Granted Patent B2

US 8,446,920 · App. 13/134,706 · Granted May 21, 2013

Abstract

Claims (52)

1. A method for providing resilient digital telephony services for wireless communication devices, comprising:

registering a plurality of wireless communication devices with a border gateway connected to a network comprising at least two telephony servers, wherein the border gateway is a back to back user gateway configured to receive session initiation protocol (SIP) messages from each of the plurality of wireless communication devices. terminate the SIP messages, and re-send the messages from the back to back user gateway;

identifying a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server from the at least two telephony servers for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices;

communicating a heartbeat signal at a selected frequency between the border gateway and the at least two telephony servers to determine an operational status of the at least two telephony servers; and

when a selected number of heartbeat signals are not communicated between the border gateway and at least one of the telephony servers, sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices that are identified as using the at least one telephony server as the primary telephony server.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising registering the plurality of wireless communication devices with the border gateway connected to the network, wherein the at least two telephony servers are configured to provide private branch exchange services to the plurality of wireless communication devices.

3. A method for providing resilient digital telephony services for wireless communication devices, comprising:

registering a plurality of wireless communication devices with a border gateway connected to a network comprising at least two telephony servers:

identifying a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server from the at least two telephony servers for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices:

communicating a heartbeat signal at a selected frequency between the border gateway and the at least two telephony servers to determine an operational status of the at least two telephony servers; and

when a selected number of heartbeat signals are not communicated between the border gateway and at least one of the telephony servers, sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices that are identified as using the at least one telephony server as the primary telephony server, wherein registering the plurality of wireless communication devices further comprises:

storing resilient node information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices in each of the at least two telephony servers, wherein the resilient node information includes at least the primary telephony server, the secondary telephony server, and the contact information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices;

sending a registration request for a selected wireless communication device from the border gateway to one of the at least two telephony servers; and

redirecting the registration request to the primary telephony server for the selected wireless communication device based on the stored resilient node information.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the resilient node information is synchronized on each of the at least two telephony servers.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein storing resilient node information further comprises obtaining the resilient node information at the border gateway that is received when the registration request is redirected from one of the at least two telephony servers.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices comprises sending a single instruction that allows each of the plurality of wireless communication devices to failover using the resilient node information on the secondary telephony server.

7. A method for providing resilient digital telephony services for wireless communication devices, comprising:

registering a plurality of wireless communication devices with a border gateway connected to a network comprising at least two telephony servers;

identifying a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server from the at least two telephony servers for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices:

communicating a heartbeat signal at a selected frequency between the border gateway and the at least two telephony servers to determine an operational status of the at least two telephony servers; and

when a selected number of heartbeat signals are not communicated between the border gateway and at least one of the telephony servers, sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices that are identified as using the at least one telephony server as the primary telephony server, wherein registering the plurality of wireless communication devices further comprises:

storing resilient node information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices in a database coupled to the border gateway, wherein the resilient node information includes at least the primary telephony server, the secondary telephony server, and the contact information for each wireless communication device; and

sending a registration request for a selected wireless communication device from the border gateway to one of the at least two telephony servers identified as the primary telephony server in the resilient node information in the database.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the border gateway is a back to back user gateway configured to receive session initiation protocol (SIP) messages from each of the plurality of wireless communication devices, terminate the SIP messages, and re-send the messages from the back to back user gateway.

9. A resilient digital telephony system for wireless devices, comprising:

a plurality of wireless communication devices;

a border gateway serving a communications network that is configured to communicate with the plurality of wireless communication devices, the border gateway is one of a Mitel Border Gateway and a session border controller;

at least two telephony servers located in the communications network configured to communicate with at least a portion of the plurality of wireless communication devices through the border gateway and perform as at least one of a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server for the portion of the plurality of wireless communication devices; and

a heartbeat module configured to communicate heartbeat signals between the border gateway and the plurality of telephony servers.

10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a resilient node database containing resilient node information including a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server for each of the plurality of mobile communication devices.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the resilient node database is synchronized on each of the at least two telephony servers.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the resilient node database is coupled to the border gateway.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the border gateway is configured to send a command to instruct the secondary telephony server to provide failover service for the portion of wireless communication devices when a selected number of heartbeat signal responses are not communicated between the border gateway and at least one of the telephony servers.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the heartbeat module is located in at least one of the plurality of servers and the border gateway.

15. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for providing resilient digital telephony services for wireless communication devices, comprising:

registering a plurality of wireless communication devices with a border gateway connected to a network comprising at least two telephony servers:

identifying a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server from the at least two telephony servers for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices; and

communicating a heartbeat signal at a selected frequency between the border gateway and the at least two telephony servers to determine an operational status of the at least two telephony servers, wherein registering the plurality of wireless communication devices further comprises:

storing resilient node information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices in each of the at least two telephony servers, wherein the resilient node information includes at least the primary telephony server, the secondary telephony server, and the contact information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices;

sending a registration request for a selected wireless communication device from the border gateway to one of the at least two telephony servers; and

redirecting the registration request to the primary telephony server for the selected wireless communication device based on the stored resilient node information.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 , further comprising sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices that that are identified as using the at least one telephony server as the primary telephony server when a selected number of heartbeat signals are not communicated between the border gateway and at least one of the telephony servers.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 , wherein sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices comprises sending a single instruction that allows each of the plurality of wireless communication devices to failover using the resilient node information on the secondary telephony server.

18. A computer program product, comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for providing resilient digital telephony services for wireless communication devices, comprising:

registering a plurality of wireless communication devices with a border gateway connected to a network comprising at least two telephony servers;

identifying a primary telephony server and a secondary telephony server from the at least two telephony servers for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices: and

communicating a heartbeat signal at a selected frequency between the border gateway and the at least two telephony servers to determine an operational status of the at least two telephony servers, wherein registering the plurality of wireless communication devices further comprises:

storing resilient node information for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices in a database coupled to the border gateway, wherein the resilient node information includes at least the primary telephony server, the secondary telephony server, and the contact information for each wireless communication device; and

sending a registration request for a selected wireless communication device from the border gateway to one of the at least two telephony servers identified as the primary telephony server in the resilient node information in the database.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , further comprising sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices that that are identified as using the at least one telephony server as the primary telephony server when a selected number of heartbeat signals are not communicated between the border gateway and at least one of the telephony servers.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein sending an instruction from the border gateway to the identified secondary telephony server to provide failover service for each of the plurality of wireless communication devices comprises sending a single instruction that allows each of the plurality of wireless communication devices to failover using the resilient node information on the secondary telephony server.

Assignments (23)