System and method for facilitating secure voice communication over a network
View Patent ↗The present invention involves providing secure Voice Over IP (VOIP) communications to a mobile communications device. Specifically, the disclosed systems and methods enable a standard remote communications device (e.g., a cellular telephone) to utilize the Secure Communications Interoperability Protocol (SCIP) as designed by the U.S. Department of Defense. The invention provides SCIP access to users without requiring specific hardware configurations to be built into, or added to, the remote communications device. The remote communications device is equipped with software that emulates what was previously accomplished through a hardware configuration in order to facilitate secure VOIP communications over standard mobile communication devices.
1. A computer-implemented method for managing communications utilizing disparate communications protocols:
receiving software code at a remote communications device;
receiving a selection at said remote communications device to facilitate communication by way of at least one of: a packet switched protocol or a non-packet switched protocol;
processing, by said software code, said selection at said remote communications device to determine a protocol selection;
if said protocol selection is determined to be said packet switched protocol then enabling said packet switched protocol and disabling said non-packet switched protocol; and
if said protocol selection is determined to be said non-packet switched protocol then enabling said non packet switched protocol and disabling said packet switched protocol.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said remote communications device is a cellular telephone.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said remote communications device is configured in accordance with a Secure Communication Interoperability Protocol (SCIP) specification to facilitate at least one of: end-to-end signaling, interoperability, cryptography, or secure session establishment.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing at least one of: call prioritization and call precedence, wherein a voice application at said remote communications device receives priority over a resource competitive application.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a VOIP Quality of Service (QoS) function, wherein said QoS function includes at least one of: Differentiated Service (DiffServ) or Type of Service (ToS).
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising routing voice frames through a Multi-Carrier Entry Point (MCEP).
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of: a user interface control element or a view element is independent of at least one of: a SoftPhone or a SCIP subsystem.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said remote communications device includes a partition comprising at least one of: a model object, a view object, or a controller object, and wherein said model object maintains domain knowledge; said view object provides a display of data; and said controller object manages external interactions.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said software code includes an Application Controller Service (ACS).
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said ACS facilitates communication between a native Circuit Switched Voice (CSV) application and a voice client.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein said ACS facilitates use of a native Circuit Switched Voice (CSV) application call feature in parallel with a voice client feature.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said ACS is configured to monitor at least one of: call state or line state for at least one of a native Circuit Switched Voice (CSV) application or a voice client application.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein a voice client verifies with said ACS prior to at least one of: initiating a call, accepting a call, or transitioning a call to a Secure Call state.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein said ACS maintains a call state of a native Circuit Switched Voice (CSV) application relative to at least one of: a voice client application call state or a request.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein internal state changes to at least one of: a Call Manager client or a SCIP subsystem triggers a notification to a User Interface subsystem to modify view contents.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein said software code includes an independent and persistent subsystem, and wherein said independent and persistent subsystem comprises at least one of: a user interface, a Call Manager client, said SCIP session, or an Application Controller service.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein said independent and persistent subsystem facilitates at least one of: self initialization, initialization and configuration of dependent modules, or inter-subsystem synchronization.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein said software code includes a SCIP subsystem configured to at least one of: encode frames, encrypt frames, or pass frames into a network transport subsystem.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein a user interface subsystem interacts with at least one of: a Client Subsystem or a SCIP subsystem to facilitate at least one of clear and secure call configuration, clear and secure call status, or clear and secure call control.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein said software code includes a Client Subsystem configured to facilitate at least one of: Clear Call setup, Clear Call maintenance, or Clear Call transmission.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein said Clear Call setup manages at least one of: a manual or an automated Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration request.
22. The method of claim 1 , wherein said software code includes a SoftPhone subsystem configured to manage core SoftPhone functionality.
23. The method of claim 1 , wherein said software code includes a Minimum Essential Requirements (MER) subsystem configured to maintain a network transport protocol.