Methods and apparatus for providing voice communications through a packet network
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A voice communication system, comprising:
- a plurality of telephone sets connected to termination equipment which terminates said plurality of telephone sets, and respective packet network telephone gateways connected to said termination equipment and to a packet network whereby said packet gateways are connected to multiplex voice telephone calls among said plurality of telephone sets to a single transport level connection with information from a number of voice telephone calls multiplexed into a single packet, wherein said packet network is the Internet;
said packet network telephone gateways operate to establish a packet network connection in response to a request from a user associated with one of said telephone sets and said gateways establish a channel for each user within each said transport level connection;
said packet network telephone gateways operate to digitize voice signals from said telephone sets, to multiplex blocks of such digitized voice signals onto a transport level connection, and to packetized said multiplexed voice signals;
said telephone gateways are connected to provide channel identification for each said channel; and
said telephone gateways are further connected to send sequence numbers in setup and teardown messages to allow for re-use of channel identifications.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications system multiplexes voice communications signals onto one or more transport level connections established through a packetized network, such as the Internet. The invention supports the use of variable-length packets and accommodates variable jitter. The system conforms to real time protocol (RTP) and employs internet telephone gateways (ITGs) to bind users to channel identifiers, to indicate payload type and length, to provide channel identification and time stamps, and to indicate cessation and resumption of voice traffic from a particular user through use of, for example, marker bits.
91 Citations
11 Claims
-
1. A voice communication system, comprising:
-
a plurality of telephone sets connected to termination equipment which terminates said plurality of telephone sets, and respective packet network telephone gateways connected to said termination equipment and to a packet network whereby said packet gateways are connected to multiplex voice telephone calls among said plurality of telephone sets to a single transport level connection with information from a number of voice telephone calls multiplexed into a single packet, wherein said packet network is the Internet;
said packet network telephone gateways operate to establish a packet network connection in response to a request from a user associated with one of said telephone sets and said gateways establish a channel for each user within each said transport level connection;
said packet network telephone gateways operate to digitize voice signals from said telephone sets, to multiplex blocks of such digitized voice signals onto a transport level connection, and to packetized said multiplexed voice signals;
said telephone gateways are connected to provide channel identification for each said channel; and
said telephone gateways are further connected to send sequence numbers in setup and teardown messages to allow for re-use of channel identifications. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
Specification