Systems and methods for communicating a stream of data packets via multiple communications channels
View Patent ↗Systems and methods of preventing an Internet service provider from identifying a stream of data packets as carrying a voice over Internet protocol telephony communication can make use of encryption techniques to prevent the Internet service provider from examining the content of the data packets. Also, multiple communications channels may be established between a telephony device and elements of an IP telephony system. A stream of data packets bearing the media of an IP telephony communication is then separated into sub-streams, and each sub-stream is sent through a different one of the communications channels. This prevents an Internet service provider from identifying a stream of data packets as bearing the media of an IP telephony communication based on a pattern in the data traffic.
1. A method of communicating data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication, comprising:
establishing a first communications channel through a network of a service provider between an element of an Internet protocol (IP) telephony system and a telephony device;
establishing a second communications channel through the network of the service provider between an element of the IP telephony system and the telephony device, wherein at least one or more of a first endpoint and a second endpoint of the first communication channel has at least one or more of an IP address and port number that differs from a corresponding endpoint of the second communication channel;
transmitting a first sub-stream of a stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication between the telephony device and the IP telephony system over the first communications channel; and
transmitting a second sub-stream of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication between the telephony device and the IP telephony system over the second communications channel.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel through a first port of a data network interface device that is in communication with the telephony device, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel through a second port of the data network interface device.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first port of a data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and a first port of an element of an IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second port of the data network interface device and a second port of the element of the IP telephony system.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first port of a data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and a first element of an IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second port of the data network interface device and a second element of the IP telephony system.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and an element of the IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and an element of the IP telephony system.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and a first port of an element of the IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and a second port of the element of the IP telephony system.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and a first element of the IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and a second element of the IP telephony system.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between an element of the IP telephony system and a first IP address associated with the telephony device, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between an element of the IP telephony system and a second IP address associated with the telephony device.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first IP address and the second IP address are both assigned to the telephony device.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first IP address is assigned to a first data network interface device in communication with the telephony device and wherein the second IP address is assigned to a second network interface device in communication with the telephony device.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first and second data network interface devices are both wireless access points.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first IP address is associated with a cellular data channel connection that is maintained by the telephony device and wherein the second IP address is associated with a second cellular data channel that is maintained by the telephony device.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first IP address is associated with a cellular data channel connection that is maintained by the telephony device, and wherein the second IP address is associated with a data network interface device that is in communication with the telephony device.
14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the telephony device comprises a first telephony device, wherein the first IP address is associated with a first data network interface device that is in communication with the first telephony device, and wherein the second IP address is associated with at least one of a second telephony device and a data network interface device that is in communication with the second telephony device.
15. The method of claim 8 , wherein the telephony device comprises a first telephony device, wherein the first IP address is associated with a first data network interface device that is in communication with at least one of a second telephony device and a data network interface device that is in communication with the second telephony device, and wherein the second IP address is associated with at least one of a third IP telephony device and a third data network interface device that is in communication with the third telephony device.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first IP address associated with the telephony device and a first port of an element of the IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second IP address associated with the telephony device and a second port of the element of the IP telephony system.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing the first communications channel comprises establishing the first communications channel between a first IP address associated with the telephony device and a first element of the IP telephony system, and wherein the establishing the second communications channel comprises establishing the second communications channel between a second IP address associated with the telephony device and a second element of the IP telephony system.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting the first sub-stream to the telephony device over the first communications channel comprises transmitting the first sub-stream at a first bit transmission rate, and wherein the transmitting the second sub-stream to the telephony device over the second communications channel comprises transmitting the second sub-stream at a second bit transmission rate.
19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising causing the first and second bit transmission rates to vary over time.
20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising causing the first and second bit transmission rates to randomly vary over time.
21. The method of claim 18 , further comprising causing both the first and second bit transmission rates to vary over time, and wherein the first bit transmission rate varies in a different fashion than the second bit transmission rate.
22. The method of claim 1 , further comprising separating the stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication into at least the first and second sub-streams.
23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the separating a stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication into at least the first and second sub-streams comprises randomly assigning data packets from the stream into the first and second sub-streams.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the random assignment of data packets into the first and second sub-streams causes the number of data packets that are assigned into each of the first and second sub-streams, per unit of time, to randomly vary.
25. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a first sub-stream of a stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication from the telephony device over the first communications channel; and
receiving a second sub-stream of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication from the telephony device over the second communications channel.
26. The method of claim 25 , further comprising combining the first and second sub-streams of data packets received from the telephony device to re-create the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication.
27. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
establishing multiple communications channels including the first communications channel and the second communications channel; and then when a stream of the data packets needs to be communicated,
separating the stream into a respective multiple number of sub-streams corresponding to the multiple communication channels;
transmitting the multiple sub-streams of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication over the respective communications channels including transmitting a first sub-stream over the first communications channel and transmitting a second sub-stream over the second communications channel.
28. A system for communicating data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication, comprising:
means for establishing a first communications channel through a network of a service provider between an element of an Internet protocol (IP) telephony system and a telephony device;
means for establishing a second communications channel through the network of a service provider between an element of the IP telephony system and the telephony device, wherein at least one or more of a first endpoint and a second endpoint of the first communication channel has at least one or more of an IP address and port number that differs from a corresponding endpoint of the second communication channel;
means for transmitting a first sub-stream of a stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication between the telephony device and the IP telephony network over the first communications channel; and
means for transmitting a second sub-stream of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication between the telephony device and the IP telephony network over the second communications channel.
29. The system of claim 28 , further comprising
means for establishing multiple communications channels including the first communications channel and the second communications channel through the network of the service provider between the Internet protocol (IP) telephony system and the telephony device;
means for separating the stream into a respective multiple number of sub-streams corresponding to the multiple communication channels;
means for transmitting the multiple sub-streams of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication over the respective communications channels including transmitting a first sub-stream over the first communications channel and transmitting a second sub-stream over the second communications channel.
30. A system for communicating data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication, comprising:
a channel setup unit configured to establish a first communications channel through a network of the service provider between an element of an Internet protocol (IP) telephony system and a telephony device and that establishes a second communications channel through the network of the service provider between an element of the IP telephony system and the telephony device, wherein at least one or more of a first endpoint and a second endpoint of the first communication channel has at least one or more of an IP address and port number that differs from a corresponding endpoint of the second communication channel; and
a transmitting unit configured to transmit a first sub-stream of a stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication between the telephony device and IP telenhony system over the first communications channel, and that transmits a second sub-stream of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication between the telephony device and the IP telephony system over the second communications channel.
31. The system of claim 30 , further comprising a receiving unit that receives a first sub-stream of a stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication from the telephony device over the first communications channel and that receives a second sub-stream of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication from the telephony device over the second communications channel.
32. The system of claim 31 , further comprising a data stream re-combining unit that combines the first and second sub-streams of data packets received from the telephony device to re-create the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication.
33. The system of claim 30 , wherein the transmitting unit transmits the first sub-stream to the telephony device over the first communications channel a first bit transmission rate, and wherein transmitting unit transmits the second sub-stream to the telephony device over the second communications channel at a second bit transmission rate.
34. The system of claim 33 , wherein the transmitting unit causes the first and second bit transmission rates to vary over time.
35. The system of claim 33 , wherein the transmitting unit causes the first and second bit transmission rates to randomly vary over time.
36. The system of claim 33 , wherein the transmitting unit causes both the first and second bit transmission rates to vary over time, and wherein the first bit transmission rate varies in a different fashion than the second bit transmission rate.
37. The system of claim 30 , further comprising a data stream separation unit that separates the stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication into the first and second sub-streams.
38. The system of claim 30 , wherein the separation unit separates the stream of data packets bearing the media of a telephony communication into at least the first and second sub-streams by randomly assigning data packets from the stream into the first and second sub-streams.
39. The system of claim 38 , wherein the random assignment of data packets into the first and second sub-streams causes the number of data packets that are assigned into each of the first and second sub-streams, per unit of time, to randomly vary.
40. The system of claim 30 , wherein the channel setup unit is configured to establishing multiple communications channels through the network of the service provider between the Internet protocol (IP) telephony system and the telephony device;
a data stream separation unit configured to separate separating the stream into a respective multiple number of sub-streams corresponding to the multiple communication channels; and
wherein the transmitting unit is configured to transmit the multiple sub-streams of the stream of data packets bearing the media of the telephony communication over the respective communications channels including transmitting a first sub-stream over the first communications channel and transmitting a second sub-stream over the second communications channel.