Method of providing intra-company two way voice communications over a data network

• US 6,937,575 B1
• Filed: 07/16/1999
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/16/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Benhov GmbH, LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: inSORS Integrated Communications, Inc.
• Inventors: Zvonkovich, Joseph J., Kohler, Clifford A., Galich, Michael G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Phunkulh, Bob A.
• Application Number:
  US09/356,287
• Time in Patent Office: 2,237 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/253, 370/254, 370/352, 370/353, 370/354, 370/355, 370/356, 379/88.17, 379/93.01
• US Class Current: 370/254
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/00 Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/08 Metering calls to called party , i.e. B-party charged for the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/58 based on statistics of usage or network monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2215/0188 Network monitoring; statistics on usage on called/calling number

Abstract

A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service has the general steps of providing a company with a plurality of remote geographic facilities linked by a data network, determining a call traffic pattern for each of the facilities by analyzing a call detail record for each facility, determining performance specifications for the data network, and providing and implementing a converged digital telephony data network. Through the method of the invention, a service may thereby be provided that allows for a company to eliminate public telephone carrier service charges for intra-company phone calls between remote facilities. A preferred embodiment of the method of the invention utilizes the World Wide Web for carrying out various of the steps of the invention to achieve time and travel savings. Further embodiments of the invention include programming the gateway at one or more of the company facilities to access a PSTN whereby phone calls from the data network may be sent and received over the PSTN. An additional embodiment of the invention interconnects data networks from a plurality of companies which each are individually intra-connected between facilities to carry digital telephony format communications. digital telephony format calls may thereby be sent between any of the various facilities of the two companies. Additionally, a gateway at one or more of the facilities of the interconnected companies may be programmed to interface with a PSTN to send and receive phone calls over the PSTN.

Claims

1. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service for a first company;

the first company having a plurality of remote geographical facilities, a plurality of interconnected phones at each of the facilities, an intra-company data network connecting the facilities;

the method comprising the steps of;

determining a call traffic pattern for each of the remote facilities, said traffic pattern comprising the duration, cost, and peak number of phone calls made between each facility and all other of the facilities for a selected time period;

determining performance specifications of the data network, said specifications comprising available network bandwidth between the facilities;

using said call traffic pattern and said network performance specifications to design a digital telephony solution for the company;

said solution comprising required network bandwidth between each of said facilities, specifications for a digital telephony gateway at each of the facilities, said gateway interfacing between the data network and the plurality of interconnected phones at each facility; and

implementing said solution;

said implementing comprising installing said gateways at each of said company facilities, connecting said gateways to said data network and to said plurality of interconnected phones at each of said facilities, programming said digital telephony gateways to transmit and receive intra-company phone calls over said data network.

2. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, wherein said step of determining a call traffic pattern for each of said facilities further comprises the step of analyzing an industry standard call detail record for each of said facilities.

3. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 2, wherein said step of determining a call traffic pattern for each of said remote facilities further comprises the step of programming a computer to analyze said call detail record, and to determine said call traffic pattern;

and wherein said call traffic pattern comprises individual subsets of data comprising duration, number, and peak usage for calls made from said remote facility to each other of said plurality of remote facilities.

4. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 3, further comprising the steps of connecting said computer to the World Wide Web, programming said computer to receive said call detail record input over the World Wide Web, and programming said machine to provide said output over the World Wide Web.

5. A method of providing an intra company voice communication service as in claim 1, further comprising the step of using said call traffic pattern to calculate a service price.

6. A method of providing an intra company voice communication service as in claim 5, further comprising the step of programming a computer to calculate said service price, and connecting said computer to the World Wide Web wherein said price may be determined and transmitted over the web.

7. A method of providing intra-company voice communications as in claim 1, wherein said-step of determining network performance specifications comprises determining the type of network connectivity between the remote facilities, determining bandwidth utilization over the network between each facility, determining data transmission delays between each facility, and determining packet loss between each facility over the network.

8. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 7, wherein said step of determining network performance specifications further comprises the steps of transmitting a questionnaire over the World Wide Web and receiving answers to said questionnaire over the World Wide Web.

9. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, wherein said solution design provided in the form of a license agreement licensed to said company.

10. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, wherein said step of designing a digital telephony solution further comprises transmitting said design over the World Wide Web.

11. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 10, further comprising the step of transmitting said digital telephony solution design in a password secured limited access format.

12. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, further comprising the step of tuning the network to carry digital telephony signals, said tuning comprising programming network routers to give digital telephony traffic priority over all other data traffic.

13. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, further comprising the step of tuning said network to achieve less than about 7% packet loss, and less than about 250 ms delay between any of said plurality of facilities.

14. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, further comprising the steps of

providing a video camera in at least a first of the plurality of facilities, said camera interfaced with said gateway;

assigning said camera a digital address;

providing a video monitor in at least a second of the facilities, said monitor interfaced with said gateway;

assigning said video monitor a digital address;

programming said respective gateways to convert between standard analog video signals and digital video signals; and

providing a digital video traffic controller in at least one of the plurality of facilities interfaced with the data network, programming said video traffic controller to control video traffic between said camera and said monitor;

whereby a standard analog video signal from said camera may be converted to digital video format with said first interfaced gateway, said video signal may be transmitted over said data network to said second gateway, said digital video signal may be converted with said second gateway to standard analog format, and said standard analog signal may be transmitted from said second gateway to said video monitor.

15. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of facilities has a public switched telephone network external to the facility;

and further comprising the steps of programming a first of said gateways at a first of the plurality of facilities to access an external public switched telephone network, whereby said first gateway may connect an outgoing analog telephone signal to a first phone external to the facility; and

whereby a digital telephony format telephone signal may be transmitted over the digital network from a second gateway at a second of the plurality of facilities to said first gateway, said incoming digital telephony telephone signal may be converted to a standard analog telephone signal with said first gateway, and said standard telephone signal may be transmitted to said external first phone.

16. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 15, further comprising the steps of programming said second gateway to interface with a public switched telephone network whereby said second gateway may receive an incoming standard analog telephone signal from a second phone external to the second facility, convert said analog signal to digital telephony format, and transmit said digital telephony format signal over said data network to said first gateway for transmission to said first external phone.

17. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 1, wherein a second company has a plurality of geographically remotely located second company facilities each with a plurality of interconnected phones, a second company data network linking the facilities, a digital telephony gateway at each of the facilities connecting the second company data network to respective of the plurality of phones whereby intra-company phone calls between facilities may be carried over the second company data network;

and further comprising the step of;

connecting the second company data network to the first company data network whereby telephone signals from any of the second company facilities may be connected to any of the first company facilities.

18. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 17 further comprising the steps of:

programming a first of said gateways at a first of the plurality of first company facilities to access an external public switched telephone network, whereby said first gateway may connect an outgoing analog telephone signal to a first phone external to the facility; and

whereby an incoming digital telephony format telephone signal originating from a second company, facility may be converted to standard analog format and transmitted to said external first phone.

19. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service as in claim 18 further comprising the steps of programming a second gateway at said second company facility to interface with a public switched telephone network whereby said second gateway may receive an incoming standard analog telephone signal from a second phone external to the second facility, convert said signal to digital telephony format, and transmit said digital telephony signal to said first gateway at said first company facility for transmission to said first external phone.

20. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service for a first company;

the first company having a plurality of remote geographical facilities, a plurality of interconnected phones at each of the facilities, an intra-company data network connecting the facilities;

comprising the steps of;

determining a call traffic pattern for each of the remote facilities, said traffic pattern determined by programming a computer to analyze an industry standard call detail record;

said traffic pattern comprising individual subsets of data comprising the duration, cost, and peak number of phone calls made between each facility and each other of the plurality of facilities for a selected time period;

determining performance specifications of the data network, said specifications comprising available network bandwidth between the remote facilities, the type of network connectivity between the remote facilities, data transmission delays over the network, and packet loss over the network;

using said call traffic pattern and said network performance specifications to design a digital telephony solution for the company;

said solution comprising minimum required network bandwidth between each of said facilities, specifications for a gateway at each of the facilities, said gateway interfacing between the data network and the plurality of interconnected phones at each facility;

using said call traffic pattern to calculate a solution price;

licensing said solution to the company for said solution price; and

implementing said solution;

said implementing comprising installing said gateways at each of the company facilities, connecting said gateways to the data network and to the plurality of interconnected phones at each of the facilities, programming said digital telephony gateways to transmit and receive intra-company phone calls over the data network.

21. A method of providing an intra-company voice communication service for a company that has a plurality of remote geographical facilities, a plurality of interconnected phones al each of the facilities and an intra-company data network connecting the facilities, the method comprising the steps of:

determining a call traffic pattern by determining the duration and number of intra-company phone calls for a period of time;

determining performance specifications of the data network;

using said call traffic pattern and said network performance specifications to design a digital telephony solution for the company; and

implementing said solution whereby the company may communicate intra-company phone calls in digital telephony format over the data network.

22. A method as defined by claim 21 wherein the step of determining a call traffic pattern includes examining a company phone record and separating intra-company calls from all other calls.

23. A method as defined by claim 21 wherein the step of determining a call traffic pattern further includes determining the peak usage occurring between each facility and all other of the facilities.

24. A method as defined by claim 21 wherein the step of determining a call traffic pattern includes determining the number of said intra-company calls made from at least one of said facilities to each other of the facilities.

25. A method as defined by claim 21 wherein the step of determining a call traffic pattern further comprises creating a plurality of subsets of intra-company calls that each correspond to intra-company calls originating at one of the facilities and terminating in each of the other of the plurality of facilities.

26. A method as defined by claim 21 wherein said solution includes software and hardware specifications for interfacing the plurality of phones at each of the facilities with the data network, said software and hardware specifications including specifications for gateways that interface between the plurality of phones at each of the facilities and the data network, and wherein the step of implementing said solution includes installing said gateways and programming said gateways to communicate intra-company digital telephony over the data network.

27. A method as defined by claim 21 and further including the step of interfacing the data network with a PSTN whereby digital format telephony carried on the data network may be communicated with the PSTN.

28. A method as defined by claim 21 wherein said digital telephony format is voice over internet protocol.

29. A method for providing an intra-company telephony communication service over a data network between geographically remote company facilities, a plurality of interconnected phones at each of the facilities and an intra-company data network connecting the facilities;

the method comprising the steps of;

determining a call traffic pattern that describes phone traffic between each facility and all other of the facilities for a time period;

determining available network bandwidth between each of the facilities;

using said call traffic pattern and said available network bandwidth between the facilities to design a digital packet based telephony solution for the company, said solution comprising software and hardware specifications for interfacing the plurality of phones at each of the facilities with the data network; and

,

implementing said solution by providing at least one gateway that interfaces between the plurality of phones at each of the facilities and the data network.

30. A method as defined by claim 29 wherein the step of providing said at least one gateway includes providing a plurality of gateways and installing at least one each of said plurality of gateways at each of the facilities, connecting said at least one gateway to the data network and to the plurality of interconnected phones at said each of the facilities.

31. A method as defined by claim 29 wherein said at least one gateway comprises a plurality of gateways, and wherein said solution further includes required network bandwidth between each of the facilities and specifications for at least one of said plurality of gateways to be installed at each of the facilities and programmed to interface-with the plurality of interconnected phones at said each facility.

32. A method as defined by claim 29 wherein the step of implementing said solution includes programming a switch at each of the facilities that is connected to the plurality of phones at said each of the facilities to recognize a code transmitted from one of the plurality of phones, said code indicating an intra-company call, and programming said switch to communicate said intra-company call to said at least one gateway after reception of said code.

33. A method as defined by claim 29 wherein the step of determining a call traffic pattern includes separating intra-company calls from other calls from a company phone record for said tine period, and determining the duration, cost, peak usage, and total number of phone calls made between each facility and all other of the facilities for said time period.

34. A method as defined by claim 33 wherein the step of determining a call traffic pattern for each of said facilities further comprises creating one subset of intra-company calls for all calls that originated at one of the facilities and terminated at a second of the facilities, and of repeating this step for calls terminated at each other of the facilities whereby one subset each is created for all intra-company calls originating at said one facility and terminating at one each of the other facilities.

35. A method as defined by claim 29 and further including the step of determining the type of network connectivity between the facilities, determining bandwidth utilization over the network between each facility, determining data transmission delays between each facility, determining packet loss between each facility over the data network, determining the protocol of a network router and the existence and form of prioritization used by said router.

36. A method as defined by claim 29 and further comprising the step of tuning the network to give digital packet based telephony traffic priority over at least some other data traffic, and to achieve less than about 7% packet loss and less than about 250 ms delay.

37. A method as defined by claim 29 wherein the step of implementing said solution includes programming said at least one gateway to communicate said digital packet based telephony traffic over a dedicated portion of the data network.

38. A method as defined by claim 29 and further comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of video cameras and a plurality of video monitors distributed about the different facilities and interfacing said plurality of cameras and said plurality of monitors with said at least one gateway; and

providing a video traffic controller and linking said video traffic controller to the data network whereby an intra-company video conference may be conducted and carried over the data network in digital packet based format.

39. A method as defined by claim 38 and further including the step of interfacing at least one of said gateways with a PSTN whereby said intra-company video conference may include participants external to the company and connected over the PSTN.

40. A method as defined by claim 29 and further including the step of creating a directory that cross references a unique digital address for each of the phones at each of the facilities with a respective phone number for each of the phones, and of linking said directory to said at least one gateway.