Communications terminal, a system and a method for internet/network telephony

• US 8,107,449 B2
• Filed: 05/13/2008
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Buffalo Patents, LLC, Nextlink.To A/S
• Original Assignee: Castani Company LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Hein-Magnussen, Jon, Kuhlmann, Peer, Hansen, Lars Stenfeldt
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Tri H
• Application Number:
  US12/153,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20090103513A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,358 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/338, 370400-401, 370465-467
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/085 specially adapted for interworking of IP-based networks with other networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2535 adapted for voice communication over an Internet Protocol [IP] network Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) network equipment and services H04M7/006; implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/271 controlled by voice recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/6041 Portable telephones adapted for handsfree use
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/725 Cordless telephones user interfaces specially adapted therefor H04M1/724
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A communication terminal for Internet telephony is provided that handles and control communication of data in accordance with a standardized network protocol and exchanges data with a connecting unit connected to the Internet where the resulting data exchanged between the terminal and a connecting unit consist of packets in a standardized protocol data packet format embedded in a wireless format. This provides a communications terminal which uses a network or the Internet for the transfer of digitized speech, etc., thereby achieving great economic savings. Also, the flexibility is increased with respect to wireless communication with the network or the Internet without any need for specialized equipment and functionality.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device communicatively coupled to a first network, at least one data packet formatted according to a protocol of the first network;

embedding the at least one data packet in a transmission format according to a wireless protocol of a second network used for near field communication; and

transferring the at least one data packet via the second network, as embedded in the transmission format, from the computing device to a portable communications device based on the wireless protocol of the second network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving includes receiving, by the computing device, a data packet including digital information converted from sound.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring further comprises:

transferring at least one of digitized sound information or digitized image information from the computing device to the portable communications device based on an address associated with the first network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving includes receiving, by the computing device, a data packet including compressed digital information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, information associated with a contactee;

transferring, by the computing device, the information associated with the contactee to a server; and

transferring, by the computing device, a data packet to the server based on the information associated with the contactee.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the transferring the data packet further comprises:

transferring, by the computing device, the data packet to the server based on at least one of an alias of the contactee, a nickname of the contactee, or an internet protocol address of the contactee.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving includes receiving, by the computing device, a data packet based on a unique identifier associated with a temporary network address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the receiving the data packet further comprises:

receiving, by the computing device, the data packet based on an identifier associated with the wireless protocol of the second network or a telephone number of the portable communications device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring further comprises:

transferring at least one of digitized sound information or digitized image information from the computing device to the portable communications device based on an address associated with the first network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring further comprises:

transferring the at least one data packet from the computing device to the portable communications device based on a unique identifier associated with a temporary network address.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring further comprises:

transferring the at least one data packet from the computing device to the portable communications device based on an identifier associated with the wireless protocol of the second network or a telephone number of the portable communications device.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

formatting data according to the protocol of the first network; and

embedding a result of the formatting in the transmission format according to the wireless protocol of the second network, wherein the transferring further comprises transferring a result of the embedding from the computing device to the portable communications device based on the wireless protocol of the second network.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring further comprises:

transferring the at least one data packet, embedded in a format according to at least one of a Bluetooth based protocol, a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) based protocol, a personal area network (PAN) based protocol, an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.15 based protocol, a wireless local area network (WLAN) based protocol, an IEEE 802.11 based protocol, or an infrared communications based protocol from the computing device to the portable communications device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the transferring further comprises:

transferring the at least one data packet, formatted according to at least one of a transmission control protocol (TCP), an internet protocol (IP), or a point-to-point protocol (PPP), from the computing device to the portable communications device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving includes receiving, by the computing device, a data packet formatted according to the protocol of the first network and embedded in the transmission format according to the wireless protocol of the second network.

16. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device configured to;

receive, via a first network, at least one data packet formatted according to a network protocol of the first network;

embed the at least one data packet in a transmission format of a wireless protocol of a second network applicable to near field communication; and

transfer the at least one data packet via the second network, as embedded in the transmission format, to a remote terminal according to the wireless protocol.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the wireless protocol includes at least one of a Bluetooth based protocol, a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) based protocol, a personal area network (PAN) based protocol, an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Enginners (IEEE) 802.15 based protocol, a wireless local area network (WLAN) based protocol, an IEEE 802.11 based protocol, or an infrared communications based protocol.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the network protocol includes at least one of a transmission control protocol (TCP), an internet protocol (IP), or a point-to-point protocol (PPP).

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to:

format data according to the network protocol of the first network to obtain formatted data;

embed the formatted data in the transmission format according to the wireless protocol of the second network to obtain embedded data; and

transfer the embedded data to the remote terminal according to the wireless protocol of the second network.

20. A device, comprising:

means for receiving, from a first network, digitized information formatted according to a network protocol of the first network;

means for embedding the digitized information in a transmission format of a wireless protocol of a second network used for near field communication; and

means for transferring, via the second network, the digitized information embedded in the transmission format to a portable communications device according to the wireless protocol.

21. The device of claim 20, further comprising:

means for receiving, according to the wireless protocol of the second network, at least one of;

digitized sound information formatted according to the network protocol of the first network and embedded in the transmission format of the wireless protocol of the second network;

or

digitized image information formatted according to the network protocol of the first network and embedded in the transmission format of the wireless protocol of the second network.

22. The device of claim 20, wherein the wireless protocol includes at least one of a Bluetooth based protocol, a Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) based protocol, a personal area network (PAN) based protocol, an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.15 based protocol, a wireless local area network (WLAN) based protocol, an IEEE 802.11 based protocol, or an infrared communications based protocol.

23. The device of claim 20, wherein the network protocol includes at least one of a transmission control protocol (TCP), an internet protocol (IP), or a point-to-point protocol (PPP).

24. The device of claim 20, further comprising:

means for embedding the digitized information in the transmission format of the wireless protocol of the second network; and

means for formatting an output of the means for embedding according to the network protocol of the first network, wherein the means for transferring further includes means for transferring an output of the means for formatting from the device to the portable communications device.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one computing device configured to;

receive, from a device, at least one data packet based on a wireless protocol of a first network configured to be used for near field communication, wherein the at least one data packet is formatted according to a network protocol of a second network and embedded in a transmission format of the wireless protocol of the first network;

extract the at least one data packet from the transmission format of the wireless protocol.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one data packet includes at least one of digitzed sound information or digitized image information.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to:

format data according to the network protocol of the second network to obtain formatted data;

embed the formatted data in the transmission format of the wireless protocol of the first network to obtain embedded data; and

transfer to the device, based on the wireless protocol of the first network, the embedded data.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the at least one computing device is further configured to transfer the at least one data packet to the second network based on the network protocol.