Standard telephone equipment (STE) based deployable secure communication system

• US 20050058122A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 03/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Anspach, Steve S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,626,977 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/164 at the network layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/30 for supporting lawful interception, monitoring or retaining of communications or communication related information circuit switched telephony call monitoring H04M3/2281
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0078 Security; Fraud detection; Fraud prevention
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1245 where a network other than PSTN/ISDN interconnects two PSTN/ISDN networks

Abstract

Sensitive, Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) data is encapsulated into IP packets in a remotely deployed, secure communication system. The IP packets are addressed to a matching IP encapsulator/decapsulator device over the public Internet or other IP protocol network, that then passes it to a similar STE device over an ISDN link for decryption. The present invention is embodied in a system that provides secure Voice-Over-IP (VOIP), video and data network functionality in a single, small size deployable case, to a remote user. Most importantly, the embodiment allows for the routing of bulk encrypted (i.e., secure) data over a public network, e.g., the Internet.

Claims

1. A method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone, comprising:

encapsulating an ISDN serial data stream of encrypted data received from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone, into IP packets; and

transmitting said IP packets of encrypted data on a public IP network.

2. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, wherein:

said public network is an Internet.

3. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, wherein:

said IP packets are transmitted via an ISDN router.

4. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, wherein:

said IP packets are transmitted over a satellite terminal.

5. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, further comprising:

encrypting data using a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone.

6. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, wherein said serial data stream of encrypted data comprises:

Voice over IP (VOIP) data.

7. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, wherein:

said serial data stream is a 2B plus D ISDN serial data stream containing both voice and data information.

8. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 7, wherein:

said serial data stream is a data-only ISDN serial data stream containing only non-voice information.

9. The method of cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 1, further comprising:

combining data from two voice sources into said ISDN serial data stream before said encapsulation.

10. Apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone, comprising:

means for encapsulating an ISDN serial data stream of encrypted data received from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone, into IP packets; and

means for transmitting said IP packets of encrypted data on a public IP network.

11. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, wherein:

said public network is an Internet.

12. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, wherein:

said IP packets are transmitted via an ISDN router.

13. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, wherein:

said IP packets are transmitted over a satellite terminal.

14. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, further comprising:

means for encrypting data using a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone.

15. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, wherein said serial data stream of encrypted data comprises:

Voice over IP (VOIP) data.

16. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, wherein:

said serial data stream is a 2B plus D ISDN serial data stream containing both voice and data information.

17. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 16, wherein:

said serial data stream is a data-only ISDN serial data stream containing only non-voice information.

18. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 10, further comprising:

means for combining data from two voice sources into said ISDN serial data stream before said means for encapsulating encapsulates said ISDN serial data stream.

19. The apparatus for cloaking encrypted data from a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) secure telephone according to claim 18, wherein said means for combining data from two voice sources comprises:

a voice-enabled router.

20. An STE-based secure communications device, comprising:

a Standard Telephone Equipment (STE) device including means for encrypting a data stream into an encrypted ISDN data stream;

means for IP encapsulating said encrypted ISDN data stream for transmission to another secure communications device using IP protocol; and

means for routing said IP encapsulated, encrypted ISDN data stream over an Internet.

21. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, further comprising:

an M4 Inmarsat satellite used for providing a wireless link to said another secure communications device.

22. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, wherein:

said encrypted data stream includes voice information.

23. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, wherein:

said encrypted data stream includes two streams of voice information.

24. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, wherein:

said encrypted data stream includes voice and data stream information.

25. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, wherein said means for routing comprises:

an Ethernet to ISDN router.

26. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, wherein said means for routing comprises:

an ISDN to ISDN router.

27. The STE-based secure communications device according to claim 20, wherein:

said means for encapsulating converts an ISDN serial data stream into an IP data stream.