Controlling or monitoring PBX phone from multiple PC endpoints

• US 7,899,168 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2005
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Bobde, Nikhil P., Raghav, Amritansh, Chavda, Ankur, Levin, Danny
• Primary Examiner(s): Chin; Vivian
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kim; Paul
• Application Number:
  US11/218,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20070064672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,008 Days
• Field of Search: 379/201.01, 379/207.02, 379/207.11, 370/351
• US Class Current: 379/201.01
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4234 Remote access to features of PBX or home telephone systems-teleworking in a PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0012 Details of application programming interfaces [API] for telephone networks; Arrangements which combine a telephonic communication equipment and a computer, i.e. computer telephony integration [CPI] arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer

Abstract

A method for controlling or monitoring a common PBX phone line from a plurality of personal computer endpoints with multiple instances of application of a SIP soft phone application.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring a common PBX phone line from a plurality of personal computer endpoints, comprising:

registering for a single user multiple instances of application of a soft phone application respectively running on the plurality of personal computer endpoints, each instance being registered for a common PBX phone line under control of a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server;

a first one of said multiple instances of application establishing a first SIP dialog with said SIP server;

a second one of said multiple instances of application establishing a second SIP dialog with said SIP server simultaneously with said first SIP dialog;

monitoring the status of the common PBX phone line simultaneously with said first instance of application and said second instance of application; and

invoking control services of the PBX phone line from each of said first instances of application and said second instance of application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said registering for a single user multiple instances of application of a soft phone application comprises:

associating a first address of record with a first personal computer device on which a first instance of application of the soft phone application is running;

associating said first address of record with a second personal computer device on which a second instance of application of the soft phone application is running.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

hosting said multiple instances of application of said soft phone application on a home server as a SIP user agent, and

wherein said multiple instances of application of said soft phone application are registered on the home server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said establishing a first SIP dialog comprises:

sending out a SIP INVITE message to the SIP server from a first one of the multiple instances of application requesting system status data;

on receipt of a successful response to said SIP INVITE message, sending from the first one of the multiple instances of application one or more SIP INFO messages to get the status of the common phone line and to register for events with the SIP server;

sending from the first one of the multiple instances of application a subsequent command as a SIP INFO message with an ECMA command encoded as XML carried in the message body of the INFO message.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein said monitoring the status of the PBX phone line comprises:

sending a SIP message with PBX phone line state information from the SIP server to each instance of application so that each instance of application has the same view of the phone line state.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said invoking control services of the PBX phone line from each of said first instances of application and said second instance of application comprises sending SIP INFO messages with ECMA commands embedded therein.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said invoking control services of the PBX phone line comprises:

sending a SIP INFO message with a command to answer a call on the phone line embedded therein from the first instance of application to the SIP server;

sending a SIP INFO with a command to clear a connection on the phone line embedded therein from the second instance of application to the SIP server.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a SIP message from said first one of said multiple instances of application to said SIP server to close said first SIP dialog without closing said second SIP dialog.

9. A method for monitoring and controlling a common PBX phone line controlled by an ECMA switching system with multiple instances of application of a SIP UA soft phone application hosted by a home server, comprising:

registering for a single user multiple instances of application of the SIP UA soft phone application on the home server, each instance being assigned a common phone line under control of the ECMA switching system;

sending out a SIP INVITE message to the ECMA switching system from a first one of the multiple instances of application requesting system status data;

on successful response, sending from the first one of the multiple instances of application one or more SIP INFO messages to get the status of the common phone line and to register for events with the ECMA switching system;

sending from the first one of the multiple instances of application subsequent commands as SIP INFO messages each with an ECMA command carried in the message body of the INFO message;

sending out a SIP INVITE message to the ECMA switching system from a second one of the multiple instances of application requesting system status data;

on successful response, sending from the second one of the multiple instances of application one or more SIP INFO messages to get the status of the common phone line and to register for events with the ECMA switching system simultaneously with said first instance of application;

sending from the second one of the multiple instances of application subsequent commands as SIP INFO messages each with an ECMA command carried in the message body of the INFO message.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said ECMA commands include commands to change the state of the phone line, the method further comprising:

sending a SIP INFO message from the ECMA switching system to each of the soft phone instances of application currently having a connected INVITE session with the ECMA switching system for monitoring the phone line.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein said first one of the multiple instances of application is running on a personal computer device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said second one of the multiple instances of application is running on a laptop computer device.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein each instance of application is assigned a different contact address by the home server.

14. A method for monitoring and controlling a common PBX phone line from a plurality of personal computer endpoints, comprising:

registering for a single user first and second instances of application of a soft phone application running on first and second personal computer endpoints, each instance being registered for a common PBX phone line under control of a PBX switching system server using Session Initiation Protocol (SIP);

said first instance of application establishing a first SIP dialog with said PBX switching system server;

said second instance of application establishing a second SIP dialog with said PBX switching server;

monitoring the status of the common PBX phone line simultaneously with said first instance of application and said second instance of application; and

invoking control services of the PBX phone line from each of said first instances of application and said second instance of application.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

hosting said first and second instances of application of said soft phone application on a home server as a SIP user agent, and

wherein said first and second instances of application of said soft phone application are registered on the home server.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said establishing a first SIP dialog comprises:

sending out a SIP INVITE message to the PBX switching system server from said first instance of application requesting system status data;

on receipt of a successful response to said SIP INVITE message, sending from the first instance of application one or more SIP INFO messages to get the status of the common phone line and to register for events with the PBX switching server;

sending from the first instance of application a subsequent command as a SIP INFO message with an ECMA command carried in the message body of the INFO message.

17. The method of claim 14 wherein said monitoring the status of the PBX phone line comprises:

sending a SIP message with PBX phone line state information from the PBX switching system server to each of said first and second instances of application so that each instance of application has the same view of the phone line state.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein said invoking control services of the PBX phone line from each of said first instances of application and said second instance of application comprises sending SIP INFO messages with ECMA commands embedded therein.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said invoking control services of the PBX phone line comprises:

sending a SIP INFO message with a command to answer a call on the phone line embedded therein from the first instance of application to the PBX switching system server;

sending a SIP INFO with a command to clear a connection on the phone line embedded therein from the second instance of application to the PBX switching system server.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

sending a SIP message from said first instance of application to said PBX switching system server to close said first SIP dialog without closing said second SIP dialog.