Method for processing telephony sessions of a network

• US 9,455,949 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2014
• Issued: 09/27/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Lawson, Jeff, Wolthuis, John, Cooke, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): YAO, KWANG BIN
• Assistant Examiner(s): Loo, Juvena
• Application Number:
  US14/176,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20140153565A1
• Time in Patent Office: 960 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/106 across networks, e.g. mapping telephone numbers to data network addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4053 without floor control

Abstract

A method for processing telephony sessions of a network including at least one application server and a call router, the method including the steps of assigning a primary Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) and at least a secondary URI to an application; mapping a telephony session to the primary URI; communicating with the application server designated by the primary URI using an application layer protocol; receiving telephony instructions from the application server and processing the telephony instructions with the call router; detecting an application event; and upon detecting the application event, communicating with the application server designated by the secondary URI.

Claims

1. A method for processing a communication session comprising:

assigning a primary application resource identifier and at least a status application resource identifier to an application;

mapping a communication session to the application;

communicating with an application server designated by the primary application resource identifier using an application layer protocol, wherein communicating with the application server comprises embedding at least a portion of state information of the communication session in a first application layer protocol request, sending the first request through an application layer protocol to an application resource identified by the primary application resource identifier, and receiving application instructions in an application server response;

processing the application instructions into actions in the communication session; and

upon an application status change event of the communication session, embedding at least a portion of state information of the communication session and the application event in a second application layer protocol request and sending the second request through an application layer protocol to an application resource identified by status application resource identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application status change is during the communication session.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein sending the second request through an application layer protocol to the application resource identified by the status application resource identifier is performed in parallel to processing the application instructions into actions.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein embedding at least a portion of state information of the communication session and the application event in a second application layer protocol request comprises embedding at least a portion of state information at the time of the application status change in the second application layer protocol request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the application status change is the end of the communication session.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising updating the primary application resource identifier during the communication session.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the application instructions into actions in the communication session comprises transmitting a communication message.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the communication message is a short message service (SMS) message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the application instructions into actions in the communication session comprises calling a second endpoint.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the status application resource identifier may be registered for a plurality of types of state changes in a communication session.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising creating call router resources accessible through a call router Application Programming Interface (API), wherein the primary application resource identifier and the status application resource identifier are call router resources.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning an error application resource identifier to an error event of the application;

upon the error event occurring in the communication session, embedding at least a portion of state information of the communication session and an error identifier in a third application layer protocol request and sending the third request through an application layer protocol to an application resource identified by the error application resource identifier.

13. A method for processing a communication session comprising:

assigning a primary application resource identifier and at least an error application resource identifier to an application;

mapping a communication session to the application;

communicating with an application server designated by the primary application resource identifier using an application layer protocol, wherein communicating with the application server comprises embedding at least a portion of state information of the communication session in a first application layer protocol request, sending the first request through an application layer protocol to an application resource identified by the primary application resource identifier, and receiving application instructions in an application server response;

processing the application instructions into actions in the communication session; and

upon an application error while processing the application instructions, embedding at least a portion of state information of the communication session from the time of the application error and an error identifier in a second application layer protocol request and sending the second request through an application layer protocol to an application resource identified by the error application resource identifier.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving a response to the second request, wherein the response to the second request includes a second set of instructions;

and processing the second set of instructions into actions in the communication session.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the second set of instructions into actions of the session comprises updating the primary URI of the session.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising upon application error in communication with the secondary application identifier, using a default error handling routine within the communication session.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the application error is a communication error when communicating with the application server designated by the primary URI.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the application error is customer error of invalid application instructions in the first application layer protocol response.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising initiating the communication session from a phone number through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising initiating the communication session from a message received from a Short Message Service (SMS) system.

21. The method of claim 13, further comprising creating call router resources accessible through a call router Application Programming Interface (API), wherein the primary application resource identifier and error application resource identifier are call router resources.