Method and system for mapping phone numbers to IP addresses
First Claim
1. A self-registering telephony gateway for use in a packet switched network, said self-registering telephony gateway comprising, in combination:
- a processor;
a storage medium;
a network interface circuit coupling said telephony gateway with a network, said network interface circuit receiving incoming signals from said network and transmitting outgoing signals to said network;
a telephone interface for communicating with subscriber telephone devices having subscriber telephone numbers, whereby the telephony gateway interfaces communications between the one or more subscriber telephone devices and the network; and
a set of machine language instructions stored in said storage medium and executable by said processor to cause said telephony gateway to automatically communicate, to an address mapping system in said network, mapping information that enables the address mapping system to correlate (i) an address of the telephony gateway in the network with (ii) one or more subscriber telephone numbers served by the telephony gateway, the mapping information including (i) address indicia, indicative of the address of the telephony gateway and (ii) telephone number indicia, indicative of one or more subscriber telephone numbers served by the telephony gateway.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for automatically populating an IP telephony address mapper with mapping information for an IP telephony gateway or other device. A self-registering gateway is configured to automatically provide an address mapper with mapping indicia defining the IP address of the gateway and the telephone numbers served by the gateway. In one embodiment, for instance, the gateway places a PSTN modem-to-modem call to the address mapper and conveys its IP address as a modulated data stream, while the address mapper may determine the telephone number of the gateway through established automatic calling number delivery procedures. Based on the telephone number of the gateway, the address mapper may then refer to a telephone number mapping database to identify other telephone numbers that could be served by the gateway. The address mapper may then update its address mapping data files accordingly.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A self-registering telephony gateway for use in a packet switched network, said self-registering telephony gateway comprising, in combination:
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a processor;
a storage medium;
a network interface circuit coupling said telephony gateway with a network, said network interface circuit receiving incoming signals from said network and transmitting outgoing signals to said network;
a telephone interface for communicating with subscriber telephone devices having subscriber telephone numbers, whereby the telephony gateway interfaces communications between the one or more subscriber telephone devices and the network; and
a set of machine language instructions stored in said storage medium and executable by said processor to cause said telephony gateway to automatically communicate, to an address mapping system in said network, mapping information that enables the address mapping system to correlate (i) an address of the telephony gateway in the network with (ii) one or more subscriber telephone numbers served by the telephony gateway, the mapping information including (i) address indicia, indicative of the address of the telephony gateway and (ii) telephone number indicia, indicative of one or more subscriber telephone numbers served by the telephony gateway. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. In a computer network of the type including (i) a plurality of telephony gateways, each telephony gateway defining a network address and providing network connectivity for a plurality of telephone numbers of subscriber telephone devices and (ii) an address mapping system maintaining a data source that comprises mapping information correlating telephone numbers with network addresses of the telephony gateways that provide network connectivity for said telephone numbers,
a method for populating said data source with said mapping information for a given telephony gateway, said method comprising, in combination; -
said given telephony gateway automatically communicating mapping indicia to said address mapping system, said mapping indicia comprising address indicia and phone number indicia associated with said given telephony gateway, said address indicia being indicative of the address of said telephony gateway, and said phone number indicia being indicative of one or more of said telephone numbers of subscriber telephone devices for which said gateway provides network connectivity; and
said address mapping system receiving said mapping indicia and, based at least in part on said mapping indicia, responsively updating said data source with mapping information for correlating said address of said given telephony gateway with said one or more telephone numbers of said subscriber telephone devices. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34)
said computer network comprises an IP network;
said network address of said given telephony gateway comprises an IP address;
said given telephony gateway is operated by a company associated with an internet domain name; and
said address indicia comprises an indication of said internet domain name, whereby said address mapping system may translate said internet domain name into said IP address at least in part by reference to a domain naming system.
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18. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said address indicia comprises the network address of said given telephony gateway.
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19. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said address indicia comprises a reference to the network address of said give telephony gateway.
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20. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said phone number indicia comprises one or more of the telephone numbers for which said given telephony gateway provides network connectivity.
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30. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said given telephony gateway communicates said mapping indicia to said address mapping system via a communications link comprising an IP network.
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31. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said given telephony gateway communicates said mapping indicia to said address mapping system via a communications link comprising public switched telephone network.
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32. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said given telephony gateway communicates said mapping indicia to said address mapping system in response to a predetermined event.
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33. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said given telephony gateway communicates said mapping indicia to said address mapping system in response to said given telephony gateway being initialized.
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34. A method as claimed in claim 15, wherein said given telephony gateway communicates said mapping indicia to said address mapping system in response to a change in the telephone numbers for which said giver telephony gateway provides network connectivity.
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21. In a computer network of the type including (i) a plurality of telephony gateways, each telephony gateway defining a network address and providing network connectivity for a plurality of telephone number and (ii) all address mapping system maintaining a data source that comprises mapping information correlating telephone numbers with network addresses of the telephony gateways that provide network connectivity for said telephone numbers,
a method for populating said data source with said mapping information for a given telephony gateway, said method comprising, in combination: -
said given telephony gateway automatically communicating mapping indicia to said address mapping system, said mapping indicia comprising address indicia and phone number indicia associated with said given telephony gateway; and
said address mapping system receiving said mapping indicia and, based at least in part on said mapping indicia, responsively updating said data source with mapping information for said given telephony gateway, wherein said telephony gateway defines a gateway telephone number, and said phone number indicia comprises said gateway telephone number, whereby said address mapping system may refer to a geographic telephone number mapping database to translate said gateway telephone number into the telephone numbers as to which said given telephony gateway provides connectivity. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
said given telephony gateway communicates said gateway telephone number to said address mapping system at least in part by placing a telephone call to said address mapping system over a public switched telephone network, said telephone number thereby being conveyed to said address mapping system through automatic calling number delivery.
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23. A method as claimed in claim 22, wherein said telephone call is a modem-to-modem call and said given telephony gateway conveys said address indicia to said address mapping system at least in part as modulated data in said modem-to-modem call.
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24. In a computer network of the type including (i) a plurality of telephony gateways, each telephony gateway defining a network address and providing network connectivity for a plurality of telephone number and (ii) an address mapping system maintaining a data source that comprises mapping information correlating telephone numbers with network addresses of the telephony gateways that provide network connectivity for said telephone numbers,
a method for populating said data source with said mapping information for a given telephony gateway, said method comprising, in combination: -
said given telephony gateway automatically communicating mapping indicia to said address mapping system, said mapping indicia comprising address indicia and phone number indicia associated with said given telephony gateway; and
said address mapping system receiving said mapping indicia and, based at least in part on said mapping indicia, responsively updating said data source with mapping information for said given telephony gateway, wherein said given telephony gateway defines a geographic position and said phone number indicia comprises indicia of said geographic position, whereby, based on said indicia of said geographic position, said address mapping system may refer to a telephone number mapping database in order to identify one or more telephone numbers geographically close to said telephony gateway. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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Specification