Call control component collection of communication device identification information for internet protocol endpoint

• US 7,734,027 B2
• Filed: 06/04/2003
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Xu, Cai, Yigang
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea; Philip J
• Application Number:
  US10/454,342
• Publication Number:
  US 20040249954A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,561 Days
• Field of Search: 709/227, 709/206, 370352-353, 379/900, 379/142.06, 379/142.01
• US Class Current: 379/142.06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1106 Call signalling protocols; H.323 and related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 379/90 Internet, e.g. Internet phone, webphone, internet-based telephony

Abstract

An apparatus in one example comprises one or more call control components. One or more of the one or more call control components connect an internet protocol call initiated by a communication device to an internet protocol endpoint. One or more of the one or more call control components collect identification information of the communication device and send the identification information to the internet protocol endpoint.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more call control components that run on one or more processor systems;

wherein one of the one or more call control components connects an internet protocol (IP) call initiated by a communication device to an internet protocol endpoint; and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components has an interface to an IP network to a) communicatively couple a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to allow the internet protocol endpoint to communicate with at least one landline endpoint and b) allow the internet protocol endpoint to communicate with another internet protocol endpoint located in another IP domain; and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components collects identification information of the communication device and sends the identification information to the internet protocol endpoint upon a determination that the internet protocol endpoint is authorized to obtain the identification information; and

wherein the internet protocol endpoint comprises a call trace button; and

wherein activation of the call trace button sends a trace initiation message to the one of the one or more call control components to initiate an internet protocol call trace service of the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information of the communication device; and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components sends an error message to the internet protocol endpoint when there is insufficient internet protocol call trace service information in an internet protocol service database.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one of the one or more call control components that connects the internet protocol call stores the identification information of the communication device in the internet protocol service database;

and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information accesses the internet protocol service database to gather the identification information of the communication device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the internet protocol service database comprises a Java based database engine.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the internet protocol service database comprises a common object request broker architecture (CORBA) interface.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the internet protocol endpoint, wherein the internet protocol endpoint sends a trace initiation message to the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information to initiate the collection of the identification information.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the internet protocol endpoint may send the trace initiation message before acceptance of the internet protocol call, at any time in the duration of the internet protocol call, or after completion of the internet protocol call.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the internet protocol endpoint, wherein the internet protocol endpoint sends a trace initiation message to the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information;

and

wherein the trace initiation message comprises a request for inclusion of one or more types of information of the communication device in the identification information.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the identification information of the communication device comprises one or more of an identification number, telephone number, email address, uniform resource locator, and user name of the communication device.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the identification information of the communication device comprises a location of the communication device.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more call control components comprise one or more softswitches.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a single call control component of the one or more call control components connects the internet protocol call and collects the identification information.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one of the one or more call control components that connects the internet protocol call comprises a first call control component in a first internet protocol domain;

and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information comprises a second call control component in a second internet protocol domain.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 in combination with the internet protocol endpoint, wherein the internet protocol endpoint comprises a first internet protocol endpoint in the first interne protocol domain, and wherein the communication device comprises a second internet protocol endpoint in the second internet protocol domain;

and

wherein first internet protocol endpoint sends a trace initiation message to the first call control component to initiate the collection of the identification information; and

wherein the first call control component sends a gather identification information message to the second call control component; and

wherein the second call control component queries a database of the second internet protocol domain to gather the identification information, and wherein the second call control component sends the identification information to the first call control component; and

wherein the first call control component sends the identification information to the first internet protocol endpoint.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information performs a verification to check an access level of the internet protocol endpoint, and wherein the access level permits access to a first portion of the identification information;

and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information performs a verification to check a protection level of the communication device, and wherein the protection level permits access to a second portion of the identification information; and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components that sends the identification information to the internet protocol endpoint sends the identification information that is common to both the first portion and second portion of the identification information.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 in combination with the internet protocol endpoint, wherein the internet protocol endpoint sends a first H.323 message to the one of the one or more call control components that collects the identification information to trigger the collection of the identification information;

and

wherein the one of the one or more call control components that sends the identification information to the internet protocol endpoint sends the identification information to the internet protocol endpoint in a second H.323 message.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more call control components support an internet protocol call trace service;

and

wherein the internet protocol call trace service charges the internet protocol endpoint a fee for a subscription to the internet protocol call trace service; and

wherein the fee for the subscription is based on one or more of a flat monthly price, a number of times the internet protocol endpoint successfully employs the internet protocol call trace service, an amount of information requested from the internet protocol call trace service by the internet protocol endpoint, and a type of information requested from the internet protocol call trace service by the internet protocol endpoint.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein any internet protocol endpoints may be employed with a password to access the identification information through the internet protocol call trace service.

18. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein another portion of the identification information is a uniform resource locator (URL).

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a user is not limited to a particular internet protocol endpoint in accessing information from the internet protocol call trace service.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one or more call control components keep a call trace log to record an activity of the internet protocol call trace service.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one of the one or more call control components sends another error message to the internet protocol endpoint when the internet protocol endpoint is not authorized to obtain the identification information.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the one of the one or more call control components control audio, data, and video signaling and bearer traffic.

23. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the internet protocol endpoint comprises a processor and a recordable data storage medium.

24. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more call control components has a recordable data storage medium.

25. A method, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from an internet protocol (IP) endpoint for identification information of a communication device that initiated an internet protocol call with the internet protocol endpoint;

connecting to an IP network to a) communicatively couple a public switched telephone network (PSTN) to allow the internet protocol endpoint to communicate with at least one landline endpoint and b) allow the internet protocol endpoint to communicate with another internet protocol endpoint located in another IP domain; and

collecting the identification information of the communication device to send to the internet protocol endpoint in response to the request upon a determination that the internet protocol endpoint is authorized to obtain the identification information;

wherein the internet protocol endpoint comprises a call trace button; and

wherein activation of the call trace button sends a trace initiation message to initiate an internet protocol call trace service that collects the identification information of the communication device;

the method further comprising the step of;

sending an error message to the internet protocol endpoint when there is insufficient internet protocol call trace service information in an internet protocol service database.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of collecting the identification information of the communication device to send to the internet protocol endpoint in response to the request comprises the step of:

identifying in the request one or more types of identification information of the communication device that the internet protocol endpoint indicated for inclusion in the identification information.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising the steps of:

collecting the one or more types of identification information of the communication device from the internet protocol service database; and

sending the identification information that comprises the one or more types of identification information of the communication device to the internet protocol endpoint.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the step of collecting the one or more types of identification information of the communication device from the internet protocol service database comprises the steps of:

forwarding the request from a first call control component that handles the internet protocol endpoint to a second call control component that handles the communication device;

collecting, by the second call control component, the one or more types of identification information of the communication device from the internet protocol service database that stores the identification information of the communication device; and

sending, by the second call control component, the one or more types of identification information of the communication device to the first call control component.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of collecting the identification information of the communication device to send to the internet protocol endpoint in response to the request comprises the step of:

sending the identification information to the internet protocol endpoint at any one or more of before connection of the internet protocol call, at any time in the duration of the internet protocol call, or after completion of the internet protocol call.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the step of collecting the identification information of the communication device to send to the internet protocol endpoint in response to the request comprises the step of:

verifying, prior to sending the identification information, that the internet protocol endpoint is permitted access to the identification information and that the communication device allows access to the identification information for the internet protocol endpoint.