Methods and apparatus to protect and audit communication line status

• US 8,705,520 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2012
• Issued: 04/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/19/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• 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
• Application Number:
  US13/705,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20130100959A1
• Time in Patent Office: 503 Days
• Field of Search: None
• 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 conditionally block a destination number, comprising:

dialing the destination number via a media gateway;

identifying a designated operation mode of the destination number as one of fax-only or voice-only;

blocking the destination number when negotiation tones are detected and the destination number is designated as voice only; and

blocking the destination number when negotiation tones are absent and the destination number is designated as fax-only.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein dialing the destination number emulates an outbound modem connected to a set of communication lines communicatively connected to the media gateway.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein identifying the designated operation mode comprises identifying at least one of a fax machine or a modem associated with the destination number.

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

5. A method as defined in claim 4, wherein the communication services comprise at least one of telephone traffic, facsimile traffic, or modem traffic.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the destination number is retrieved from a file comprising a plurality of destination numbers.

7. A method as defined in claim 6, further comprising parsing the plurality of destination numbers from the file.

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

9. A method as defined in claim 8, further comprising blocking a second one of the first plurality of destination numbers associated with an unauthorized network device.

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

11. An apparatus to conditionally block a destination number, comprising:

a media gateway to dial the destination number;

a communication line query engine to;

identify a designated operation mode of the destination number as one of fax-only or voice-only;

block the destination number when negotiation tones are detected and the destination number is designated as voice only; and

block the destination number when negotiation tones are absent and the destination number is designated as fax only.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the communication line query engine is to determine available communication lines connected to the media gateway.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising a dialing number sequencer to associate the destination number with a media gateway communication line.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the dialing number sequencer is to provide the destination number to the media gateway.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, further comprising a log file parser to detect network devices associated with the destination number from the log file.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, 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.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the media gateway comprises a converter to convert an Internet protocol stream on a first network to a stream of time division multiplexed signals on a second network.

18. A machine readable storage device comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform a method comprising:

identifying a designated operation mode of a dialed destination number as one of fax-only or voice-only, the destination number dialed via a media gateway;

blocking the destination number when negotiation tones are detected and the destination number is designated as voice only; and

blocking the destination number when negotiation tones are absent and the destination number is designated as fax-only.

19. A machine readable storage device as defined in claim 18 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to block a second one of the first plurality of destination numbers associated with an unauthorized network device.

20. A machine readable storage device as defined in claim 18 further comprising instructions that, when executed, cause the machine to at least one of convert a stream of time division multiplexed signals on a first network to an Internet protocol stream on a second network, or convert an Internet protocol stream on the second network to a stream of time division multiplexed signals on the first network.