Method and apparatus for providing a virtual distributed gatekeeper in an H.323 system
First Claim
1. A method of supporting an H.323 call using an H.323 system, the H.323 system including an edge device and a call-switching device, the edge device coupled in communication with the call-switching device, the edge device having a first H.323 port, the method comprising:
- receiving from an H.323 node a first admission request transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device a second admission request for the H.323 call;
responsive to transmitting the second admission request, receiving from the call-switching device at the edge device an admission confirmation for the H.323 call indicating that the H.323 call can proceed;
storing on the edge device call state information corresponding to a state of the H.323 call;
updating the call state information on the edge device after receiving the admission confirmation, responsive to receiving at the edge device a first registration request associated with the H.323 call, transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device a second registration request corresponding to the first registration request;
responsive to transmitting the second registration request, receiving from the call-switching device on the edge device a first response to the second registration request; and
updating the call status information on the edge device after receiving the first response to the corresponding request.
7 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for improving the scalability of H.323 systems is described. An H.323 gateway can be modified to store call state information associated with a call on at least one of the ports of the modified H.323 gateway. The modified H.323 gateway can send registration, admission, and status requests to a modified H.323 gatekeeper. This relieves the modified H.323 gatekeeper of the need to maintain call status information for that call. If the modified H.323 gatekeeper fails, there is no disruption of the call or the billing information associated with the call. The modified H.323 gateway and the modified H.323 gatekeeper can be embodied in interface cards suitable for IP telephony gateways. Additionally, the modified H.323 gateway can support a standard network address translation protocol and an H.323 proxy service. These features help prevent users of the modified H.323 gateway from bypassing the billing and user authentication systems while also conserving the IP address space.
-
Citations
41 Claims
-
1. A method of supporting an H.323 call using an H.323 system, the H.323 system including an edge device and a call-switching device, the edge device coupled in communication with the call-switching device, the edge device having a first H.323 port, the method comprising:
-
receiving from an H.323 node a first admission request transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device a second admission request for the H.323 call;
responsive to transmitting the second admission request, receiving from the call-switching device at the edge device an admission confirmation for the H.323 call indicating that the H.323 call can proceed;
storing on the edge device call state information corresponding to a state of the H.323 call;
updating the call state information on the edge device after receiving the admission confirmation, responsive to receiving at the edge device a first registration request associated with the H.323 call, transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device a second registration request corresponding to the first registration request;
responsive to transmitting the second registration request, receiving from the call-switching device on the edge device a first response to the second registration request; and
updating the call status information on the edge device after receiving the first response to the corresponding request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A virtual-distributed gatekeeper device comprising:
-
a first communication channel for coupling the virtual-distributed gatekeeper device in communication with at least one H.323 device;
a second communication channel for coupling the virtual-distributed gatekeeper device in communication with at least one element of packet-based network, the at least one element of the packet-based network generating requests and receiving responses to at least one of a registration request, an admission request, and a status request, the virtual-distributed gatekeeper device having an Internet protocol (IP) address for use on the packet-based network;
a memory for holding call state information, the call state information including information about H.323 calls placed by the at least one H.323 device coupled in communication with the virtual-distributed gatekeeper device; and
a processor for processing communications on the first channel and second channels. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A system comprising:
-
an edge device having a first H.323 port and a memory, the memory containing call state information, the call state information including a call state for an H.323 call on the first H.323 port;
a call-switching device for responding to at least one of a registration request, an admission request, and a status request for the edge device, wherein the edge device comprises a modified H.323 gateway storing a parameter indicative representative of the H.323 port and the call state information corresponding to a state of an H.323 call, and wherein the call-switching device comprises a modified H.323 gatekeeper for processing transactional call state information corresponding to a state of the H.323 call, whereby the modified H.323 gatekeeper does not maintain call state for the H.323 call. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
-
20. An edge apparatus for supporting an H.323 call, the H.323 call placed using an H.323 port on the edge apparatus, the edge apparatus comprising:
-
means for storing a call state information about the H.323 call;
means for generating for transmission to a call-switching device an admission request for the H.323 call;
means for receiving from the call-switching device an admission confirmation for the H.323 call; and
means for updating on the edge device the call sate information after receiving the admission confirmation means for transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device a second registration request corresponding to a first registration request associated with the H.323 call;
means for receiving from the call-switching device on the edge device a first response to the second registration request, and means for updating the call status information on the edge device after receiving the first response to the corresponding request. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
-
-
23. A method of supporting an H.323 call using an H.323 system, the H.323 system including an edge device and a call-switching device, the edge device coupled in communication with the call-switching device, the edge device having a first H.323 port, the method comprising:
-
receiving from an H.323 terminal a first request for call-admission control of the H.323 call, the first request being addressed to the edge device;
transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device unbeknownst to the H.323 terminal a second request for call-admission control of the H.323 call;
responsive to transmitting the second request, receiving from the call-switching device at the edge device an call-admission-control confirmation for the H.323 call indicating that the H.323 call can proceed;
storing on the edge device call state information corresponding to a state of the H.323 call;
updating the call state information on the edge device after receiving the admission confirmation;
responsive to receiving at the edge device a first registration request associated with the H.323 call, transmitting from the edge device to the call-switching device a second registration request corresponding to the first registration request;
responsive to transmitting the second registration request, receiving from the call-switching device on the edge device a first response to the second registration request; and
updating the call status information on the edge device after receiving the first response to the corresponding request. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
-
-
34. An edge device comprising:
-
a first communication channel for carrying on communication with at least one H.323 device, the edge device operable to receive from the at least one H.323 device over the first communication channel a first request for call-administration control of an H.323 call for the H.323 device, the first request being addressed to the edge device;
a second communication channel for carrying on communication with at least one element of a packet-based network, the edge device operable to send to the at least one element of the packet-base network over the second communication channel unbeknownst to the at least one H.323 device a second request for call-admission control of the H.323 call for the H.323 device;
a memory for holding call state information about the H.323 call device; and
a processor for processing communications on the first and second channels. - View Dependent Claims (35)
-
-
36. A gate controller comprising:
-
a first communication channel for carrying on communication with at least one element of packet-based network, the at least one element packet-based network including a plurality of H.323 ports and a back end server, any of the plurality of H.323 ports operable to transmit unbeknownst to an H.323 terminal coupled to the H.323 port a request for call-admission control for an H.323 call originated from the H.323 terminal;
a memory for holding a port status table, the port status table indicating the status of each of the plurality of H.323 ports;
a processor for supporting call-admission control for each of the plurality of H.323 ports, the processor capable of processing unbeknownst to the H.323 terminal at least one request for call-admission control received over the first communication channel from a given H.323 port of the plurality of H.323 ports. - View Dependent Claims (37)
-
-
38. A system comprising:
-
a call switching device for responding to call-admission control requests for H.323 calls; and
an edge device having a first H.323 port and a memory, the memory storing call state information about an H.323 call originated from an H.323 terminal coupled to the first H.323 port, the edge device operable to;
(i) receive a request for call-admission control for the H.323 call;
(ii) transmit to the call-switching device unbeknownst to the H.323 terminal a second request for call-admission control for the H.323 call; and
(iii) receive from the call-switching device a response corresponding the second request for call-admission control for the H.323 call. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
-
Specification