System and method for monitoring the volume of calls carried by a voice over internet protocol telephone system

Abstract

A method and a system for controlling the load of calls carried by a voice over Internet protocol telephone system attempts to reduce or eliminate the overloading of individual trunk groups and / or destination gateways. The system obtains information relating to a plurality of calls in the system, and analyzes the call information to determine if certain trunk groups or destination gateways are overloaded. If so, the system issues commands so that additional calls are diverted away from the overloaded trunk group or destination gateway.

Description

[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 12 / 212,349 filed Sep. 17, 2008, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 646,687 filed Aug. 25, 2003 which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 10 / 298,208, filed Nov. 18, 2002, the disclosures of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The application also claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60 / 331,479, filed Nov. 16, 2001, and U.S. Utility application Ser. No. 10 / 094,671, filed Mar. 7, 2002, the disclosure of both of which is hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Field of the Invention[0003]The invention relates generally to the field of communications, and more specifically to a network configured for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and / or Facsimile over Internet Protocol (FoIP).[0004]Background of the Related Art[0005]Historically, most wired voice communications were carried over the Public Switched ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The invention aims to control calls in a voice over internet protocol telephone system to prevent overloading of system resources. This is achieved by monitoring the traffic of calls sent through individual destination gateways and re-routing additional calls through alternate gateways if the traffic approaches the maximum capacity of a gateway. This prevents denial of call setup requests due to overloading and ensures smooth operation of the system.

Problems solved by technology

VoIP in the related art presents several problems for a provider of network-based voice communication services.

For example, because packets of information follow different routes between source and destination terminals in an IP network, it is difficult for network service providers to track data and bill for network use.

In addition, VoIP networks in the related art lack adequate control schemes for routing packets through the Internet based upon the selected carrier service provider, a desired Quality of Service (QoS), cost, and other factors.

Moreover, related art controllers do not provide sufficient interfaces between the large variety of signaling systems used in international communications.

Other disadvantages related to monitoring and control also exist with present VoIP schemes.

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