Method and system for a multitenancy telephone network

• US 8,995,641 B2
• Filed: 01/17/2014
• Issued: 03/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Lawson, Jeff, Wolthuis, John, Cooke, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, QUYNH H
• Application Number:
  US14/158,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20140133482A1
• Time in Patent Office: 438 Days
• Field of Search: 379/220.01, 379/265.09
• US Class Current: 379/220.01
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2564 for a higher-layer protocol, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2473 Telephone terminals interfacing a personal computer, e.g. using an API (Application Programming Interface) details of API H04M7/0021
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/34 Charging, billing or metering arrangements for private branch exchanges
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/39 using speech synthesis
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/36 Statistical metering, e.g. recording occasions when traffic exceeds capacity of trunks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/367 Traffic or load control
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42323 PBX's with CTI arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5158 in combination with automated outdialling systems devices for signalling identity of wanted subscriber H04M1/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/523 with call distribution or queueing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5235 Dependent on call type or called number [DNIS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0033 Notification or handling of incoming calls by a computer
• 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: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method and system for operating a multitenancy telephony system including a call queue that stores call requests received from a plurality of users; an expandable and contractible telephony resource cluster that establishes call sessions for call requests; a analysis system that calculates capacity requirements of the system; a resource allocator that manages the scaling and operation of the telephony resource cluster; and a plurality of telephony network channels that are used as telephony communication channels for call sessions.

Claims

1. A method for processing a telephony communication comprising:

associating a first telephony application with a first telephony endpoint of a first account, which comprises associating a universal resource identifier (URI) of the first telephony application with the first telephony endpoint;

associating a second telephony application with a second telephony endpoint of a second account, which comprises associating a URI of the second telephony application with the first telephony endpoint;

initiating a first telephony session for a telephony communication to the first telephony endpoint;

mapping the first telephony application to the first telephony session;

at a resource of a communication resource cluster, processing the first telephony session with the first telephony application;

initiating a second telephony session for a telephony communication to the second telephony endpoint;

mapping the second telephony application to the second telephony session;

at the resource of a communication resource cluster, processing the second telephony session with the second telephony application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the first telephony session with the first telephony application comprises:

sending an HTTP request to a first application resource specified by the URI of the first telephony application;

receiving a response from the first application resource; and

executing a telephony action for the first telephony session according to the response from the first application resource; and

wherein processing the second telephony session with the second telephony application comprises;

sending an HTTP request to a second application resource specified by the URI of the second telephony application;

receiving a response from the second application resource; and

executing a telephony action for the second telephony session according to the response from the second application resource.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein executing a telephony action for the first telephony session comprises making an outgoing call.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein making an outgoing call comprises making a call over the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

5. The method of claim 2, wherein making an outgoing call comprises making a call over session initiation protocol (SIP).

6. The method of claim 2, wherein executing a telephony action for the first telephony session comprises transmitting a telephony message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein transmitting a telephony message comprises transmitting a short message service (SMS) message.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein transmitting a telephony message comprises transmitting a multimedia message.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising queuing at least a second request to initiate the second telephony session;

and dequeuing the second request;

wherein the second telephony session is initiated upon dequeuing the second request.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the second request is dequeued at an account rate.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the second request is dequeued according to the capacity of the communication resource cluster.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the capacity of the communication resource cluster is limited by at least an allocated number of telephony channels of the communication resource cluster.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the capacity of the communication resource cluster is limited by at least processing capacity of the communication resource cluster.

14. A method comprising:

operating a telephony platform cooperatively with application programming Interface (API) resources of at least two accounts, wherein operating the telephony platform comprises;

initiating a telephony session,

at a resource cluster of the telephony platform, processing the telephony session according to telephony instructions; and

exposing the API resources of the at least two accounts through a RESTful API that comprises;

receiving a first RESTful API request of a first account that specifies a first API resource URI,

at a resource of the resource cluster, processing the first API request according to the request and the first resource URI,

receiving a second RESTful API request of a second account that specifies a second API resource URI,

at the resource of the resource cluster, processing the second API request according to the request and the second resource URI.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the first API request comprises initiating an outgoing call;

and wherein processing the second API request comprises initiating an outgoing call.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein an outgoing call is made over the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

17. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the first API request comprises transmitting an outgoing telephony message;

and wherein processing the second API request comprises transmitting an outgoing telephony message.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the outgoing telephony messages are short message service (SMS) messages.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the outgoing telephony messages are multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the first API request comprises augmenting a first telephony session facilitated by the resource of the resource cluster;

and processing the second API request comprises augmenting a second telephony session facilitated by the resource of the resource cluster.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein augmenting a first telephony session comprises terminating the first telephony session.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein responding to the second API request is initiated upon the resource of the resource cluster completing processing of the first API request.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising queuing the second API request;

and dequeuing the second API request prior to processing the second API request.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the second API request is further dequeued according to a rate of the second account.