Patent Application
20050135586
The present invention pertains to applications servers and computer-based products used for telephony, multi-media messaging, (voice mail, e-mail, fax, instant_messaging, etc.), electronic document sharing, and the storage of electronic documents in secured locations, video and voice conferencing, plug in applications modules as well as disaster protection in a “virtual environment,” hereby referred to as an “application.” In addition, these applications provide services that are differentiated from other services that allow telephony, multi-media messaging and or electronic document sharing and storage in that they typically employ CALL PULL-BACK technology to accomplish telephony Call Processing in the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) and in the use of an applications tool kit and common operating control comprised of preprogrammed software constructs hereby referred to as “Objects.”
Applications are housed in geographically diverse, strategically located hardened sites called Network Operations Control Centers (NOCCS) and provide disaster protection by answering calls and allowing callers to be redirected to the called party's_last known location. This is accomplished through the use of Presence. The called party logs on to the network from a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) compatible device. The network makes note of the address of the device from which the call came and redirects future incoming traffic to that device until the next log on occurs. This may be used in conjunction with a type of “call follow me” and messaging. The network is private and the digital portion is encrypted. Everything is hardened against manmade or natural disasters and applications and messaging are mirrored from NOCC to NOCC. This is -coupled with the ability to process calls from any device to any other device (analog, IP or cell phone, personal computer or PDA) in the event of an emergency. Multi-media messaging and/or document sharing is used to seamlessly network together a client's staff even when that staff is deployed in multiple remote locations. More particularly, the present invention is directed toward application development tools, Objects and the methods used to create, manipulate and/or destroy these virtual environments. Telephone calls are processed across a private IP network layered on top of a self healing optical network. Callers may be offered options when a call they initiate encounters a no answer condition.
Advances in communications (e.g., cellular telephones, PDAs and the Internet), the increased mobilization of the work force, the threat of manmade or natural disasters_and the desire of individuals to work securely from virtual environments have all fueled the need for integrated communications services. These services often include the voice and data networking of employees and others working outside the traditional office environment. Subscribers may place calls, send, receive and manipulate multi-media messaging, share documents, and allow callers to access members of these networks no matter where they are located. Calls may be placed across the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN) or a private IP network. The caller need never know that the person they are calling is working from a remote location or from home.
A client company or governmental unit's (“client”) ability to continue functioning after suffering a disaster is greatly enhanced since the equipment hosting their application is located in multiple hardened sites built to operate under extremely adverse conditions. The digital portion of the network is layered on a self-healing optical network. Wherever possible, equipment is engineered to fail over to backup equipment. Applications and messaging are mirrored from NOCC to NOCC. The routing of callers to the main greeting of a client's application occurs at the TELCO Central Office on a busy, forward or no answer condition. If the original call was to a company rather than an individual, the caller could enter an extension number or select from a menu and be transparently connected to an employee of the client. The caller is given further options if the call encounters a busy or no answer condition. Clients may access other clients on the corporate or government network much like they would in a traditional office. The challenge has been to create the tools and methods and documentation that enable the construction, maintenance and destruction of these networks in a rapid and reliable manner.
An objective of the present invention is to address the matters described in the “Discussion of the Background.” While the next section addresses specific features and attributes of the invention, a brief non-exhaustive description of the invention is now presented. The present invention provides a software tool kit; a computer based business method and services sold as products, which may be deployed by various means disclosed within this document.
The chief attribute of the invention is a software tool kit and common operating control known as the Objects. In a previous version of the network, in the issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,437, dated Jul. 11, 2000, and in co-pending U.S. patent Attorney Docket No. 8006-0019-13, Confirmation No. 7593, application Ser. No. 09/556,439, entitled “A VIRTUAL VOICE NETWORK TOOL KIT, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT,” filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 23, 1999, having common inventorship, the entire contents of all of which being incorporated herein by reference, the “Objects” resided in the Call Processor and Integrated Voice Response (IVR) portion of the NOCC. In this CIP, the “Objects” reside primarily in the SIP and Authentication servers. As the network evolves and technology changes, the “Objects” are rewritten. What remains the same or slowly changes over time in the underlying functionality of each Object. In general, the devices or servers that can be programmed and have the ability to issue commands to other devices or servers may be used.
Depending on the business needs of the client, the Objects may work in conjunction with the invention described and disclosed in the issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,437, dated Jul. 11, 2000 (“CALL PULL-BACK”), and in co-pending U.S. patent Attorney Docket No. 8006-0019-13, Confirmation No. 7593, application Ser. No. 09/556,439, entitled “A VIRTUAL VOICE NETWORK TOOL KIT, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT,” filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 23, 1999, having common inventorship, the entire contents of all of which being incorporated herein by reference, a copy of each of which is included in the Appendix. As previously mentioned, Objects are preprogrammed software constructs that when used in conjunction with one another allow a non-technical person who may understand only the business needs of a client to rapidly and reliably create, manipulate and/or destroy an application. These applications/virtual environments work in different ways. In some cases they stand behind the client answering calls that are forwarded in under a busy or no answer condition. In other cases the client may not have a physical headquarters. Callers go directly to the application and the application then routes calls and provides messaging, video and voice conferencing services.
While more common methods are used to market these products/applications, another attribute of the invention is to package the products as a boxed software package commonly found on store shelves and marketed on the Internet. The consumer purchasing the appropriate level of a virtual environment from a store or web site may then order the desired configuration or upgrade needed on a web site authorized to sell the products. The applications process switched circuit voice calls, H-320/ISDN video/voice conferencing traffic, IP/H-323 and Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to and from a Media Gateway Control (MEGACO) cloud while the SIP presence is handled in the soft switch.
A more complete appreciation of the invention and many of the attendant advantages thereof will be readily apparent as the same becomes better understood. To assist in this understanding, the following is provided as a reference to the detailed descriptions to be considered in connection with the accompanying drawings located in the Appendix, wherein:
An appendix is attached hereto that contains
Referring now to the drawings, wherein numerals indicate corresponding parts of the network:
An Object is a proven, preprogrammed software construct which by itself or when assembled with other Objects provides a desired functionality. Objects are written in traditional programming languages, scripting languages, and high-level command line code. The Objects allow non-technical personnel who understand the business needs of a client to rapidly and accurately create, manipulate and/or destroy these virtual environments.
Objects operate in conjunction with parameters, tables, attributes, classes, routines, methods, compiled code etc. which control the various components in the NOCCs and POPs. Objects perform the various functions so that the needs of the client are satisfied. The creator of a virtual environment places clients' mailboxes in Classes of Service that have been pre-configured as Objects. When services from other Servers are needed, the Objects furnish those services in the appropriate manner. If switching services are required, the Objects will issue commands to the Switch for functions such as routing a call. As with any product in the computer/telephony world, the Objects are constantly evolving.
Hardware changes require the rewriting of the “Objects” in new languages. Therefore, a living document has been created describing the functionality and services provided by each Object rather than lines of code. Once the functionality is specified, it is a simple matter to rewrite each Object. Personnel responsible for the creation of virtual environment applications use the documentation that starts on page 11. The Objects used to create a given virtual environment have the explanation of the functionality and services of the Object under the heading of each Class of Service (COS) or Object (OBJ). The Object itself is not a Class of Service; it is all of the preprogrammed and tested software comprising that construct. This ability alone allows the offering of inexpensive, reliable, custom virtual environments in a very rapid and cost effective manner.
Cost effectiveness is an important reason that others are not building sophisticated custom configurations for large numbers of clients. Without the use of the Objects, their personnel would have to program each configuration from scratch. The best way to define a given Object is to define its functions. One of the unique features of an Object is that a single instance of a given Object can operate at the same time on one or more physical platforms having different operating systems. Each Object is made up of many components.
The following is an example of a set of area code specific Objects. For clarity, only one set of area code specific Objects are shown.
(See
In the above table, Object 1 has the following definition:
The recordings spoken to the callers by a mailbox (M/B) number are as follows:
Holiday Greeting. Put in as a message and prior to the holiday, do a greeting/message swap.
Name the Receptionist
Greeting: The following is a list of our corporate personnel. At any time you may enter their extension number to leave a message.
All M/Bs in the following list;
All M/Bs in the following list;
The processes set forth in the present description may be implemented using a conventional general purpose microprocessor programmed according to the teachings of the present specification, as will be appreciated to those skilled in the relevant art(s). Appropriate software coding can readily be prepared by skilled programmers based on the teachings of the present disclosure, as will also be apparent to those skilled in the relevant art(s).
The present invention thus also includes a computer-based product that may be hosted on a storage medium and may include instructions, which can be used to program a computer to perform a process in accordance with the present invention. The storage medium can include, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disk, optical disk, CD-ROMS, and magneto-optical disks, ROMS, RAMs, EPROM's, EPROM's, flash memory, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.—Numerous modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings and should be construed as part of the present invention.
The present Continuation In Part document (hereinafter referred to as “CIP”) claims the benefit of the earlier filing date of, and contains subject matter related to that disclosed in the issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,088,437, dated Jul. 11, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as “CALL PULL-BACK”), and co-pending U.S. patent Attorney Docket No. 8006-0019-13, Confirmation No. 7593, application Ser. No. 09/556,439, entitled “A VIRTUAL VOICE NETWORK TOOL KIT, METHOD AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT,” filed in the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Apr. 23, 1999, having common inventorship by John Kenneth Amick, the entire contents of all of which being incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 09556439 | Apr 2000 | US |
| Child | 10938638 | Sep 2004 | US |
