Region-based bridging of calls using client-specific control and revised caller identifiers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10122682-B1
Application number	US-201615377797-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 13, 2016
Priority date	Jun 23, 2016
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

Apparatus and methods are disclosed for client-based control of revising caller identifications (IDs) for communications between a private network and a public network. An apparatus including a telecommunications-providing server and processing circuit that communicates client-specific sets of data over an interface protocol. The telecommunications-providing server revises a caller ID for a VoIP call based on the client-specific sets of data, an identifier that corresponds to a requesting endpoint, and a geographic region determined from the call request. Further, the telecommunications-providing server causes control data to be sent to activate an analog-telephone bridging circuit and redirect the VoIP call by obtaining a dial tone and passes at least a subset of the data packet through the analog-telephone bridging circuit for connecting over the local line. The subset of the data packet includes the revised caller ID which is a local number identified by the determined geographic region.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising:
a telecommunications-providing server configured and arranged to provide Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications service relationships with a plurality of disparate client entities by controlling communication between endpoint devices respectively associated with each of the plurality of disparate client entities;
a processing circuit configured and arranged to, for each of the plurality of disparate client entities, communicate with the telecommunications-providing server by generating client-specific sets of data indicative of client-specific communications routing and/or client-specific communications data, and by conveying the generated client-specific sets of data over an interface protocol, wherein the telecommunications-providing server and each of the plurality of disparate client entities are configured and arranged with the interface protocol to facilitate permissible types of communications; and
wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to:
respond to a data packet received at a first port of the telecommunications-providing server requesting a VoIP call by determining a geographic region that an endpoint device identified using the data packet is located and whether a local line should be accessed;
respond to the data packet indicating that a local line should be accessed by:
revising a caller identification (ID) for the VoIP call based on the client-specific sets of data, based on an identifier that corresponds to an endpoint device requesting the VoIP call, and based on the determined geographic region; and
causing control data to be sent to activate an analog-telephone bridging circuit and redirect the VoIP call by obtaining a dial tone and passing at least a subset of the data packet through the analog-telephone bridging circuit for connecting over the local line, the subset of the data packet including the revised caller ID that includes a local number identified by the determined geographic region.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein another endpoint device, through which the dial tone is connected, receives a transposed number indicating a call is being made from the local number using the revised caller ID.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server is configured to:
set aside a plurality of provisioned VoIP numbers that are set aside for different geographic regions, and
pass the provisioned VoIP number, which is among the plurality of provisioned VoIP numbers and which is set aside for the determined geographic region, through the analog-telephone bridging circuit for connecting to a number being called.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to identify whether the caller ID, which corresponds to the requesting endpoint device, should be revised by:
comparing a geographic region of an identifier corresponding to the requesting endpoint device to the determined geographic region that the endpoint device is located and/or a current physical location of the requesting endpoint device;
in response to the geographic region associated with the identifier being different than the determined geographic region that the endpoint device is located and/or the current physical location of the requesting endpoint device, revising the caller ID to include the local number identified by the determined geographic region; and
in response to the geographic region associated with the identifier being the same and/or within a threshold distance from the determined geographic region that the endpoint device is located and/or the current physical location of the requesting endpoint device, using the caller ID corresponding to the requesting endpoint device for the VoIP call.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server uses a variable extension protocol to interpret whether the data packet received at the first port either corresponds to an extension that identifies the endpoint device in a private network or corresponds to information for connecting over the local line through the analog-telephone bridging circuit and is further configured and arranged to respond to the endpoint device indicating the local line should be accessed by:
replacing a caller ID corresponding to the requesting endpoint device with the revised caller ID; and
activating the analog-telephone bridging circuit for connecting over the local line.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to use a variable extension protocol to interpret and identify a first branch office that the requesting endpoint device identified by an identifier in the data packet and a second branch that the requesting endpoint device is currently physically located at using another IP address in the data packet.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , the apparatus further including the analog-telephone bridging circuit configured and arranged to couple and connect to the local line and bridge communications, using the revised caller ID, between the requesting endpoint device in a private network and the endpoint device that is associated with an emergency service which is specific to the determined geographic region identified by the data packet and assigned for emergency calls of a certain type that are initiated on behalf of the private network.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to respond to a call to the revised caller ID from the endpoint device by:
identifying the requesting endpoint device that requested the VoIP call to the endpoint device associated with the emergency service using the client-specific sets of data stored in a database; and
redirecting the call from the endpoint device to an extension of the requesting endpoint device, wherein the extension corresponds to a different geographic region than indicated in the revised caller ID.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to respond to no answer to the call redirected to the extension by further redirecting the call from the endpoint device associated with the emergency service to an extension of the determined geographic region identified by the data packet and corresponding to a front desk or security service of a respective disparate client entity of the requesting endpoint device and the geographic region using the client-specific sets of data.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to redirect the call to the extension by accessing a database including the client-specific sets of data and identifying the extension associated with the revised caller ID using a respective client-specific set of data corresponding to a respective disparate client entity that the requesting endpoint device is associated with.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured and arranged to communicate identification of endpoint devices of a respective disparate client entity that the telecommunications-providing server is to revise the caller ID based on a set of rules, and
wherein the telecommunications-providing server is further configured and arranged to selectively revise caller IDs for the identified endpoint devices of the respective client entity based on the set of rules.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , the apparatus further including:
the analog-telephone bridging circuit configured and arranged for cou

Assignees

• 8X8 Inc

Inventors

• Salour Mehdi
• Liu Zhishen
• Glynn Oisin
• Stewart Ona

Classifications

• H04L67/18

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04M2242/04

  for emergency applications · CPC title

• H04M3/42042 Primary

  Notifying the called party of information on the calling party (details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72) · CPC title

• H04M7/006

  Networks other than PSTN/ISDN providing telephone service, e.g. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) , including next generation networks with a packet-switched transport layer (H04L65/00 takes precedence; aspects not specific to the type of network H04M3/00; special services in those networks H04M3/42) · CPC title

• H04L61/256 Primary

  NAT traversal · CPC title