (registration, measurement,...)
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13174 : Data transmission, file transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13204 : Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/1322 : PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13345 : Intelligent networks, SCP
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13349 : Network management
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 2213/13389 : LAN, internet
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0029 : Provisions for intelligent networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/0045 : involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/64 : Distributing or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/66 : Traffic distributors
• CPC Class Codes: H04Q 3/72 : Finding out and indicating number of calling subscriber

Abstract

Telephone call routing in networks is provided by forwarding routing data other than origination identification and destination identification in-band with calls, and using the in-band data at call destinations to do further routing. In some embodiments negotiation is accomplished between routers at different points in the network based on the in-band routing data. Practice of the invention extends to intelligent telephony networks and as well to simulated telephone calls between computers in wide area data networks, such as the Internet and Intranets.

Claims

1. A method for routing a telephone call in a network comprising steps of:

(a) attaining, at a service control point, routing data associated with the call other than origination identification or first destination identification;

(b) writing the routing data in-band, in a data field conventionally dedicated to information other than routing data, with the call to forward to a second network point serviced by a computer-telephony integration (CTI) system;

(c) accessing the routing data at the second network point by the CTI system; and

;

(d) using the routing data to select a third network destination for the call.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein, in step (a) the routing data other than origination identification or first destination identification is data elicited from a caller.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein, in steps (c) and (d) the accessing and using is by a second router at the second network point, and wherein the first router and the second router negotiate routing path.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the network is a wide area data network, and the telephone calls are simulated calls between two or more computer stations connected to the wide area data network.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein at the first network destination point a first router writes routing data into one or more data fields in a data packet associated with the call, and forwards the data packet to a second destination point for further routing by a second router using the routing data.

6. A routing system for telephone calls in a network comprising:

a first router associated with a service control point; and

a second router associated with a second network destination point serviced by a computer-telephony intergration (CTI) system;

wherein, for a call received at the service control point, the first router writes routing data other than call origination identification or first destination identification into one or more data fields in a data packet associated with the call conventionally dedicated to other than the routing data, and the second router at the second network destination point uses the routing data from the one or more data fields to further route the call.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the first router and the second router negotiate based on the data written by the first router into the one or more data fields.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein the network is a wide area data network, and the telephone calls are calls between two or more computer stations connected to the wide area data network rather than between telephones, the computers providing telephone functions.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the wide area data network is the Internet, and wherein the calls are Internet Protocol Network Telephony calls.