Granted Patent B2

US 6,931,001 · App. 10/462,396 · Granted Aug 16, 2005

Abstract

Claims (40)

1. A method of establishing voice communication between a phone connected to a circuit-switched network and one or more hosts connected to a packet-switched network, comprising:

receiving, at a gateway connected between the circuit-switched network and the packet-switched network, a call request from the phone;

sending, from the gateway, a first audio message to the phone requesting a destination address on the packet-switched network of a host of the one or more hosts;

receiving the destination address of the host from the phone responsive to the first audio message;

establishing a call comprising two-way voice communication, via the circuit-switched network and the packet-switched network, between the phone and the host based on the destination address of the host;

sending, from the gateway, a second audio message to the phone requesting a user name of a called party associated with the host; and

receiving the user name of the called party from the phone responsive to the second audio message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination address of the host comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination address of the host is received via numbers entered at a keypad associated with the phone.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the destination address of the host is received in audio form from the phone and recognized by the gateway using speech recognition.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user name of the called party is received via numbers entered at a keypad associated with the phone.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user name of the called party is received in audio form from the phone and recognized by the gateway using speech recognition.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to establishing the call, verifying that the called party corresponding to the user name is using the host.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to establishing the call, verifying that the host being called wishes to accept the call.

9. A system for establishing voice communication between a phone connected to a circuit-switched network and one or more hosts connected to a packet-switched network, comprising:

a network interface unit coupled to the packet-switched network;

a phone interface unit coupled to the circuit-switched network; and

a gateway processor coupled to the network interface unit and the phone interface unit and configured, in conjunction with the network interface unit and the phone interface unit, to:

receive a call request from a phone coupled to the circuit-switched network,

send at least one audio message to the phone requesting a destination Internet Protocol (IP) address on the packet-switched network of a host of the one or more hosts, and a user name of a called party associated with the host,

receive the destination IP address of the host and the user name from the phone, and

establish a call comprising two-way voice communication, via the circuit-switched network and the packet-switched network, between the phone and the host based on the destination IP address of the host and the user name of the called party.

10. A method of establishing voice communication between a phone connected to a circuit-switched network and a plurality of hosts connected to a packet-switched network, comprising:

receiving, at a gateway connected between the circuit-switched network and the packet-switched network, a call request from the phone;

sending from the gateway, a first audio message to the phone requesting destination addresses on the packet-switched network associated with each of the plurality of hosts;

receiving the destination addresses of each of the plurality of hosts from the phone responsive to the first audio message;

establishing a conference call comprising two-way voice communication, via the circuit-switched network and the packet-switched network, between the phone and each of the plurality of hosts based on the destination addresses of the plurality of hosts;

sending, from the gateway, a second audio message to die phone requesting user names of called parties associated with each of the plurality of hosts; and

receiving the user names of the called parties from the phone responsive to the second audio message.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the destination addresses of the plurality of hosts comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the destination addresses of the plurality of hosts is received via numbers entered at a keypad associated with the phone.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein each of the destination addresses of the plurality of hosts is received in audio form from the phone and recognized by the gateway using speech recognition.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the user names of the called parties are received via numbers entered at a keypad associated with the phone.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the user names of the called parties are received in audio form from the phone and recognized by the gateway using speech recognition.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

prior to establishing the conference call, verifying that the called parties corresponding to respective user names are using the respective hosts.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

prior to establishing the conference calls verifying that each of the hosts being called wishes to accept the conference call.

Assignments (10)