Method and system for providing party line emulation in a SIP-based network

• US 8,462,772 B1
• Filed: 09/22/2006
• Issued: 06/11/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Robbins, David C
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Joseph J
• Application Number:
  US11/534,474
• Time in Patent Office: 2,454 Days
• Field of Search: 370/296, 370/352, 370/260, 370/348, 379/372.02, 379/177, 379/179, 379/181
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1076 Screening of IP real time communications, e.g. spam over Internet telephony [SPIT]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1096 Supplementary features, e.g. call forwarding or call holding systems providing special services or facilities to telephony subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/27 Devices whereby a plurality of signals may be stored simultaneously
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/04 with alarm systems, e.g. fire, police or burglar alarm systems
• 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 method and system of an embodiment of the present invention may involve receiving an incoming call from a calling party for one or more members of a group; transmitting an invite message to the one or more members; identifying an acceptance of the invite message by at least one member of the one or more members; and establishing an active dialog between the calling party and the at least one member.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving an incoming call from a calling party for a plurality of members of a group at an SIP server;

transmitting, from the SIP server, an invite message to the plurality of members, wherein the invite message comprises one or more addresses that specifies each of the members of the group;

identifying an acceptance of the invite message by at least one accepting member of the plurality of members;

transmitting, from the SIP server, a cancel message to at least one member of the plurality of members, wherein the cancel message is sent after the identified acceptance;

establishing a SIP-based active dialog between the calling party and the at least one member;

recognizing a reverting call;

identifying when a reverting call originator goes on-hook;

alerting one or more members of the group;

identifying when the one or more devices goes off-hook; and

providing a reverting call emulation service when establishing the SIP-based active dialog.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming call is received from a packet switched network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more address comprise a member-specific address for each of the members of the group.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the invite message comprises a header that specifies an alerting pattern.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the alerting pattern comprises selective alerting.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein selective alerting comprises alerting a device associated with each of the plurality of members individually.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the alerting pattern comprises semi-selective alerting.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the alerting pattern comprises alerting a device associate with each of the plurality of members simultaneously.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the alerting pattern comprises alerting device associate with each of the plurality of members with a different ring pattern.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the alerting pattern comprises a distinctive ringing pattern based on at least one of the following:

a calling party number, a called party number, a priority of a call, and an origin of a call relative to a specific caller group or local area.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the active dialog further comprises determining when a member is off-hook or on-hook.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed causes a computer to perform:

receiving an incoming call from a calling party for a plurality of members of a group at an SIP server;

transmitting, from the SIP server, an invite message to the plurality of members, wherein the invite message comprises one or more addresses that specifies each of the members of the croup;

identifying an acceptance of the invite message by at least one accepting member of the plurality of members;

transmitting, from the SIP server, a cancel message to at least one member of the plurality of members, wherein the cancel message is sent after the identified acceptance;

establishing a SIP-based active dialog between the calling party and the at least one member;

recognizing a reverting call;

identifying when a reverting call originator goes on-hook;

alerting one or more members of the group;

identifying when the one or more devices goes off-hook; and

providing a reverting call emulation service when establishing the SIP-based active dialog.

13. A method, comprising:

identifying, at an SIP device, an incoming call, wherein the incoming call comprises an invite message specifying one or more party addresses;

identifying one or more party addresses from the incoming call;

providing an alerting pattern to a plurality of devices attached to an analog port corresponding to the one or more party addresses;

establishing a SIP-based active call between the caller and a party at the device when at least one of the plurality of devices goes off-hook;

transmitting a cancel message to at least one of the plurality of devices that does not go off-hook;

recognizing a reverting call;

identifying when a reverting call originator goes on-hook; and

providing a reverting call emulation service when one or more devices connected to the analog port goes off-hook.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more party addresses are member-specific.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the analog port comprises connections to two or more devices.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the device is a telephone set.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the alerting pattern is based on an alerting voltage applied to the analog port.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the alerting pattern comprises alerting each of the one or more devices individually.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the alerting pattern comprises alerting each of the one or more devices simultaneously.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the alerting pattern comprises alerting each of the one or more devices with a different ring pattern.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed causes a computer to perform:

identifying, at an SIP device, an incoming call, wherein the incoming call comprises an invite message specifying one or more party addresses;

identifying one or more party addresses from the incoming call;

providing an alerting pattern to a plurality of devices attached to an analog port corresponding to the one or more party addresses;

establishing a SIP-based active call between the caller and a party at the device when at least one of the plurality of devices goes off-hook;

transmitting a cancel message to at least one of the plurality of devices that does not go off-hook;

recognizing a reverting call;

identifying when a reverting call originator goes on-hook; and

providing a reverting call emulation service when one or more devices connected to the analog port goes off-hook.