Establishing an internet telephone call using e-mail

• US 6,687,738 B1
• Filed: 06/30/1999
• Issued: 02/03/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Straight Path IP Group, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: NetSpeak Corporation (IDT Corporation)
• Inventors: Mattaway, Shane D., Strickland, Craig B., Hutton, Glenn W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjob
• Application Number:
  US09/343,278
• Time in Patent Office: 1,679 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 709/205, 709/217, 709/218, 709/227, 709/228, 709/235, 370/352, 370/355, 370/357, 370/389, 370/395
• US Class Current: 709/204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0083 Formatting with frames or packets; Protocol or part of protocol for error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1818 Conference organisation arrangements, e.g. handling schedules, setting up parameters needed by nodes to attend a conference, booking network resources, notifying involved parties
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2856 Access arrangements, e.g. Internet access asynchronous transfer mode networks H04L12/5601; broadband local area networks H04L12/2801; optical access or distribution networks H04Q11/0067; access to open networks H04L12/5691; digital subscriber line end-user equipment and bit-level processing of data on a PSTN-based network H04M11/00; home network gateways H04L12/2834; wireless access networks H04W
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/604 Address structures or formats
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/22 comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4535 using an address exchange platform which sets up a session between two nodes, e.g. rendezvous servers, session initiation protocols [SIP] registrars or H.323 gatekeepers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4555 Directories for electronic mail or instant messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/168 specially adapted for link layer protocols, e.g. asynchronous transfer mode [ATM], synchronous optical network [SONET] or point-to-point protocol [PPP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 : adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/57 : Arrangements for indicating or recording the number of the calling subscriber at the called subscriber's set at the operator set in a manual exchange H04M5/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 : Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 : User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 : with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 : for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 : Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• 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 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 7/0075 : Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

A point-to-point Internet protocol exchanges Internet Protocol (IP) addresses between processing units to establish a point-to-point communication link between the processing units through the Internet. A first point-to-point Internet protocol includes the steps of (a) storing in a database a respective IP address of a set of processing units that have an on-line status with respect to the Internet; (b) transmitting a query from a first processing unit to a connection server to determine the on-line status of a second processing unit; and (c) retrieving the IP address of the second unit from the database using the connection server, in response to the determination of a positive on-line status of the second processing unit, for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet. A second point-to-point Internet protocol includes the steps of (a) transmitting an E-mail signal, including a first IP address, from a first processing unit; (b) processing the E-mail signal through the Internet to deliver the E-mail signal to a second processing unit; and (c) transmitting a second IP address to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.

Claims

1. A method for establishing point-to-point Internet communication comprising the steps of:

(a) transmitting an E-mail message, automatically including a first Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to a first processing unit;

(b) processing the E-mail message through the Internet to deliver the E-mail message to a second processing unit; and

(c) automatically transmitting a second IP address to the first processing unit using the first Internet Protocol address assigned to the first processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(a1) generating the E-mail message including the first IP address corresponding to the first processing unit before the step of transmitting the E-mail message.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(a1) generating the E-mail message from a session number before the step of transmitting the E-mail message.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the step (b) of processing the E-mail message further comprises the step of:

(b1) processing the E-mail message using a mail server operatively connected to the second processing unit.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(b1) generating a connection signal including the second IP address at the second processing unit before the step (c) of transmitting the second IP address to the first processing unit; and

wherein the step (c) of transmitting the second IP address includes the step (c1) of transmitting the connection signal from the second processing unit to the first processing unit.

6. A system for point-to-point communications over the Internet comprising:

a first processing unit including;

a first program for performing a point-to-point Internet protocol; and

a first processor for executing the first program and for automatically transmitting an E-mail message, including

a first Internet Protocol (IP) address corresponding to the first processing unit; and

a mail server for processing the E-mail message through the Internet to deliver the E-mail message to a second processing unit for establishing a point-to-point communication link between the first and second processing units through the Internet;

wherein the second processing unit transmits a message including a second Internet protocol address corresponding to the second processing unit using the first Internet protocol address assigned to the first processing unit.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the second processing unit includes;

a second program for performing the point-to-point Internet Protocol;

a second processor for executing the second program and for receiving the E-mail message from the mail server and for generating a connection signal, including a second IP address, for establishing the point-to-point communication link to the first processing unit.

8. A computer program product for use with a computer system, the computer system executing a first process operatively connectable to a second process and a server over a computer network, the computer program product comprising:

a computer useable medium having program code embodied in the medium, the program code further comprising;

program code for transmitting an E-mail message comprising an Internet protocol address of the first process to the server over the computer network;

program code for receiving an Internet protocol address of the second process, transmitted from the second process using the Internet protocol address of the first process, over the computer network; and

program code, responsive to the Internet protocol address of the second process, for establishing a point-to-point communication between the first process and the second process.

9. In a first computer process operatively coupled over a computer network to a second process and an E-mail server, a method of establishing a point-to-point communication between the first and second processes comprising the steps of:

A. transmitting an E-mail message automatically incorporating a first Internet protocol address of the first process to the second process over the computer network;

B. receiving a second Internet protocol address from the second process over the computer network, the second process sending the second Internet protocol address to the first process using the first Internet protocol address; and

C. in response to reception of the second network protocol address, establishing a point-to-point communication connection between the first process and the second process.