Automatic backup trunking for voice over the internet

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for routing a telephone call.

Voice communication over the internet is known. However, such communication typically requires that both parties be logged on to an internet provider, be running compatible voice communication software, and have the necessary hardware (e.g., microphone and speakers). Further, voice communication over the internet may degrade due to congestion.

The present invention seeks to obviate disadvantages of known voice communication over the internet.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, there is provided a method for routing a telephone call, comprising the steps of: receiving a destination number (DN) for said call; based on said DN, determining whether a connection is possible through a computer network; where a computer network connection is possible, routing said call through said computer network; where a computer network connection is not possible, routing said call through a switched telephone network.

According to another aspect of the present invention. there is provided a call router for routing a telephone call, comprising: a receiver for receiving an outgoing call; a detector responsive to said receiver for detecting a destination for said call; a determiner responsive to said destination detector for determining whether or not a connection is possible through a computer network; a route initiator responsive to said determiner for initiating a route for said call through one of said computer network and a switched telephone network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the figures which show an example embodiment of the invention, <ul id="ul0001" list-style="none" compact="compact"><li>figure 1 is a schematic view of a communication system embodying this invention,</li><li>figure 2 is a schematic detail of a portion of figure 1, and</li><li>figures 3a and 3b comprise a flow diagram of the program control for a portion of the system of figure 1.</li></ul>

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning to figure 1, a communication system illustrated generally at 10 comprises a plurality of telephone appliances 12 connected to a first private branch exchange (PBX) 14 and a plurality of telephone appliances 22 connected to a second PBX 24. PBX 14 and PBX 24 are each connected to a wide area network (WAN), or intranet, 40, an internet 42, and a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 44.

Referencing figure 2, PBX 14 comprises a processor 52 connected for two-way communication with a memory 54 and having a control input to a switch matrix 56. The switch matrix has inputs 58 from telephone appliances connected to the PBX and outputs 60 to these telephone appliances and to intranet, internet, and PSTN lines. PBX 24 is identically configured.

The operation of the communication system of figures 1 and 2 is described in conjunction with figures 3a and 3b, which illustrates the program control for processor 52 of PBX 14.

If a user of telephone appliance 12a goes off-hook and dials a destination number (DN) for telephone appliance 22a, the PBX 14 receives the DN (block 110). The processor of the PBX retrieves a WAN look-up table from memory 54 and determines whether the DN appears in the table (block 112). If yes, this means that the DN is for a telephone appliance associated with a PBX on the WAN and the processor retneves the WAN address associated with the DN from the look-up table (block 114). The WAN address is an indication of a destination PBX on the WAN to which the called telephone appliance is associated. In the illustrative example, the address for PBX 24 would appear in the WAN table. With this information, PBX 14 routes the call through its switch matrix 56 to a WAN line and initiates routing through the WAN in order to complete the call (block 116), verifying in the process that the Quality of Service (QoS) is high enough to support a real-time telephone conversation by measuring the packet delay.

If the user of telephone 12a dialled the DN for a telephone appliance not on the WAN or the call required a QoS above that available on the WAN, then PBX 14 next accesses an internet look-up table and searches for the DN (block 118). If an entry is found, the internet address is retrieved (block 120) and the PBX 14 initiates routing through the intemet to the destination PBX (block 122), verifying in the process that the QoS is high enough to support a real-time telephone conversation.

Assuming PBX 14 did not have an internet look-up table entry for the DN, or the QoS was not high enough to support a telephone conversation, the PBX initiates routing of the call through the PSTN (blocks 124, 130).

Whenever a call is established over the intemet. PBX 14 monitors the quality of service (QoS) of the internet call path (block 134). This involves measuring such parameters as packet delay, the number of data packets dropped and throughput. Preferably QoS is measured using the known Real-Time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP). If the QoS falls below a first threshold (block 136), then PBX 14 initiates the setting up of a parallel call path to the destination PBX over the PSTN. Once this parallel path is established. PBX 14 sends a sequence of in-band tones over the PSTN to the destination PBX which uniquely identifies the internet connection carrying the call's voice path connection (e.g. the calling and called telephone numbers). The destination PBX sends a confirmation tone over the PSTN to PBX 14 indicating when it has found the connection. (This interaction is done over the PSTN instead of over the internet because the internet is assumed to be suffering delays due to congestion at this time.) The confirmation tone is used as a signal for both PBXs to simultaneously switch the voice path from the internet to the PSTN. Since the internet voice path is suffering quality problems such as excessive delay, it will normally be acceptable to switch the voice path without waiting for a silence interval. A notification tone can be sent to the calling and called parties during a silence interval to notify them that the call has been rerouted. Typically a PSTN connection generates higher user charges than an internet connection and so the alerting informs the parties of their use of a higher price connection.

After the change-over. the internet call path is maintained and PBX 14 sends test packets over the internet call path to allow it to continuously monitor the QoS of the connection (block 144). If the QoS improves so as to exceed a second threshold -- which may be set higher than the first threshold (block 146). PBX 14 monitors for silence on the PSTN connection, then initiates routing of the call through the internet (block 148). The PBX may also send an in-band signal to alert the parties of a switch over back to the internet connection. The PBX then initiates tearing down of the PSTN connection (block 150).

For the duration of the call, PBX 14 monitors the QoS of the internet connection and re-establishes a PSTN connection whenever necessary.

In the foregoing, it is assumed that the WAN 40 is able to guarantee a QoS for each connection. If this is not the case, then the PBX 14 monitors and responds to the QoS on the WAN in the same fashion as it monitors and responds to the QoS on the internet.

By utilising a computer network (intranet or internet) call path in preference to a PSTN call path, the communication system 10 minimizes toll costs of a call. Additionally, the communication system 10 provides a "safety factor" for any call over a computer network in that should the QoS of the call degrade for any reason, the call will be rerouted through the PSTN.

While figure 1 illustrates two networked PBXs, it will be readily apparent that any number of PBXs may form part of a "corporate" network. When any new PBX is to join the corporate network and this new PBX is connected to the internet, a system operator enters the internet protocol (IP) address of a "reference" PBX in the corporate network. The reference PBX can be any active PBX of the corporate network which has an internet connection. This prompts the new PBX to send a message to this IP address identifying itself as a new PBX on the corporate network along with the range of DNs to which it responds and an authentication code. The reference PBX returns a message which contains a mapping between corporate network DN ranges and IP addresses for all of the PBXs in the corporate network. The new PBX stores this information in a look-up table and then sends a message to each of the PBXs in the corporate network identifying itself as a new PBX on the corporate network and specifying the range of DNs to which it responds. Upon receiving this message, the other PBXs update their look-up table to include this new PBX. This same procedure may be used to incorporate a new PBX in a WAN of the corporate network.

Efficiency of the corporate network may be further enhanced by a modification wherein each PBX periodically sends test messages to each of the other PBXs in the corporate network to determine the quality of service of the WAN/internet connections between itself and the other PBXs. If it determines that the quality of service with another PBX is not high enough to support an acceptable voice conversation, it will set a "poor Voice Quality" flag in a look-up table indicating that calls to this PBX should be routed over the PSTN. This flag will be cleared when subsequent tests indicate that the quality of service achievable over the WAN/internet connection to this PBX has returned to an acceptable level.

With this modification, when a user places a call to a remote PBX, the load PBX will look up the IP address of the remote PBX and check the Poor Voice Quality flag associated with that PBX. If the remote PBX has an IP address in the look-up table and its Poor Voice Quality flag is not set, the local PBX will set up the call over the WAN or internet. Otherwise it will set up the call over the PSTN.

While the illustrative embodiments reference the PSTN, it will be appreciated that this network could equally be a network of leased lines or other switched telephone network. If the switched telephone network does not support an end-to-end digital connection. it may be necessary to convert an incoming call from analog to digital in any known fashion before the call is routed over an internet connection.

Each PBX in the illustrative embodiment could be replaced by any intelligent switch. Further, instead of programming a PBX or other intelligent switch to perform as described. a special purpose router could be associated with the switch. The switch would then be programmed to query the router for instructions whenever a call arrived and the router would instruct the switch to operate in the manner described for the PBX hereinbefore. As a further alternative, if the switch was a signal switching point (SSP) in an advanced intelligent network (AIN), then, as is standard in an AIN, the SSP queries a supervisory control point (SCP) when a call arrives. The SCP could contain the program control for the SSP such that the SSP operated in the manner hereinbefore described for the PBX.

In summary, to reduce telephone toll costs to a user. a PBX preferentially establishes a call to a destination number (DN) over a WAN or the internet. The PBX determines the available connection types available by querying look-up tables for the particular DN. It no alternatives to the PSTN are available, the call is routed over the PSTN. Where a WAN or internet connection is available. the call is then routed over this alternative service. If the Quality of Service (QoS) over the computer network connection falls below a specified threshold, a second parallel connection is made over the PSTN and the call is then transferred to the PSTN. The user is notified of this change in service. During the PSTN connection, the PBX polls the alternative service and, upon the QoS rising above a specified threshold, the call is then routed back to the alternative service and the PSTN connection is torn down. The user is again notified of this change in service.

Other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and. therefore. the invention is defined in the claims.