Networked computer telephony system driven by web-based applications

• US 6,922,411 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2000
• Issued: 07/26/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Alvaria Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Voxeo Corporation (Alvaria Incorporated)
• Inventors: Taylor, Jonathan R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Levitan, Dmitry
• Application Number:
  US09/675,497
• Time in Patent Office: 1,761 Days
• Field of Search: 370/401, 370352-359, 709240-244, 709/239
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition speech recognition per se G10L15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/60 Medium conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4938 comprising a voice browser which renders and interprets, e.g. VoiceXML
• 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

Abstract

A networked telephony system and method allow users to deploy on the Internet computer telephony applications associated with designated telephone numbers. The telephony application is easily created by a user in XML (Extensible Markup Language) with predefined telephony XML tags and easily deployed on a website. The telephony XML tags include those for call control and media manipulation. A call to anyone of these designated telephone numbers may originate from anyone of the networked telephone system such as the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone System), a wireless network, or the Internet. The call is received by an application gateway center (AGC) installed on the Internet. Analogous to a web browser, the AGC provides facility for retrieving the associated XML application from its website and processing the call accordingly. The architecture and design of the system allow for reliability, high quality-of-service, easy scalability and the ability to incorporate additional telephony hardware and software and protocols.

Claims

1. A networked computer telephony system, comprising:

a plurality of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents being hosted by web servers on the Internet, each of said XML documents constituting a telephony application associated with a specified call number and including telephony-specific XML scripts with tags instructing how a telephone call to the specified call number is to be processed;

one or more application gateway center accessible via the Internet for receiving and processing said telephone call, said one or more application gateway center individually further comprising;

a webpage retriever for retrieving the XML document associated with the specified call number;

a virtual machine for running a set of telephony-specific opcodes; and

a telephony scripting language parser for interpreting the XML scripts in the retrieved XML document into said telephony-specific opcodes for execution on said virtual machine to process said telephone call.

2. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 1, wherein said system includes the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and the Internet.

3. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 2, wherein said telephone call originated from the PSTN and is routed to the internet via an internet access server.

4. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 2, wherein said telephone call originated from a Voice-over-IP phone connected to the Internet.

5. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 2, where said telephone call originated from a telephone attached to a computer connected to the Internet.

6. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 1, where said one or more application centers individually further comprises:

a caching server for caching data exchanged between the application center and the Internet.

7. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 1, wherein:

said one or more application centers individually manipulates media in a predefined format native to the application center; and

said one or more application centers individually further comprises;

a media conversion proxy server for converting between said predefined format native to the application gateway center and other media formats outside of the application gateway center.

8. The networked computer telephony system as in claim 1, further comprising:

a plurality of network traffic monitors, each associated with an individual application gateway center for periodically monitoring network traffic statistics regarding a response time of a specific XML document being requested by a specific application gateway center;

a network monitoring server for dynamically analyzing said network statistics collected from said plurality of network traffic monitors into a prioritized list of XML documents relative to application gateway centers having the fastest access thereto; and

means responsive to said prioritized list for directing said telephone call to a specific call number to the application gateway with the fastest access to said associated XML document.

9. A method of processing a telephone call to a specific call number, comprising:

providing an Extensible Markup Language (XML) document associated with the specified call number, said XML document constituting a telephony application and including telephony-specific XML tags instructing how a telephone call to the specified call number is to be processed;

posting said XML document to a specified location on the Internet;

providing a directory for locating said XML document by the specified call number;

receiving said telephone call on the Internet;

retrieving said XML document at the specified location looked up from said directory with the specified call number;

providing a virtual machine for running a set of telephony-specific opcodes;

parsing the XML scripts in the retrieved XML document into said telephony-specific opcodes; and

executing said parsed opcodes on said virtual machine to process said telephone call.

10. A method of processing a telephone call to a specified call number as in claim 9, further comprising:

providing an application gateway center on the Internet for performing said step of receiving said telephone call, retrieving said XML document and processing said telephone call according to said XML document are performed by said application gateway center.

11. A method of processing a telephone call to a specified call number as in claim 10, wherein:

said XML document posted to a specified location is one of a plurality of XML documents at different locations on the Internet; and

said application gateway center is one of a plurality of application gateway centers provided on the Internet.

12. A method of processing a telephone call to a specified call number as in claim 11, further comprising:

monitoring the accessibility of each XML documents relative to said plurality of application gateway centers on the Internet; and

responsive to said monitoring, receiving said telephone call at one of said plurality of application gateway centers that is most accessible to said XML document.

13. A method of processing a telephone call to a specified call number, as in any one of claims 9-12, wherein said telephone call originated from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN.).

14. A method of processing a telephone call to a specified call number, as in any one of claims 9-12, wherein said telephone call originated from the Internet.

15. A method of processing a telephone call to a specified call number, as in any one of claims 9-12, wherein said telephone call originated from a wireless network.