System and method for providing user mobility services on a telephony network

• US 6,446,127 B1
• Filed: 11/30/1999
• Issued: 09/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: 3Com Corporation (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Dean, Frederick D., Schuster, Guido M., Sidhu, Ikhlaq S., Mahler, Jerry J., Grabiec, Jacek A., Dalgic, Ismail
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell, Robert B.
• Application Number:
  US09/451,388
• Time in Patent Office: 1,008 Days
• Field of Search: 709/200, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/223, 709/227, 709/228, 709/229
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2094 Proximity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42153 by subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42161 via computer interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42229 Personal communication services, i.e. services related to one subscriber independent of his terminal and/or location diverting calls from one subscriber to another subscriber, i.e. two different subscriptions H04M3/54; selecting arrangements in intelligent networks H04Q3/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42272 whereby the subscriber registers to the terminals for personalised service provision
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4285 Notifying, informing or entertaining a held party while on hold, e.g. Music On Hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/54 Arrangements for diverting calls for one subscriber to another predetermined subscriber based on the calling party profile H04M3/42059; based on location H04M3/42348; based on presence H04M3/42365; to voice mail H04M3/53308
• 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: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters

Abstract

A system and method for providing user mobility services on a data network telephony system. User attributes may be transmitted from a portable information device, such as a personal digital assistant, to a voice communication device, such as an Ethernet-based telephone. The voice communication device receives the user attributes from the portable information device and may transmit a registration request to a registration server. The registration request may include the user attributes, and is used by the registration server to register the user to the voice communication device in a registration data base. When a call is placed to the user, the registration server may reference the registration data base to direct the call to the voice communication device.

Claims

1. A system for providing user mobility services on a data network telephony system comprising:

a data network to provide data connectivity for a plurality of data communications channels using data transport protocols;

a plurality of data network telephones connected to the data network, each data network telephone operable to communicate a voice signal as voice-over-data packets on a voice-over-data channel, the voice over data channel being one of the plurality of data communications channels on the data network, the data network telephones each operable to convert voice-over-data packets communicated on the voice-over-data channel to voice signals; and

a portable information device, the portable information device associated with a user and comprising a user interface and a data network telephone interface, the user interface operable to accept PID data from the user, the data network telephone interface operable to communicate PID data to and from a first data network telephone, the PID data including user attributes;

wherein the PID data is transmitted by the portable information device to the first data network telephone, the PID data used to register the user with the first data network telephone.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the PID data includes communication partner data, and wherein the user invites at least one communication partner to a call, the communication partner specified in the communication partner data, each of the communication partners registered with one of the plurality of data network telephones.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein:

at least a first and second user communicate on the voice-over-data channel, each user identified by a user identifier that includes a unique sequence of alpha numeric elements.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein each data network telephone includes a device identifier that corresponds to the user identifier.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the device identifiers include Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the user identifiers include Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) addresses.

7. The system of claim 3 wherein the user identifiers include E.164 telephone numbers.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a network telephony user database connected to the data network to store a user identifier and a telephone identifier corresponding to the user identifier for each of a plurality of users, wherein;

the user identifier includes a first sequence of alphanumeric elements that identify a corresponding user;

the telephone identifier includes a second sequence of alphanumeric elements that identifies a corresponding data network telephone; and

a network telephony connection server operable to receive a request message from the second data network telephone to initiate the voice over data channel and the encrypted data channel with the first data network telephone, and to send a response message in response to the request message.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the response and request messages are communicated by the network telephony connection server in accordance with the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the response and request messages are communicated by the network telephony connection server in accordance with the H.323 Protocol.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the response and request messages are communicated by the network telephony connection server in accordance with the MEGACO protocol.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the response and request messages are communicated by the network telephony connection server in accordance with the MGCP protocol.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein:

the request message includes a callee user identifier; and

wherein the network telephony connection server determines the telephone identifier for the callee user identifier and includes the telephone identifier in the response message.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein:

the request message includes a callee user identifier; and

wherein the network telephony connection server determines the telephone identifier for the callee identified in the call user identifier and sends the response message to the callee at the telephone identifier.

15. A system for providing user mobility services to a user of a portable information device, the portable information device having user attributes stored in a user information database, wherein the user attributes are associated with the user, comprising, in combination:

a voice communication device connected to a network, wherein the voice communication device includes a user interface for accepting user inputs and delivering user outputs, and wherein the user attributes are transmitted from the portable information device to the voice communication device; and

a registration server connected to the network, wherein the registration server registers the user to the voice communication device in a registration database in response to the voice communication device issuing a register request, the register request including the user attributes.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising a gateway to a public switched telephone network.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising a router to a public internet.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the gateway includes a SIP client, the voice communication device is a SIP phone, the registration server is a SIP server, and the registration database is a SIP database.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the router includes a SIP client, the voice communication device is a SIP phone, the registration server is a SIP server, and the registration database is a SIP database.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the registration server processes a call addressed to the user by referencing the registration database and directing the call to the voice communication device.

21. A system for providing user mobility services to a user associated with a portable information device, comprising, in combination:

a first set of machine language instructions for causing the portable information device to transmit user attributes from a user information database stored in a memory of the portable information device to a first voice communication device;

a second set of machine language instructions for causing the first voice communication device to accept the user attributes from the portable information device and to transmit a register request to a registration server, the register request including the user attributes; and

a third set of machine language instructions accessible by the registration server for causing the registration server to accept the register request from the first voice communication device and to update a registration database maintained by the registration server to register the user with the first voice communication device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the second set of machine language instructions further causes the first voice communication device to place a call to a second communication device responsive to receiving input from the user, the input including a device identifier corresponding to the second communication device.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the third set of machine language instructions further causes the registration server to locate the second communication device to which the call is placed.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the first voice communication device is a personal computer having a microphone and a speaker.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the register request is a REGISTER message according to the Session Initiation Protocol.

26. The system of claim 21, wherein the third set of machine language instructions further causes the registration server to forward a call to the first voice communication device, the call initiated at a second voice communication device.

27. A method for providing user mobility services at a voice communication device in a network, comprising the steps of:

receiving user attributes from a portable information device at the voice communication device, wherein the user attributes are associated with a user of the portable information device; and

transmitting a registration request from the voice communication device to a registration server, wherein the registration server registers the user to the voice communication device in a registration database.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising the step of processing a call by referencing the registration database and directing the call to the voice communication device.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the network includes an Ethernet network, the voice communication device is an Ethernet-based SIP phone, and the portable information device is a personal digital assistant.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the portable information device is a personal digital assistant, and wherein the step of receiving user attributes from the portable information device at the voice communication device is performed during a synchronization operation between the portable information device and the voice communication device.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the portable information device is a smart card.