Methods and apparatus to protect and audit communication line status

• US 8,340,086 B2
• Filed: 04/19/2007
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chin, Jae-Sun, Raftelis, Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): CATTUNGAL, AJAY P
• Application Number:
  US11/788,129
• Publication Number:
  US 20080260121A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,077 Days
• Field of Search: 370/360, 370/392, 370/401, 370/522, 358/434, 358/440, 358/437, 358/468, 379/100.01, 379/100.03, 379/100.05, 379/100.06, 379/111, 379/142.02, 379/142.03, 379/142.05, 379/142.06, 379/142.07, 379/201.1
• US Class Current: 370/360
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/068 using time division multiplex techniques; integrated services digital networks H04Q11/0428
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2272 Subscriber line supervision circuits, e.g. call detection circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/30 for subscriber's lines , for the local loop
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0057 Services where the data services network provides a telephone service in addition or as an alternative, e.g. for backup purposes, to the telephone service provided by the telephone services network
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1235 where one of the core networks is a wireless network

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to protect and audit communication line status are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a set of available communication lines from a media gateway, associating a plurality of destination numbers with respective ones of the available communication lines, and dialing the plurality of destination numbers from the media gateway to identify the communication line status information.

Claims

1. A method to identify communication line status information comprising:

associating a plurality of destination numbers with respective ones of available communication lines accessible from a media gateway;

dialing the plurality of destination numbers from the media gateway to identify the communication line status information;

blocking, by an audit dialing manager, a first one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are detected and the first one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as voice-only; and

blocking, by the audit dialing manager, a second one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are absent and the second one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as fax-only.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein a set of the available communication lines comprise at least one of a set of trunk lines or a set of telephone lines.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein dialing the destination number emulates outbound modems connected to a set of the available communication lines.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein identifying the line status comprises identifying at least one of a fax machine or a modem associated with at least one of the destination numbers.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising determining which of the plurality of communication lines is free of communication services.

6. A method as defined in claim 5, wherein the communication services comprise at least one of telephone traffic, facsimile traffic, or modem traffic.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of destination numbers are received from a user via a graphical user interface.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the plurality of destination numbers are received in a file.

9. A method as defined in claim 8, further comprising parsing the plurality of destination numbers from the file.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising receiving a log file from the media gateway to identify network devices associated with respective ones of the destination numbers.

11. A method as defined in claim 10, further comprising blocking a second one of the plurality of destination numbers associated with an unauthorized network device.

12. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the media gateway at least one of converts a stream of time division multiplexed (TDM) signals on a first network to an Internet protocol (IP) stream on a second network, or converts an IP stream on the second network to a stream of TDM signals on the first network.

13. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising blocking a second one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are absent and the second one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as fax-only.

14. An apparatus to identify devices in a network comprising:

an audit dialing manager to identify a plurality of destination numbers associated with the network;

a media gateway to dial at least some of the plurality of destination numbers to identify line status information;

a communication line query engine to block a first one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are detected and the first one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as voice only, the communication line query engine to block a second one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are absent and the second one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as fax-only.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the communication line query engine is to determine available communication lines connected to the media gateway.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 15, wherein the communication line query engine is to reserve at least some of the available communication lines.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising a dialing number sequencer to associate at least some of the plurality of destination numbers with a media gateway communication line.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 17, wherein the dialing number sequencer is to provide the at least some of the plurality of destination numbers to the media gateway.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, further comprising a dialing results database to store at least one log file from the media gateway.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, further comprising a log file parser to detect network devices associated with the plurality of destination numbers from the log file.

21. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the media gateway comprises a converter to convert a stream of time division multiplexed signals on a first network to an Internet protocol stream on a second network.

22. An apparatus as defined in claim 14, wherein the media gateway comprises a converter to convert an Internet protocol on a first network to a stream of time division multiplexed signals on a second network.

23. A tangible machine readable storage medium, excluding propagating signals, comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

associate a plurality of destination numbers with respective ones of available communication lines accessible from a media gateway;

dial the plurality of destination numbers from the media gateway to identify the communication line status information;

block a first one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are detected and the first one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as voice-only; and

block a second one of the plurality of destination numbers when negotiation tones are absent and the second one of the plurality of destination numbers is designated as fax-only.

24. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 23 comprising instructions that, when executed, further cause the machine to identify at least one of a fax machine or a modem associated with at least one of the destination numbers.

25. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 23 comprising instructions that, when executed, further cause the machine to determine which of the plurality of communication lines is free of communication services.

26. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 23 comprising instructions that, when executed, further cause the machine to receive a log file from the media gateway to identify network devices associated with respective ones of the destination numbers.

27. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 26 comprising instructions that, when executed, further cause the machine to block a second one of the plurality of destination numbers associated with an unauthorized network device.

28. A machine readable storage medium as defined in claim 23 comprising instructions that, when executed, further cause the machine to at least one of convert a stream of time division multiplexed (TDM) signals on a first network to an Internet protocol (IP) stream on a second network, or convert an IP stream on the second network to a stream of TDM signals on the first network.