APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR BRIDGING CALLS OR DATA BETWEEN HETEROGENOUS NETWORK DOMAINS

• US 20100260173A1
• Filed: 04/08/2009
• Published: 10/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Johnson, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 8,693,466 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1091 Fixed mobile conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/06 including a wireless LAN interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42246 where the subscriber uses a multi-mode terminal which moves and accesses different networks with at least one network having a wireline access including cordless PBX
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42263 where the same subscriber uses different terminals, i.e. nomadism
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/543 Call deflection
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/1205 where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for unified communication across circuit-switched and packet-switched network domains. In one embodiment, voice or data available in one domain (e.g., circuit-switched such as a PSTN) can be seamlessly forwarded onto another domain (e.g. packet-switched such as a WLAN). A bridge or intermediary device is used that is coupled to both the circuit-switched network and packet-switched network. This bridge device allows bidirectional operation and permits, for example, a user to receive a telephone call at a user'"'"'s home network via a PSTN, and forward that telephone call or information related to that call over another network such as a local IP network (e.g. a WLAN) to the user, where the user can answer that call or otherwise receive information associated with the call on their primary user device (e.g., cellular phone).

Claims

1. A method of forwarding circuit-switched information to a mobile device configured for packetized local area operation, comprising:

receiving a call via a circuit switched network, the call comprising at least one of voice or data;

converting the at least one of voice or data into a format suitable for transmission onto a wireless local area packetized network; and

transmitting the converted at least one of voice or data wirelessly to the mobile device via the local area packetized network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the receiving a call comprises receiving the at least one of voice rendered in an analog form; and

the converting comprises encoding the analog form to a digital form using a coder/decoder (codec).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the codec comprises a CELP-based codec.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the local area packetized network comprises a WLAN network compliant with IEEE Std. 802.11, and the transmitting the converted at least one of voice or data wirelessly to the mobile device via the local area packetized network comprises transmitting the converted at least one of voice or data from an IEEE Std. 802.11 access point (AP) to the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of voice or data comprises voice, and the method further comprises:

receiving the transmitted converted voice at the mobile device;

converting the received converted voice to an analog form; and

playing the analog form of the voice over a speaker of the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device comprises a substantially mobile communication address, and the received call is intended for a circuit switched telephone number, and the converted voice or data is transmitted to the substantially mobile communication address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the substantially mobile communication address comprises an internet protocol address.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the converted at least one voice or data comprises a digitally rendered voicemail message.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the mobile device in a substantially dormant mode; and

waking at least a portion of the mobile device from the dormant mode when a wireless transceiver of the mobile device detects the transmission of the converted at least one voice or data call.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing a cellular interface of the mobile device to indicate a busy or call waiting state while receiving the transmission of the converted at least one of voice or data.

2. The method of 1, further comprising:

receiving at least one of voice or data from the mobile device;

converting the received at least one of voice or data from the mobile to a format suitable for transmission over a circuit switched network; and

transmitting the converted at least one voice or data over the circuit switched network to a recipient.

12. A method of forwarding circuit switched voice signals to a mobile cellular-capable communications device without use of a cellular interface, comprising:

receiving a call from a circuit switched network;

storing at least a portion of voice signals associated with the call for at least a period of time;

converting the voice signals into a text format suitable for transmission onto a packet protocol network; and

transmitting the text readable format voice signals onto the packet protocol network to the mobile device;

wherein the transmitting is performed without use of a cellular interface of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the mobile device comprises a 3G-enabled cellular smartphone, and the transmitting is performed using a WLAN transceiver.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the acts of receiving, storing, converting and transmitting are performed substantially within apparatus disposed at a premises of a user associated with the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the converting comprises utilizing a speech recognition algorithm to recognize the voice signals and convert them to the text.

16. A method for processing a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based call, the method comprising:

receiving the call from a remote user device over an Internet Protocol (IP) network; and

establishing communications with an intended recipient of the call via a local wireless network and a mobile communications device having cellular capability.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the local wireless network comprises a packet protocol network compliant with IEEE Std. 802.11, and the mobile communications device comprises a cellular telephone having an IEEE Std. 802.11 wireless interface.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of receiving a call from a remote user over an IP network comprises receiving the call over a circuit-switched POTS or PSTN line in operative communication with the IP network.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the call received over the POTS or PSTN line comprises an analog voice call, the analog voice call being derived from the VoIP based call.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the call received over the POTS or PSTN line comprises a packet-protocol call received using a modem selected from the group consisting of:

(i) V.90 modems, and (ii) DSL modems.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of receiving a call from a remote user over an IP network comprises receiving the call over DOCSIS cable modem.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the act of receiving a call from a remote user over an IP network comprises receiving the call over a modem coupled to a wireless satellite network.

23. Apparatus adapted for enabling communication between two or more networks having different topologies, the apparatus comprising:

a first network interface in operative communication with a first network having a first topology;

a second network interface in operative communication with a second network having a second topology, the second topology being different than the first topology;

a processor in communication with the first and second network interfaces;

a storage device in data communication with the processor, the storage device comprising a computer program having a plurality of executable instructions which, when executed by the processor, enable at least one of voice or data received via the first network interface to be transmitted from the second network interface.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the first network comprises a POTS or PSTN network having a circuit-switched topology, and the second network comprises a wireless LAN network having a packet-switched topology; and

the computer program comprises an encoding algorithm adapted to convert analog signals associated with the at least one of voice or data received via the first interface to a digital format, the digital format suitable for packetization and delivery over the wireless LAN to a wireless mobile device.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the apparatus comprises a personal computer (PC).

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the apparatus comprises a stand-alone box.

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the apparatus comprises a wireless dongle adapted to mechanically and electrically interface with another device.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the mechanical and electrical interface comprises a high speed serialized bus protocol interface.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the high speed serialized bus protocol interface comprises an interface compliant with IEEE Std. 1394.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the high speed serialized bus protocol interface comprises a USB interface.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the wireless dongle comprises a wireless interface with IEEE Std. 802.11, and the another device comprises a personal computer (PC).

32. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the apparatus comprises a POTS- or PSTN-capable telephony device.

33. A method of multi-network agile communication, comprising:

receiving a call via a first network;

processing the call for use on a second network; and

delivering the call over the second network to a device also capable of receiving the call over a third network.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein;

the first network comprises a PSTN or POTS network;

the second network comprises a wireless local area network (LAN);

the third network comprises a wireless cellular network; and

wherein the device comprises a mobile device having both wireless LAN and cellular air interfaces.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the processing and delivering are performed without utilizing a call forwarding process.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the processing and delivering are performed substantially within the same user premises.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the third network comprises a cellular network, and the processing and delivering are performed without utilizing the third network.

38. The method of claim 33, wherein:

the first network comprises a PSTN or POTS network;

the second network comprises a wireless WiMAX network;

the third network comprises a wireless cellular network; and

wherein the device comprises a mobile device having both wireless WiMAX and cellular air interfaces.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the processing is performed substantially within a first premises of the user, and the delivering comprises delivering the call to the device while the device is at a location outside of or remote from the first premises.

40. The method of claim 34, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the call over an analog network in an analog form, and the processing comprises converting the call from the analog form to a digital form useful within the second network.

41. The method of claim 34, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the call over an analog network in a first digital form, and the processing comprises converting the call from the first digital form to a second digital form useful within the second network.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the processing comprises transcoding the call from a first codec format to a second codec format.

43. The method of claim 34, further comprising forwarding the call to the device over the third network when it is determined that the device is not within range of the second network.

44. The method of claim 34, wherein the delivering the call comprises pushing a voicemail message to the device for storage thereon.