Method and system to provide telephony tones and announcements in a packetized network environment
First Claim
1. A method of providing call progress tones in a distributed network environment which supports data transfers and telephony capability for a plurality of telephony-enabled devices, said method comprising steps of:
- storing said call progress tones at a first device within said network environment; and
multicasting or broadcasting said call progress tones from said first device to said plurality of telephony-enabled devices in a format that enables said telephony-enabled devices to individually control transmissions of said call progress tones to calling devices as responses to incoming calls from said calling devices, thereby providing access to said call progress tones for manipulation by said telephony-enabled devices.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and a system of providing call progress tones in a packetized network include storing the call progress tones and pre-programmed audio deliveries at a first device and includes multicasting or broadcasting the tones and deliveries from the first device to a number of telephony-enabled devices. The multicasts are in a format that enable the telephony-enabled devices to individually control transmissions of the tones and deliveries to other devices, particularly calling devices for incoming calls. Typically, the audio deliveries include memory intensive signals, such as announcements and music-on-hold. The progress tones include conventional call status tones, such as ringback, busy and error tones. In one embodiment, the telephony-enabled devices are telephones to which the calls are directed. In another embodiment, the telephony-enabled devices include proxies that process the system-wide multicasts for telephones of the network. Optionally, all of the tones and deliveries may be multiplexed into a single data stream. The multiplexed multicast data stream is then processed when a particular tone or delivery must be extracted. Optionally, less frequent announcements can be multiplexed into a generally continuous data stream for periodic presentation to a particular type of caller, such as a periodic selection of a particular message that interrupts music-on-hold. In another possible modification, the data stream is not processed at a called telephone. Instead, the called telephone directs the selected multicast to the calling telephone, which provides the processing.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of providing call progress tones in a distributed network environment which supports data transfers and telephony capability for a plurality of telephony-enabled devices, said method comprising steps of:
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storing said call progress tones at a first device within said network environment; and
multicasting or broadcasting said call progress tones from said first device to said plurality of telephony-enabled devices in a format that enables said telephony-enabled devices to individually control transmissions of said call progress tones to calling devices as responses to incoming calls from said calling devices, thereby providing access to said call progress tones for manipulation by said telephony-enabled devices. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of providing pre-programmed audio deliveries in a packet-based network that includes a plurality of telephony-enabled devices, said audio deliveries including at least one of music-on-hold and verbal announcements, said method comprising steps of:
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channeling packets of said pre-programmed audio deliveries within said network such that said packets are available along said network without specific recurring requests for said packets;
detecting an incoming call directed to a first telephony-enabled device, said detecting occurring at said first telephony-enabled device; and
selectively accessing said packets of said audio deliveries based upon availability of said first telephony-enabled device to receive said incoming call, including transmitting said selected packets to an origin of said incoming call as a response by a present state of said first telephony-enabled device, said selected packets being transmitted at the direction of said first telephony-enabled device. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system of providing call progress tones in a network environment comprising:
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a plurality of telephony-enabled devices connected in said network environment for support of data transfers and telephony capability;
a storage device having stored at least one of audio deliveries and call progress tones specific to telephony-related information;
means connected to said storage device for multicasting or broadcasting said at least one of tones and deliveries within said network environment such that said at least one is in a format compatible with manipulation by said telephony-enabled devices, said telephony-enabled devices being configured to control transmissions of said at least one following said multicasting or broadcasting. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification