Method and apparatus for enhanced internet telephony

• US 7,924,822 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2008
• Issued: 04/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vonage America LLC (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Vonage Network LLC (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Holder, Louis, Citron, Jeffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar; Pankaj
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jones; Prenell P
• Application Number:
  US12/071,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20080183892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,153 Days
• Field of Search: 370351-353, 370/392, 370/389, 370/401, 370/466, 370/260, 370/217, 370/342, 370/320, 370/335, 370/493, 370/360, 709/245, 709/240, 709/228, 709/203, 709/204, 379/93, 379/88, 725/131, 455/437, 455/435, 455/418, 455/456, 455/404, 713/171
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/255 Maintenance or indexing of mapping tables
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2564 for a higher-layer protocol, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1026 at the edge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for enhanced Internet telephony ensures that communication between a source and destination is not interrupted by common network address translation. According to one aspect of the invention, communication may continue through a router that employs network address translation.

Claims

1. An internet telephony system comprising an internet telephony server configured to process a SIP signaling message to setup a communication of streaming packets with a media terminal adapter on a first network, the internet telephony server being on a second network and further configured to replace a first network address of the media terminal adapter in one or more fields of the SIP signaling message with a second network address to accommodate the first and second networks being separated by a router performing network address translation between corresponding network addresses on the first and second networks, wherein the second network address was received from the router.

2. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the internet telephony server is configured to replace the first network address of the first network for the media terminal adapter in one or more fields of the SIP signaling message with a corresponding second network address of the second network for the media terminal adapter.

3. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the first network is a private network.

4. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the second network is a public network.

5. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the internet telephony server is further configured to store a network address of the first network for the media terminal adapter.

6. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the internet telephony server is further configured to store the second network address corresponding to the media terminal adapter.

7. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the SIP signaling message is a SIP Invite.

8. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the internet telephony server is further configured as a pre-proxy server.

9. The internet telephony system of claim 1, wherein the streaming packets are Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the field is a SDP field.

10. A method of providing internet telephony comprising:

receiving at an internet telephony server on a second network a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) signaling message for setting up a communication of streaming packets with a media terminal adapter on a first network;

replacing a network address of the media terminal adapter in one or more fields of the SIP signaling message with a different network address to accommodate the first and second networks being separated by a router performing network address translation between corresponding network addresses on the first and second networks, wherein the different network address is received from the router.

11. The method of providing interne telephony of claim 10, wherein a network address of the first network for the media terminal adapter in one or more fields of the SIP signaling message is replaced with a corresponding network address of the second network for the media terminal adapter.

12. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10, wherein the first network is a private network.

13. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10, wherein the second network is a public network.

14. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10 further comprising the step of storing a network address of the first network for the media terminal adapter.

15. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10 further comprising the step of storing the different network address of the second network corresponding to the media terminal adapter.

16. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10, wherein the SIP signaling message is a SIP Invite.

17. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10, wherein the internet telephony server is configured as a pre-proxy server.

18. The method of providing internet telephony of claim 10, wherein the streaming packets are Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP) packets.

20. The method of claim 10, wherein the field is a SDP field.

21. An internet system comprising:

an internet telephony server configured to receive and process a SIP signaling message to setup a communication of streaming packets with a media terminal adapter on a first network,

the internet telephony server being on a second network and further configured to replace a first network address of the media terminal adapter in one or more fields of the SIP signaling message with a second network address; and

,

a NAT router separating the first network from the second network and configured to provide the second network address to the internet telephony server via the SIP signaling message.