System and method for processing telephony sessions

• US 8,837,465 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2013
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Twilio, Inc.
• Inventors: Lawson, Jeffrey G., Wolthuis, John, Cooke, Evan
• Primary Examiner(s): Thompson, Jr., Otis L
• Application Number:
  US13/743,080
• Publication Number:
  US 20130128883A1
• Time in Patent Office: 608 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 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• 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 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

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 for processing a telephony communication comprising:

associating an initial URI with a telephony endpoint;

initiating a telephony voice session for a telephony communication to the telephony endpoint;

mapping the initial URI to the telephony session;

sending an application layer protocol request to an application resource specified by the URI and embedding state information of the telephony voice session in the request;

receiving a response to the application layer protocol request sent to the application resource, wherein the response includes a document of telephony instructions; and

executing telephony actions during the telephony voice session according to a sequential processing of at least a subset of the telephony instructions of the response.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony communication is a call.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein executing a telephony action includes communicating over the public switched telephony network (PSTN).

4. The method of claim 1, wherein executing telephony actions includes performing the following telephony actions during the telephony voice session:

playing audio, playing text-to-speech audio, capturing input, calling a telephony endpoint, or recording audio.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein executing a telephony action includes sending a telephony message that is sent to a telephony endpoint.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein sending the telephony message includes communicating over a Signaling System Number Seven (SS₇) network.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the telephony message is a Short Message Service (SMS) message.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the telephony message is a Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony endpoint is a phone number.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony endpoint is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the telephony endpoint is selected from the group consisting of a phone number and a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) address.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a telephony session for a telephony communication to the telephony endpoint is in response to an inbound telephony communication.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a telephony session for a telephony communication to the telephony endpoint is in response to an application programming interface request to create a telephony communication.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein executing telephony actions for the telephony session includes redirecting to a second URI during the telephony voice session.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein executing telephony actions includes processing internet content type of the response and determining telephony actions based on the internet content type.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein processing the internet content type comprises setting content type to a first type if the response includes a document of telephony instructions and setting content type to a second type if the response is a playable media file;

and wherein executing the telephony instructions comprises at a call router sequentially processing the telephony instructions if the response is the first type and at a call router playing the playable media file if the response is the second type.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein a response including an extensible markup language document of stateless telephony instructions is a first type and a response including an audio file is a second type.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the state information includes at least an originating telephony endpoint, a destination telephony endpoint, and a telephony voice session identifier.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein executing telephony actions during the telephony voice session according to the response are executed statelessly at a call router.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein executing telephony actions includes redirecting to a second URI according to a telephony instruction specifying the second URI;

wherein redirecting comprises sending an application layer protocol request to a second application resource specified by the second URI and embedding state information of the telephony session in the request;

receiving a response of the second application resource; and

executing telephony actions during the telephony session according to the response of the second application resource.

15. The method of 14, further comprising sending an application layer protocol request to a second application resource specified by the second URI;

receiving a second response from the second application resource, wherein the second response includes a second document of telephony instructions; and

executing telephony actions for the telephony session according to sequentially processed telephony instructions of the second response.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein state of the telephony session is embedded in the second URI.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein collected digits are embedded in the second URI.

24. A method for processing a telephony communication comprising:

associating an initial URI with a telephone number;

initiating a telephony call session for an incoming telephony communication to the telephone number;

mapping the initial URI to the telephony session;

sending an application layer protocol request to an application resource specified by the URI and embedding state information of the telephony session in the request;

receiving a response from the application resource, wherein the response includes telephony instructions; and

according to the telephony instructions, sequentially executing a plurality of telephony actions over a public switched telephony network (PSTN) during the telephony session, comprising;

according to a first telephony instruction, playing audio,

according to a second telephony instruction, playing text-to-speech audio,

according to a third telephony instruction, calling a telephony number,

according to a fourth telephony instruction, capturing input, and

according to a fourth telephony instruction, recording audio.

25. A method for processing a telephony communication comprising:

associating an initial URI with a telephone number;

initiating a telephony call session for an incoming telephony message to the telephone number;

mapping the initial URI to the telephony session;

sending an application layer protocol request to an application resource specified by the URI and embedding state information of the telephony session in the request;

receiving a response from the application resource, wherein the response includes telephony instructions; and

according to the telephony instructions, sequentially executing a plurality of telephony actions, comprising;

according to a first telephony instruction, sending a telephony message, and

according to a second telephony instruction, calling a telephone number.

26. A method for processing a telephony communication comprising:

associating an initial URI with a telephone number;

initiating a telephony call session for an incoming telephony message to the telephone number;

mapping the initial URI to the telephony session;

sending an application layer protocol request to an application resource specified by the URI and embedding state information of the telephony session in the request;

receiving a response from the application resource;

processing a content type of the response;

if the response is a content type of a playable media file, playing the media file in the telephony voice session and

if the response is a content type with telephony instructions, sequentially executing a plurality of telephony actions during the telephony voice session according to the telephony instructions, comprising;

according to a first telephony instruction, sending a telephony message, and

according to a second telephony instruction, calling a telephone number.