Networked computer telephony system driven by web-based applications

• US 7,496,054 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2005
• Issued: 02/24/2009
• 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): Levitan; Dmitry
• Application Number:
  US11/169,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20050240659A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,337 Days
• Field of Search: 370/255, 370/401, 370352-359, 704/275, 709239-244
• US Class Current: 370/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1046 Call controllers; Call servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• 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 method of processing a telephone call to a call number in a networked computer telephony system, comprising:

providing a plurality of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents hosted by a web server among a plurality of 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;

providing a plurality of application gateway centers, each capable of processing the telephone call by retrieving and processing the XML document associated with the call number of the telephone call;

periodically pinging from each of the plurality of application gateway centers to the plurality of web servers to measure a response time from each web servers; and

directing the telephone call to be processed by the application gateway center having a fastest response time from the web server hosting the XML document associated with the call number.

2. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

providing a directory of application gateway centers in order of faster response time for the web server hosting the XML document associated with the call number of the telephone call; and

wherein said directing the telephone call further includes;

looking up the directory with the telephone call number for the application gateway center having the fastest response time.

3. A method as in claim 2, further comprising:

providing a monitoring server for collecting the response time of each web server to any one of the plurality of application gateway centers;

dynamically updating the directory with a listing of call numbers versus application gateway centers, the application gateway centers associated with each call number being in order of descending response time.

4. A networked computer telephony system for processing a telephone call to a call number, comprising:

a plurality of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents hosted by a web server among a plurality of 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;

a plurality of application gateway centers, each capable of processing the telephone call by retrieving and processing the XML document associated with the call number of the telephone call;

a plurality of network traffic monitors, each associated with an individual application gateway center for periodically pinging the plurality of web servers to measure a response time from each web servers to each application gateway center; and

a directory for directing the telephone call to be processed by a application gateway center, said directory being dynamically updated with a list of application gateway centers in order of fastest response time for the web server hosting the XML document associated with the call number.

5. A networked computer telephony system for processing a telephone call to a call number, comprising:

a plurality of Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents hosted by a web server among a plurality of 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;

a plurality of application gateway centers, each capable of processing the telephone call by retrieving and processing the XML document associated with the call number of the telephone call;

a plurality of network traffic monitors, each associated with an individual application gateway center for periodically pinging the plurality of web servers to measure a response time from each web servers to each application gateway center;

a directory for directing the telephone call to be processed by a application gateway center, and

means for dynamically updating said directory with a list of application gateway centers in order of fastest response time for the web server hosting the XML document associated with the call number.