System and method for managing latency in a distributed telephony network

• US 9,350,642 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2014
• Issued: 05/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/09/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Fahlgren, Christer, Boerjesson, Jonas, Wolthuis, John, Shafton, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Elpenord, Candal
• Application Number:
  US14/176,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20140153566A1
• Time in Patent Office: 834 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/121 by minimising delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/124 using a combination of metrics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/125 based on throughput or bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]

Abstract

A system and method of preferred embodiments include at a signaling gateway of a first region, receiving a communication invitation of a first endpoint from a communication provider; signaling the communication invitation to a communication-processing server in a second region; in response to communication processing of the communication-processing server, dynamically directing signaling and media of the communication according to processing instructions and resources available in at least the first and two regions; wherein dynamically directing signaling and media communication of the communication comprises selectively routing media communication exclusively through communication resources of the first region if resources are available in the first region or selectively routing media communication between the first endpoint, the gateway, and at least the communication-processing server if media resources are not in the first region.

Claims

1. A method for controlling a geographically distributed multi-tenant communication computing platform system, the method comprising:

controlling a signaling gateway of the communication computing platform system to receive a communication invitation of a first endpoint;

controlling the platform system to select a communication route from a queried routing policy service of the communication computing platform system according to latency of the first endpoint and a second endpoint;

controlling the platform system to initialize the communication route exclusively through communication resources in a region of the first endpoint and resources in a region of the second endpoint as a first communication mode;

while in the first communication mode, controlling the platform system to transition to a second communication mode according to a communication processing instruction, wherein transitioning to the second communication mode comprises redirecting signaling and media of the communication and routing media communication between the first endpoint and through at least a communication-processing server of a second region, the communication-processing server being a call router;

while in the second communication mode, the call router retrieving telephony application instructions from an internet accessible Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server at a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) that is associated with the second endpoint, and processing the retrieved telephony application instructions, the HTTP server being external to the platform system, the retrieved telephony application instructions including at least one telephony command,

wherein the second endpoint is a destination endpoint of the communication invitation, and

wherein the HTTP server is managed by an entity that is different from an entity that manages the platform system, wherein the entity that manages the HTTP server includes a developer entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein in the first communication mode, routing media communication through communication resources of the regions of the first and second endpoints comprises inviting a second gateway and the second gateway inviting the second endpoint.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein upon the second endpoint terminating communication during the first communication mode, routing media communication to the first endpoint and through at least the communication-processing server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing an instruction to connect to the second endpoint during the second communication mode, and transitioning media communication flow to that of the first communication mode.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the region of the second endpoint is the same region as the second region;

and wherein routing media communication in the first communication mode comprises routing media communication without the communication-processing server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the region of the second endpoint is in a third region.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein in the first communication mode, the communication flow is exclusively through resources of the first and third region;

and wherein in the second communication mode, the communication flow is through resources of the first, second, and third regions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first region, the second region and the third region are separated by at least two thousand miles.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the region of the first endpoint is the third region.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second endpoint is a destination endpoint.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second endpoints are PSTN endpoints.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first and second endpoints are client application endpoints.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling uses a SIP signaling protocol.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein communication flow support the first endpoint and second endpoint employing different communication mediums, the possible communication mediums comprising audio, video, and screen-sharing.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein routing media communication between the first endpoint and through at least the communication processing server comprises signaling an invite to the communication-processing server and establishing communication media flow between the first endpoint and the communication-processing server.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the region of the first endpoint and the region of the second endpoint are the same region.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony application instructions are communicated in a telephony instruction markup language.

18. The method of claim 17,

wherein the telephony application instructions are application instructions of a telephony application of the developer entity

wherein the telephony application instructions include at least one of an instruction to call a communication endpoint, an instruction to start a conference call, an instruction to play audio, an instruction to record audio, an instruction to record video, an instruction to convert text to speech, an instruction to transcribe audio, an instruction to perform answering machine detection, an instruction to send a text message, an instruction to send a media message, an instruction to collect Dual-tone Multi-frequency (DTMF) key entry, and an instruction to end a call,

wherein the telephony application instructions include at least one telephony command that is processed by the call router, and

wherein the call router retrieves the telephony application instructions from the external internet accessible HTTP server by providing at least one RESTful HTTP request to the HTTP server.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony application instructions are application instructions of a telephony application of the developer entity.

20. A method for controlling a geographically distributed multi-tenant communication computing platform system, the method comprising:

controlling a signaling gateway of the communication computing platform system to receive a communication invitation of a first endpoint;

controlling the platform system to select a communication route from a queried routing policy service of the communication computing platform system according to latency of the first endpoint and a second endpoint, and further according to regional availability of a communication-processing server;

as a first communication mode, controlling the platform system to initialize the communication route between the first endpoint and through at least the communication-processing server, the communication-processing server being a communication-processing server of a region outside of a first region, the communication-processing server being a call router;

while in the first communication mode, the call router retrieving telephony application instructions from an internet accessible Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) server at a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) that is associated with the second endpoint, and processing the retrieved telephony application instructions, the HTTP server being external to the platform system, the retrieved telephony application instructions including at least one telephony command,

in response to a processed instruction while in the first communication mode, redirecting media of the communication to exclusively flow between the first endpoint and the second endpoint,

wherein the second endpoint is a destination endpoint of the communication invitation, and

wherein the HTTP server is managed by an entity that is different from an entity that manages the platform system, wherein the entity that manages the HTTP server includes a developer entity.