System for interconnecting standard telephony communications equipment to internet protocol networks

Abstract

A system for linking standard telephony communications with internet protocols. Standard telephony equipment, such as a telephone, can communicate using the internet without special adapters or the like. A network of Internet servers may be connected to the Internet and telephony communications system, enabling telephony communications equipment access to the Internet.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION DATA[0001] This Application is related to, and claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119 with respect to, prior Provisional Application No. 60 / 012,896 filed Mar. 6, 1996 and prior Provisional Application No. 60 / 013,240 filed Mar. 11, 1996, the contents of each of those provisional applications being hereby expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.RESERVATION OF COPYRIGHT[0002] The disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrights whatsoever.[0003] 1. Field of Invention[0004] The present invention relates to a system for linking standard telephony communications using internet protocols.[0005] 2. Description of Background Information[0006] Telephony communicatio...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0023] Another object of the present invention is to efficiently use existing telephony resources to communicate by taking advantage of hardware presently in place within the existing telephony communications infrastructure, as well as to provide more versatile new communications technologies.

[0024] A further object of the present invention is to provide a system for best managing communication costs by, for instance, identifying and / or utilizing alternative lower cost communication pathways between a source and a destination.

Problems solved by technology

It is costly to reconfigure a given traditional telephony communications system, such as a centrex system, a PBX system, or a key telephone system.

As just one example, the creation and testing of a new telephone circuit will be quite labor-intensive, requiring such actions as locating the switch, finding a suitable and available wiring connection to establish the telephone circuit, making many cross-connections between and / or splicing of cables to route the wiring to the desired end destination, and performing different testing and verification procedures to ensure that a proper connection is made.

If at any critical point in the path of a circuit, the available lines reach their full capacity, new lines will need to be installed to accommodate new telephony circuits, or the circuit must be diverted in a less than optimal manner to utilize existing cable facilities.

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