EA003765B1 - Network addressing system and method using telephone numbers - Google Patents

Abstract

1. A method comprising: receiving a telephone number portion identifying a device; converting the telephone number portion into a multiple level domain name identifying the device over a network, the multiple level domain name comprising the telephone number portion and a base portion; and establishing communication with the device via the multiple level domain name over the network. 2. The method as set forth in claim 1, where the telephone number portion of the multiple level domain name is subordinated to the base portion. 3. The method as set forth in claim 2, where the base portion of the multiple level domain name comprises a base level domain. 4. The method as set forth in claim 1, where the converting step comprises: adding domain separators to the received telephone number portion at determinable locations in the received telephone number portion. 5. The method as set forth in claim 1, where the received telephone number portion comprises a separator, the converting step comprising: parsing the received telephone number portion for the separator; and inserting a domain separator for the parsed separator. 6. The method as set forth in claim 1, further comprising: appending additional domain levels to the converted telephone number portion to complete the multiple level domain name. 7. A method of communicating over a network comprising: receiving from a first device at least a portion of a static, multiple level domain name including a telephone number portion identifying a second device; determining availability of the second device on the network; and in response to the determining step, selectively establishing communications from the first device to the second device. 8. The method as set forth in claim 7, further comprising: establishing communications from the second device to the first device. 9. The method as set forth in claim 7, where the determining availability step comprises: querying the second device over the network; and receiving a response from the second device indicative of second device availability. 10. An apparatus to establish communication between at least two devices over a network, the apparatus comprising a processor which receives from a first device a telephone number portion identifying a second device, and which converts the telephone number portion into a static multiple level domain name identifying the second device on the network. 11. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, where the processor further establishes communication with the second device over the network. 12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, further comprising a table which matches the static multiple level domain name to an IP address. 13. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, where the processor further adds domain separators to the received telephone number portion at determinable locations to result in the static multiple level domain name. 14. The apparatus as set forth in claim 10, where the received telephone number portion comprises a separator, and where the processor parses the received telephone number portion for the separator and inserts a domain separator for selected instances of the parsed separator.

Description

Cross reference to related application

This application requires priority of provisional application US serial number 60/143246, filed July 9, 1999

Field of Invention

The present invention relates to network addressing on intranets and intranets. The invention finds particular application in converting telephone numbers to the name of a multilevel domain in order to enable devices on the network to communicate. However, it should be understood that the present invention may find further application in private networks or public networks and using private protocols or protocols 1p1etpe1.

State of the art

Initially, only numbers were used as network addresses in a federated network. The numbers are called protocol numbers 1n1etpe1, or abbreviated addresses ΙΡ. These numbers actually made no sense to anyone and were difficult to remember.

Later, management of the organization ΙΑΝΑ created a domain name system. Each domain name would use a more understandable and meaningful name to indicate the address ΙΡ. For example, 1VM.Sot is the domain name that directs the user to a specific ΙΡ number or address, such as 198.81.209.2 (address ΙΡ 1VM). Currently, the whole world of 1n1etpe1 users uses this 1n1etpe1 domain name registration system, which is the basic component in gaining access to 1n1etpe1.

The domain name usually includes the name plus. (dot) or delimiter and top-level domain (TLD), such as, cell, ne! and otd.

Despite the fact that the domain name system makes it easier for people to remember, the domain name registration system! ((Пе пе ((((has several drawbacks. For example, there is a limited supply of 1n1etpe1 domain names. Only one company can have or register any given name in 1n1etpe1 , such as Sotri! ezsot.sot. Other top-level domains can be used, such as Sotri! ezz.pe! and Sotri! ezg.sd., but these options are considered subordinates of Sotrzhegz.sot. The second problem is the high cost of domain names 1p1etpe1 .Ogran The importance of the name has created a rapidly growing market for domain names 1n1etpe1, which has some domain names that are rumored to be selling for millions of dollars.Also, the modern monopoly and / or a limited number of domain name registrars have caused all domains to become more expensive in general.

The second problem is that at present, domain names 1n1etpe1 can require up to 72 hours to activate. This creates a problem for those 1i1etpe1 users who need to quickly install their site.

In addition, when registered, the domain name is етеete! is permanent. Changing even one character in the original domain name becomes a new name and must be re-registered. This need to register a domain name incurs additional costs and risks that the new name may not be available. Indeed, the industry of individual domain name registrars or “cyber settlers” has surfaced since they foresaw that in the end someone would need and someone would pay for the name that they registered. This inflexibility becomes an even bigger issue when combining Shet! and telephone networks.

An attempted solution to some of the problems outlined above is a system based on a subdirectory of domain names, called the forward slash method. For example, a company such as ReaYog.sot. would add the name of the real estate agent to the end of the line of characters separated by a forward slash, i.e., Rea11og.sot / Adep1z№npeNega (here the name of the agent). This would give the agent a connection to an inexpensive \ VeB site, as it is part of a large KeaIot.com company. There is theoretically no limit on how many forward slashes could be added at the end of each line of characters. However, this method also has disadvantages, such as:

A. Non-addressability ΙΡ - this means that an individual site does not have the ability to have a unique address ΙΡ and / or a common address. The only option is a common address ΙΡ with the holder of the primary domain name.

B. Time delay - if the site transfers the user to another site, the user must wait until he does it.

C. Longer addresses — When using the forward slash method, the address is almost always longer, which creates more problems:

1. A longer address increases complexity for users, as there are more characters to print, giving more room for errors.

2. A longer address is more difficult to interact with others, such as a radio announcer saying: Check gea1! Og point sot direct slash here agent name direct slash city.

3. It is too long for memorization without writing, and a pen and paper are not always directly available.

Ό. Lack of uniqueness - companies that use the direct slash method must use names that correspond to a specific sub-site, nevertheless unique, so as not to duplicate the names of the sub-sites, since each name can be used only once. This method is difficult to implement in practice.

Business communications, such as advertising, literature, business cards, etc., should include 1p1sgps1 as the address. and phone number due to the success of I Shegpe! and phone prevalence. The use of both pieces of information not only requires more information to remember, but also interferes with the compilation of a portion of communication.

The above has led some companies to use a telephone number in their domain name. Using a phone number in the 1p1sgps1 domain name is not new. The approaches used by the following companies are accordingly limited to very specific applications or companies.

When people began to participate in 1p1e1, some companies began to slowly introduce telephone numbers to 1p1gpe1 addresses. Very few individuals and / or organizations have registered the actual dialed telephone number as the domain name 1p1egpe1.

Probably the most popular phone number / domain name 1pegpe1 is 1-800P1o \ seg5 (flowers) .sot. It was a natural use for the company, as this is the name of their company, as well as their phone number. This approach also has a number of drawbacks inherent in domain names as a whole, as described above. An interesting fact is that only one subdomain is used, i.e., 1-800- Po- \ seg5 (flowers). Specifically, this approach has a higher cost than the direct slash approach and has the additional problem of potential lack of availability. Additional issues with this approach are discussed more fully below, as they relate to network providers. Other similar references are ^^^. 411. hundred and those ^^. 1-800-555-1212. hundred, both of which have similar problems.

The present invention contemplates an improved method and apparatus for a network addressing system that includes a telephone number as part of an address.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the method includes receiving a portion of a telephone number that identifies a device with which communication is required. Part of the phone number is converted to a multilevel domain name that statically represents a device on the network. A component of a multilevel domain name is an accepted part of a telephone number. Communication is then established with the device through the network.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the conversion step includes adding domain delimiters to the received portion of the telephone number at designated locations in the received portions of the telephone number.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the received portion of the telephone number includes a separator, and the conversion step includes parsing the received portion of the telephone number with respect to the separator and inserting a domain separator into it.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, additional domain levels are attached to the transformed portion of the telephone number in order to complete the name of the multilevel domain.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a device for communicating between at least two devices via a network includes a processor that receives from the first device a portion of the telephone number identifying the second device. The processor then converts the portion of the telephone number into a static multilevel domain name sufficient to identify a second device on the network.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the device further includes a table that matches the static name of the multilevel domain with the static address ΙΡ.

One of the advantages of the present invention is the ability to have domain names 1p1ete1, which are expressive and at the same time more economical than those used traditionally.

Another advantage of the present invention is the ability to translate both the address 1p1et1 and the telephone number compactly and economically in communication.

Other further advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.

Brief Description of the Drawings

The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangements of parts and at certain steps and arrangements of steps. The drawings are presented only for the purpose of illustrating preferred embodiments and should not be construed as limiting the invention.

FIG. 1 is an overview of a typical network addressing system or domain name structure;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary US phone number;

FIG. 3 - telephone number of FIG. 2 after conversion to a multilevel domain name;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart detailing a logical flow diagram that appropriately implements the present invention; and FIG. 5 is a graphical depiction of the connectivity of a device through a network provided by the present invention.

Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments

Used in the present description, the telephone number 1p1sgps1 or the numbering system is defined as a domain name or a set of domain names, which makes it possible to address the network by using telephone numbers or networks of intranets / intranets.

A portion of a telephone number in the present description is defined as at least a portion of a telephone number, which may include a switch, area code and / or country code. Despite the fact that telephone numbers usually have gradually increasing geographical detail with the most basic part preceding more specific parts (i.e., the country code precedes the area code that precedes the switch, etc.), there is a certain order in which the part a telephone number being converted or represented as a static name of a multilevel domain is not essential in accordance with the present invention. That is, the received phone number can be reordered in any order without significant impact on the scope of the invention, since all are similarly disposable or definable.

Used in the present invention, the concepts of source, target and / or device are intended to refer to any many addressable devices that communicate through any of the many networks. For example, devices belonging to the present invention include, without limitation, computers, storage devices, output devices, telephones, personal information administrators, portable laptop computers, handheld computers or clock-based computers and the like. Interconnected networks include, but are not limited to, intranets or 1p1sgps1. radio and / or wired telephone networks, either public or private, wired, infrared, optical or electromagnetic networks and the like.

In FIG. 1 summarizes the existing domain name structure. This structure includes the domain 10 of the main level (DOW). The main level domain 10, sometimes called the top level domain or the first level domain, is not associated with the address ΙΡ itself, but is a logical grouping used to distinguish between countries (for example, .I8, .CA, .IK, .NK and etc.); colleges (e.g. .ΕΌυ); US military (e.g. .M1b); US government (e.g. .OOU); corporations (e.g. .СОМ, .ОСО); and ISPs (service providers 1p1sgps1). These domains of the main level manage any requests to subdomains 12 of the second level. Subdomain 12 of the second level is usually associated with a ΙΡ address when used in conjunction with DOW 10. An example of a second level domain name is ΙΒΜ, as used in 1ВМ.СОМ, or Οδυ, as used in Οδυ.ΕΌυ. Second level domain 12 typically manages any requests to third level subdomain 14. Subdomain 14 of the third level is also usually associated with the ΙΡ address when used in conjunction with both .Д2У.ДУУ 12, 10. An example of a third level domain name is δυΡΡΟΚΤ, as used in δυΡРОКТ.1ВМ.СОМ. The third level domain 14 typically manages any requests to the fourth level subdomain 16. Subdomain 16 of the fourth level is usually associated with the ΙΡ address when used in conjunction with .DZU.D2U.DOU 14, 12, 10. Some examples of the fourth level domain name are ΡС or ΑΙΧ, as used in ΡС. ΔυΡΡΟКΤ'.IΒΜ.СΟΜ or ΑIX. δυΡΡΟКΤ '.

1VM.SOM. The fourth level subdomain 16 typically manages any requests to the next domain 18, etc. A domain of the 18th level represents any and all domains of a higher level, where Ν represents entire intervals of domains of a higher level (i.e., 2, 3, 4, 5, 6). All domain names can contain words or phrases consisting only of letters, numbers and dashes (α ... ζ, 0 ... 9, '-').

All levels of the domain name 10-18 are separated by a dot, a delimiter 30 of the domain. This delimiter 30 is used to indicate the assigned control of higher levels of a domain to their next lower level of domain. Full domain names consist of two parts: segment 34 of the domain name and segment 38 of the main level. Segment 38 of the main level consists of .DOW 10 and contains any number of subdomains of higher levels. Some examples of main-level segments 38 are single-level segments (e.g., .СОМ, .ΝΕΤ) and multi-level segments (e.g., 1ВМ.СОМ; ΑΒΟΌΕΕ.

OKO and ops. 1 \\ 'o.111ssssig. ΓίνοΜχ.ΝΕΤ (one, two, three, four, five, six.NΕΤ)). Domain name segments are any group of one or more discrete 'names', separated by a point 30 that does not contain .DOW. Some examples of domain name segments are single-level segments (for example, ABC, ный, phone number) and multi-level segments (for example, ABC. ^ ΕΕ. ZirroyTVM, opera. 1theo. .four five.

six, etc.)). These segments, when combined, form the fully qualified domain name. The domain name tree 42 is any number of segments 34 of the domain name to which the main layer segment 38 is attached.

With reference to FIG. 2, it is described that part 50 of the telephone number is inserted for conversion into a single-level or multi-level segment 34 of the domain name, allowing this segment to be “grafted” to any existing tree 42 of the domain name at any point in this tree. The conversion of the telephone number part 50 consists of decreasing the number to discrete parts 52, 54, 56, 58 based on the natural dividers 70, 72, 74 of this number (for example, dashes, brackets, periods, or the like). These separators 70, 72, 74 are replaced by the domain separator 30, and the discrete parts 52, 54, 56, 58 become domains and subdomains.

In FIG. 3 illustrates the name of a multilevel domain resulting from the element depicted in FIG. 2.

Part 50 of the telephone number was parsed for the presence of dividers 70, 72, 74, and when viewed from left to right, the dividers will also be replaced from left to right. Therefore, the spacer 70 of FIG. 2 becomes the domain separator 80 in FIG. 3. Also the spacers 72, 74 of FIG. 2 are replaced by domain dividers 82, 84 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 also illustrates the addition of additional domain levels to the transformed or translated portion 50 of the telephone number (FIG. 2). In the illustrated example, in order to complete the name of a multilevel domain in relation to a specific \\ 'cb server. an additional subdomain is attached, the telephone number 90 and the top-level domain .sot 92. Those skilled in the art will now understand that domain levels can be joined anywhere in the name of a multilevel domain without departing from the essence of the present invention. In addition, additional domains or subdomains can be used for codes of other countries, area codes, telephone exchanges, etc.

In FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary process by which part of the telephone number of FIG. 2, for example, is converted to part of the telephone number of FIG. 3. The user enters a query or domain name that includes the part of the telephone number that is suitable for identifying the target or the desired device through the network, as seen in step 100. Uncertainty can be made at this point when the processor determines where to place the domain dividers 30 . In the illustrated embodiment, the uncertainty can be resolved, as can be seen by the decision block 102, depending on whether the user enters the delimiters in his request. If so, the processor then substitutes the domain dividers 30 for the user-entered (manually or according to some predetermined protocol) natural dividers 70, 72, 74, as seen in step 106 and illustrated in FIG. 2 and 3. On the other hand, if the user-entered separators are not detected, or if an insufficient number of natural separators are included, as determined by the decision unit 102, then the domain separators 30 will be inserted at certain locations based on information from assumptions made based on of the particular protocol used, or based on data stored by the user (for example, in special markers 1psgps1 or another predetermined protocol), or between a certain number of digits, or and the like, as illustrated by step 108.

With the domain delimiters in place, either from step 106 or from step 108, there is a name for the quasi-multilevel domain. Then, optionally, the processor can attach any necessary prefixes or suffixes in order to generate the full name of the multilevel domain, or as may be required based on known factors, as seen in step 110. For example, the initiating user may skip the country code, for example, of his target or desired devices. In this case, the processor recognizes the insufficiency or uncertainty resulting from too few subdomains in the address, and substitutes or appends the country code of the initiating user. Similar additions can be made using a suffix, if necessary (for example, automatic joining of a main level domain). The target device is then requested via the network with the generated multilevel domain name, as seen in block 112. If the target device is available, it will respond in a similar way at which point the connection between the source and the target device can be established, as seen in step 114.

Now with reference to FIG. 5 depicts a common system 120 connected to a network 122 for a suitable implementation of the invention. The device 124 is connected to the server 120. The processor 120a inside the server receives from the device 124 the address of the part 50 of the telephone number (FIG. 2), used to identify the second device 128. The processor 120a converts the part of the telephone number to the static name 96 (FIG. 3) of the multilevel domain identifying the second device 128 through the network 122. For the purposes of illustration, the device 128 is also shown connected to the network 122 through its own server, however, numerous other interconnections can take place and are applied equally second possibility. The processor 120a determines the presence or absence of natural delimiters and, as discussed above, generates the fully qualified name 96 of the multilevel domain, suitable for identifying the device 128. The completed name 96 of the multilevel domain is then optionally converted in the memory 120b to a standard address in this example. The target device 128 is then requested at the location of the transformed ΙΡ address and, if available, responds to the request. The details of packet switching and call setup through the network, together with route selection through the network, are known to those skilled in the art and will occur in the usual manner in the present description.

The invention is described with reference to a preferred embodiment. Obviously, modifications and changes can be obtained by specialists after reading and understanding the description. Our intention is to include all such modifications and changes as they fall within the scope of the appended claims or their equivalents.

Claims (14)

CLAIM 1. A method comprising receiving a part of a telephone number identifying a device, converting a part of a telephone number to a multilevel domain name, an identifying device in a network, the multilevel domain name comprising a part of the telephone number and a main part, and establishing communication with the device using the multilevel domain name in network. 2. The method according to claim 1, in which part of the telephone number of the name of a multilevel domain is subordinate to the main part. 3. The method according to claim 2, in which the main part of the name of a multilevel domain contains a domain of the main level. 4. The method according to claim 1, in which the conversion step comprises adding domain delimiters to the received part of the telephone number at determined locations in the received part of the telephone number. 5. The method according to claim 1, in which the received part of the phone number contains a separator, and the conversion step includes parsing the received part of the phone number relative to the separator and insert 30 Zo Zo 3.0 54 38 FIG. 1 domain delimiter instead of the parsed delimiter. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising joining additional levels of the domain to the transformed part of the telephone number in order to complete the name of the multilevel domain. 7. A method of communicating via a network, comprising receiving from the first device at least part of the static name of the multilevel domain, including the part of the telephone number identifying the second device, determining the availability of the second device in the network and, in response to the determining step, selectively establishing links from the first device to the second device. 8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising establishing links from the second device to the first device. 9. The method according to claim 7, in which the step of determining the availability contains a request for the second device through the network and receiving a response from the second device indicating the availability of the second device. 10. A device for establishing communication between at least two devices via a network, the device comprising a processor that receives from the first device a part of the telephone number identifying the second device, and which converts the part of the phone number into the static name of the multilevel domain identifying the second device online. 11. The device according to claim 10, in which the processor further establishes communication with the second device through the network. 12. The device according to claim 10, additionally containing a table that matches the static name of the multilevel domain with the ΙΡ address. 13. The device according to claim 10, in which the processor further adds a domain separator to the received part of the telephone number in the determined locations in order to obtain a static name of a multilevel domain. 14. The device according to claim 10, in which the received part of the phone number contains a separator and in which the processor parses the received part of the phone number relative to the separator and inserts a domain separator instead of the selected instances of the syntactically analyzed separator.