System and method for processing telephony sessions

• US 8,306,021 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2009
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Lawson, Jeffrey, Wolthuis, John, Cooke, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Minh-Trang
• Application Number:
  US12/417,630
• Publication Number:
  US 20090252159A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,314 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1013 Network architectures, gateways, control or user entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1045 Proxies, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0643 Hash functions, e.g. MD5, SHA, HMAC or f9 MAC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2473 Telephone terminals interfacing a personal computer, e.g. using an API (Application Programming Interface) details of API H04M7/0021
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0021 Details of Application Programming Interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/003 Click to dial services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0075 Details of addressing, directories or routing tables

Abstract

In one embodiment, the method of processing telephony sessions includes: communicating with an application server using an application layer protocol; processing telephony instructions with a call router; and creating call router resources accessible through a call router Application Programming Interface (API). In another embodiment, the system for processing telephony sessions includes: a call router, a URI for an application server, a telephony instruction executed by the call router, and a call router API resource.

Claims

1. A method of processing telephony sessions comprising:

communicating with an application server using an application layer protocol;

processing telephony instructions with a call router;

creating call router resources accessible through a call router Application Programming Interface (API), wherein the call router resources are accessible by outside devices at an addressable Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

mapping a telephony session to the URI, the URI being associated with the application server;

sending a request to the application server;

embedding state information of the telephony session in the request;

receiving from the application server a response comprising telephony instructions for sequential processing;

storing state information in the URI of a call router resource;

modifying call router resources to alter the state of the call router; and

interacting with media of the call router according to the call router API.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising embedding state information of the telephony session into the URI.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein all state information required by the application server is embedded in the URI.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein sending and receiving are performed using a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the telephony instructions are encoded in Extensible Markup Language (XML).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a digital signature with the request, wherein the digital signature is adapted to be used for account verification by the application server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the digital signature is a cryptographic hash generated by a key, wherein the key is shared by a call router and the server, and wherein the cryptographic hash is included in the URI.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the telephony session from a phone number through the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the telephony session from a message received from a Short Message Service (SMS) system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating the telephony session by an application server through the call router API;

wherein the initial URI mapped to the telephony session is provided by the application server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the call router API is substantially a Representational State Transfer (REST) API.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony session includes a sent Short Message Service (SMS) message.

13. A method comprising:

communicating with an application server using an application layer protocol;

processing telephony instructions with a call router;

creating call router resources accessible through a call router Application Programming Interface (API), wherein the call router resources are accessible by outside devices at an addressable Uniform Resource Identifier (URI);

mapping a telephony session to the URI, the URI being associated with the application server;

sending a request to the application server;

embedding state information of the telephony session in the request;

receiving from the application server a response comprising telephony instructions for sequential processing;

receiving an API request from the application server for interaction with a resource; and

responding to an API request based on the interaction with a resource.

14. The method of claim 13, including creating a resource selected from the group consisting of:

a call resource, a media resource, an incoming address resource, an account resource, and a caller identification (ID) resource.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

altering the state of the telephone session with the call resource;

accessing media with the media resource;

modifying incoming addresses with an incoming address resource;

modifying account information with the account resource; and

modifying caller ID information with the caller ID resource.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the telephony instruction is selected from the group consisting of:

connecting to a telephony device, playing a media file, converting text to speech, sending a SMS message, sending a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message, detecting input from a telephony device, and connecting to a new URI.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising setting the initial URI associated with an inbound incoming address.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein a direct inward dialing (DID) number, a SMS short code, or a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address is used as the inbound incoming address.

19. The method of claim 13, including creating a call resource;

wherein the call resource is used for altering a connection of the telephony session.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein altering a connection of a call session includes:

joining telephony sessions, splitting a telephony session, and transferring a telephony session.