Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
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  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
  • H04L12/1453—Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network
  • H04L12/1464—Methods or systems for payment or settlement of the charges for data transmission involving significant interaction with the data transmission network using a card, such as credit card, prepay card or SIM
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  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
  • H04L12/1485—Tariff-related aspects
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  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/14—Charging, metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
  • H04L12/1485—Tariff-related aspects
  • H04L12/1492—Tariff-related aspects negotiation of tariff
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  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/14—Session management
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  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
  • H04L69/24—Negotiation of communication capabilities
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  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
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  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/43—Billing software details
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  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/46—Real-time negotiation between users and providers or operators
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  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/49—Connection to several service providers
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  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/51—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP for resellers, retailers or service providers
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  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/70—Administration or customization aspects; Counter-checking correct charges
  • H04M15/745—Customizing according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. friends or family
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  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/80—Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
  • H04M15/8016—Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects based on quality of service [QoS]
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  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/80—Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
  • H04M15/8044—Least cost routing
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  • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
  • H04M15/80—Rating or billing plans; Tariff determination aspects
  • H04M15/8044—Least cost routing
  • H04M15/805—Bidding
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  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/38—Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections
  • H04M3/382—Graded-service arrangements, i.e. some subscribers prevented from establishing certain connections using authorisation codes or passwords
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  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/42136—Administration or customisation of services
  • H04M3/42153—Administration or customisation of services by subscriber
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  • H04M3/00—Automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/4228—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers in networks
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  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M7/00—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres
  • H04M7/12—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal
  • H04M7/1205—Arrangements for interconnection between switching centres for working between exchanges having different types of switching equipment, e.g. power-driven and step by step or decimal and non-decimal where the types of switching equipement comprises PSTN/ISDN equipment and switching equipment of networks other than PSTN/ISDN, e.g. Internet Protocol networks
  • H04M7/1225—Details of core network interconnection arrangements
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  • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
  • H04Q3/0016—Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
  • H04Q3/0029—Provisions for intelligent networking
  • H04Q3/0045—Provisions for intelligent networking involving hybrid, i.e. a mixture of public and private, or multi-vendor systems
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  • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
  • H04Q3/0016—Arrangements providing connection between exchanges
  • H04Q3/0029—Provisions for intelligent networking
  • H04Q3/0054—Service creation techniques
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  • H04Q3/00—Selecting arrangements
  • H04Q3/64—Distributing or queueing
  • H04Q3/66—Traffic distributors
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  • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
  • H04M2201/14—Delay circuits; Timers
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  • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
  • H04M2201/22—Synchronisation circuits
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  • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
  • H04M2201/40—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems using speech recognition
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  • H04M2201/00—Electronic components, circuits, software, systems or apparatus used in telephone systems
  • H04M2201/60—Medium conversion
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  • H04M2203/00—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges
  • H04M2203/20—Aspects of automatic or semi-automatic exchanges related to features of supplementary services
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  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
  • H04M2215/01—Details of billing arrangements
  • H04M2215/0108—Customization according to wishes of subscriber, e.g. customer preferences, friends and family, selecting services or billing options, Personal Communication Systems [PCS]
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  • H04M2215/0176—Billing arrangements using internet
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  • H04M2215/01—Details of billing arrangements
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  • H04M2215/00—Metering arrangements; Time controlling arrangements; Time indicating arrangements
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  • H04M2215/7414—QoS
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  • H04M3/42—Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers
  • H04M3/50—Centralised arrangements for answering calls; Centralised arrangements for recording messages for absent or busy subscribers ; Centralised arrangements for recording messages
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  • H04Q1/00—Details of selecting apparatus or arrangements
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  • H04Q1/30—Signalling arrangements; Manipulation of signalling currents
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  • H04Q1/444—Signalling arrangements; Manipulation of signalling currents using alternate current with voice-band signalling frequencies
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Definitions

• the present invention relates generally to telecommunications, and more specifically, to a system and method of teleconferencing.
• Teleconferencing systems allow people at different locations to converse as if they were in the same room. In spite of the currently high cost and complexity of these systems, they are commonly used for business applications, because of the resulting reductions in travel time and cost. However, the cost and complexity can not generally be rationalized in other applications such as academia and private use, so teleconferencing is not common in these areas.
• each teleconferencing system is designed to be used with a specific communication network.
• two communication networks are dominant: the public switched telephone network for voice, and the Internet for data.
• These systems are typically composed of terminal equipment such as telephones or personal computers, an access network such as a telephony local loop or a radio link, and a backbone network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or the intercity data networks.
• PSTN public switched telephone network
• the backbone networks must handle highly standardized loads in order to operate reliably and efficiently. Therefore, traditional communication networks focussed on the provision of single services rather than differentiation. There is no incentive for telephone companies to offer varied features or to serve small niche markets as the revenues would not offset the substantial cost of developing and implementing these additional products.
• SS7 Common Channel Signalling System No. 7
• PSTN public switched telephone network
• LNP local number portability
• 800/888 toll-free
• a user In PSTN, a user only has access to services provided by the local exchange carrier, which in turn may only function within the bounds of the SS7 protocol.
• Telephony features such as teleconferencing, may only be implemented by adding code to the programs running the switches or by adding specialized hardware to the telephony network.
• the features available to particular users are defined in the local databases accessed by the switch software, and adding a new type of feature may involve changing these databases together with the switch software that uses them, and may also involve purchasing and installing new types of hardware in the network. This limits the speed with which new features can be introduced since new hardware and software must be designed, tested, manufactured and deployed.
• the inflexible assignment of tasks also makes it impossible to share loads between different types of hardware, for example to use idle tone-decoding hardware to help with an overload of voice-conferencing or to provision a new teleconferencing feature.
• a traditional PSTN teleconferencing system provides each user with a bidirectional audio communication link with each of a plurality of remote transceivers.
• the system includes a microphone at each location for producing an audio signal from that location and a transport network such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) which deliveries each voice signal to a conference bridge This conference bridge mixes the voice signals and returns them to audio amplifiers and speakers at each location.
• PSTN public switched telephone network
• the conference bridge is implemented as a new hardware component connected to the switch providing the service. Adding a new feature such as Dolby noise reduction or bass boosting requires a physical change to the hardware and/or ⁇ software in every switch that offers the service.
• Telecommunications systems need to process the data flowing through in complex ways, often with processing occurring on computer systems separated both geographically and administratively. Many communications paths are simultaneously active, and the processing applied to the various flows of data changes frequently and in a wide variety of ways.
• the software needed to control these computer systems is generally large, complex and difficult to change.
• problems with the PSTN include: 1. system complexity results in long time to bring new products to market;
• IP Internet Protocol
• the routers in the IP network merely index internal routing tables using the address of data packets so that they know how to forward them, and do not generate data for either of the endpoints, or react to instructions from either of the endpoints.
• the Internet itself may be envisioned as a series of routers interconnected by an Internet backbone network designed for high-speed transport of large amounts of data. Users may access the Internet using personal computers in a number of manners including modems connected to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or set top boxes connected to existing telephone or television cable networks.
• PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
• Protocol is a set of conventions or rules that govern transfer of data between hardware devices.
• the simplest protocols define only a hardware configuration while more complex protocols define data formats, error detection and correction techniques and software structures.
• the key advantages of a protocol like IP are that it allows a large network to function efficiently and that it offers a standardized means by which applications software can use that network.
• the main disadvantages are: 1. that it does not allow processing to be performed on data streams; and 2. that it does not allow quality of service to be specified.
• the Internet generally will not let a user run an applet on a node or server.
• This limitation is due to the architecture of the Internet which is based on the international OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) standard.
• the OSI standard describes communication systems using a seven layer model, each layer being operable to perform certain functions.
• OSI is not always strictly adhered to in terms of keeping related functions together in a well-defined layer, most telecommunication products make an attempt to place themselves in relation to the OSI model.
• the OSI standard is not likely to change dramatically, nor is the Intemet's use of the standard, so the Internet will not likely become an active component in the provision of telecommunication services.
• Internet communications generally rely on the transport of data packets over various heterogenous networks, so even though certain links may have predictable data rates, for example, a privately owned T1 line, total end to end transfer rate is still not predictable or dependable.
• RSVP resource reservation protocol
• teleconferencing typical software applications operating over the Internet, such as teleconferencing, look at the Internet as simply a transport network without any processing capability and all functionality is placed at the participant's locations.
• Implementations of teleconferencing over Internet have software at each user's personal computer (PC) that acts as the interface with the user, converting voice to data packets for IP transmission to each of the other participants in the teleconference. Accordingly, the user's PC also receives streams of voice data from each of the other participants in the teleconference and plays them through a sound card.
• PC personal computer
• This implementation suffers from severe scalability problems. For example, if there are ten participants in a teleconference, then each participant would require sufficient bandwidth to download nine simultaneous voice data streams from the other participants, in real time.
• each existing teleconferencing system is designed to operate over a particular network and is not capable of cooperating with the many varied networks now available.
• These networks include public switched telephone network (PSTN), Internet, cellular telephone systems, satellite communications, local ⁇ area networks (LANs) and wide area networks (WANs).
• PSTN public switched telephone network
• LANs local ⁇ area networks
• WANs wide area networks
• media including optical fibre, wireless or hardwired electrical connections, which execute communications over these networks in analogue or digital format using a variety of different protocols.
• Many of these networks have been widely implemented, at considerable capital cost, so it is unlikely that they will be quickly abandoned and a new, standard, world-wide telecommunications network constructed. Therefore, there is a need for a system which is capable of implementing teleconferencing over a mixed combination of communications networks.
• ATM networks for example, use standard protocols for addressing packets of data and setting up connections, and have typically been deployed in the core of backbone networks because of the high speeds at which ATM equipment operates. Because ATM routers are not directly accessible and because of the complexity of their mechanisms for describing QoS, these mechanisms have not been used by applications software.
• IP and ATM networks there are other data networks such as Frame Relay and Ethernet.
• PSTN may also be used to carry data, for example using trellis coding which maps digital data onto an analogue signal commonly; which is commonly used by Personal Computer modems.
• Variants are also evolving of each major type of network, and engineering differences between implementations of these networks result in different performance. The complexity induced by this variety makes it difficult for users and application software to exploit all the networks available, and to exploit any to its fullest extent. Feature development is already difficult for the simple application of teleconferencing over voice networks.
• One aspect of the invention is broadly defined as a system for teleconferencing comprising: three or more user terminals, each having an audio input and an audio output; a telecommunications network interconnecting the user terminals and operable to transport data to and from the user terminals; separate modular mixing software for each respective user terminal, executing on the telecommunications network, and operable: to receive separate audio signals from the audio outputs of the others of the user terminals; and to combine the separate audio signals into a signal for the audio input of the respective user terminal which correlates to the needs of the respective user terminal.
• a server for teleconferencing comprising: means for interconnecting user terminals and transporting data to and from the user terminals; means for executing separate modular mixing software for each respective user terminal, the separate modular mixing software including: means for receiving separate audio signals from the audio outputs of the others of the user terminals; and means for combining the separate audio signals into a signal for the audio input of the respective user terminal which correlates to the needs of the respective user terminal.
• An additional aspect of the invention is defined as: a method of teleconferencing comprising the steps of: receiving, at a separate modular mixer representing a respective one of three or more user terminals and executing on a telecommunications network, separate audio signals from audio outputs of the others of the user terminals; and combining the separate audio signals into a signal for an audio input of the respective user terminal which correlates to the needs of the respective user terminal.
• a further aspect of the invention is defined as: a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave, said computer data signal comprising a set of machine executable code being executable by a computer to perform the steps of: receiving, at a separate modular mixer representing a respective one of three or more user terminals and executing on a telecommunications network, separate audio signals from audio outputs of the others of the user terminals; and combining the separate audio signals into a signal for an audio input of the respective user terminal which correlates to the needs of the respective user terminal.
• a still further aspect of the invention is defined as: a computer readable storage medium storing a set of machine executable code, the set of machine executable code being executable by a computer server to perform the steps of: receiving, at a separate modular mixer representing a respective one of three or more user terminals and executing on a telecommunications network, separate audio signals from audio outputs of the others of the user terminals; and combining the separate audio signals into a signal for an audio input of the respective user terminal which correlates to the needs of the respective user terminal.
• Figure 1 presents a physical layout of a teleconferencing system in a broad manner of the invention
• Figure 2 presents an exemplary physical layout of a teleconference system in a preferred embodiment of the invention
• Figure 3 presents a block diagram of exemplary signal processing software in a preferred embodiment of the invention
• Figure 4 presents a block diagram of an exemplary operating system architecture in a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 1 A system which addresses the objects outlined above, is presented as a physical layout in Figure 1.
• This figure presents a system 10 for teleconferencing between three or more user terminals 12, 14 , 16, each having an audio input and an audio output.
• terminal is used generally in the art to describe any suitable manner of user audio input and output device including telephones, cellular telephones, and personal computers with microphones and speakers or headsets.
• the audio input and output refer to the connections between the terminal and the telecommunications network, and not to the audio interface between the user and the terminal.
• a telecommunications network 18 interconnects these user terminals 12, 14 , 16 and has the necessary functionality to transport data packets between them.
• the telecommunications network 18 also executes separate modular mixing software for each respective user terminal 12, 14 , 16.
• These separate mixers 20, 22, 24 are operable to receive separate audio signals from each of the other user terminals and to combine those separate audio signals into one signal. This one mixed signal is transported to the audio input of the respective user terminal, in a manner that correlates with the needs of that respective user terminal.
• each mixer 20, 22, 24 executes on the telecommunications network 18 addresses a number of the problems noted above.
• having individual mixers 20, 22, 24 allows each mixer to be dedicated to its own user and to be tailored to the limitations of the user's resources and the resources of the network and network connection that services that user.
• the mixer of a user having a high bandwidth connection may provide digital quality stereo to its user, with balanced mixing of all participant's voices.
• Another user connection via an analogue, monophonic, PSTN connection may send only the strongest voice to its user, blocking voice signals from other participants and thereby reducing noise.
• mixers 20, 22, 24 executing on the telecommunications network 18 offers a substantial improvement over existing Internet based teleconferencing as well.
• Internet methods broadcast all voice streams to ⁇ all participants, so each terminal receives up to (N - 1) streams where there are N participants.
• N - 1 the number of audio channels that the user requires at his audio output, to be sent to the user. That is, if the user desires monophonic output, only one channel is required, and if stereo is desired, two channels. Quadraphonic sound, surround sound, central bass and other audio arrangements would require corresponding numbers of audio channels. This greatly reduces the bandwidth required to each user and the loading on the network.
• the mixers of the invention are implemented in a modular manner.
• all of the software components of the invention are implemented in small modules. Having small modules designed to handle very specific tasks results in a far simpler system than those like the existing PSTN. The more defined the task that a module addresses, the easier it is to design that module and later, to integrate it into the rest of the software system. This is fundamental to the provision of a system that is flexible and open.
• Figure 2 presents an exemplary physical layout of a teleconference in the preferred embodiment of the invention, having four participants. Two participants have direct access to an active network, while two are connected to the PSTN.
• active network refers to a network that is operable to execute the mixer software and other related software components described hereinafter.
• Participant A has a personal computer (PC) 26 connected to a first active network 28 via a wireless connection 30.
• the entity on the active network 28 which serves Participant A is called a NetPort 32.
• the specific role of the NetPort 32 within the active network 28 will be described in greater detail hereinafter.
• the PC 26 is running a stereo-enabled Web browser with a RealAudio plugin that implements streaming audio and is output at speaker 34.
• the PC 26 also has a simple microphone plugin that passes samples from the on-board microphone 36 back to an IP address.
• Participant A also has a WebCam 38 connected to her PC 26.
• Participant B is connected directly to a second active network 40, but in a location geographically remote from the first active network 28. Participant B also listens from a speaker 42 connected to his PC 44 through a streaming-audio application, but is talking through a wireless telephone 46 for its boom microphone. Participant B is plugged into a second NetPort 48 through a telephone jack and hardwired connection 50.
• Participant C is connected to the POTS 52 (plain old telephone system) via a plain black rotary-dial telephone 54.
• Participant D has two speaker phones 54, 56 fed by two separate POTS lines. He also has an Internet connection via a PC 60 which runs a Web browser, but his Internet Service Provider (ISP) does not provide good enough quality of service (QoS) for voice, so he just uses it for the graphic user interface (GUI).
• ISP Internet Service Provider
• QoS quality of service
• a GUI is piece of software that presents data to users in a graphical manner, allowing for easy interpretation and modification. It is preferred that the invention be implemented in such a manner, where possible.
• the GUI runs as Java in the PC browser, and communicates with call processing applications running on the active network by means of sockets. Invoking it involves typing a URL (uniform resource locator such as "coolPhones.com"), after which it sits in a window waiting for an incoming call or a user input event to place a call. Inputs can be made via a mouse, keyboard, trackball, touchscreen, joystick or other similar manner.
• the GUI is strictly an interface, though, since it is unacceptable, for example, to have voice-mail fail when the PC is not active. Therefore, the real call processing decisions are made on the active network side.
• This exemplary system also includes an Internet network 62, which is connected to the PSTN using, for example, H.323 and SIP (Session Initiation
• the Internet network 62 is also shown to be connected to both active networks 28, 40, but many other system topographies are also possible. The invention is not limited by any particular topography. While the teleconference is in progress, Participant A hears Participant B on the left, Participant C in the middle and Participant D on the right, because Participant A is mixing the other participant's monophonic voice streams into a metaphorical stereo spectrum.
• the use of the stereo output has two major advantages. Firstly, it aids in identifying which participant is currently speaking. Secondly, it allows higher noise levels to be tolerable to participants due to the "cocktail party" effect. This effect acknowledges that people are able to converse comfortably with one another in an environment where there is considerable background noise, provided that they have a means for identifying and focussing their attention on a particular speaker. The use of stereo sound has been shown to provide this identification.
• Stereo sound can be synthesized in a number of manners.
• amplifier gain can be varied between the left and right channels, for example: one participant may be played at full volume on the left channel and none at all on the right, a second may be played with full volume on the right channel and none on the left, while a participant may be played at equal volume in both channels.
• More complex implementation of stereo may, for example, introduce a delay to the audio signal before playing it on one of the channels, simulating the additional time the sound takes to travel to the farther of the listener's two ears in a regular physical environment. Such methods are generally known to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, Participant A's GUI screen shows a Web page with Participant
• the GUI displays the best identification information that it has available for each participant. This identification may include a URL or telephone number. As well, "screen-pop" information could be provided which identifies personal information about the participant such as his address.
• Participant A can click on "ear” and “eye” icons for each of the three participants on her screen to enable or disable their ability to hear her or to see her through the WebCam. Participant A can also drag on a "mouth” icon to set the volume level at which they speak to her, and drag participants left and right to adjust their stereo imaging. Alternatively, the volume level of participants could be governed by their physical location on the GUI display - the further a participant's icon is away from an icon representing the user, the lower their volume level. Another preferred feature of the GUI is that when someone speaks, their icon becomes brighter then gradually fades again with inactivity. Similarly, Participant B hears Participants A, D and C in a metaphorical stereo spectrum from left to right. Because he finds the sound of participant A's voice close to that of Participant C, he has chosen to separate them spatially as much as possible. This is done with the same type of GUI described with respect to Participant A above.
• Participant C hears a conventional four-way conference call, with the voices of the three other Participants companded and mixed together. As a result, she has difficulty distinguishing Participants B and D. However, she has the flexibility to tailor the call to some extent with the preference for single voice dominating, adding noise filters, or other functionality via her proxy. This addition of functionality directly to
• PSTN customers is very significant. As explained in the background, PSTN services are driven by a supply model that only provides commodity services, and takes a long time to provide those limited services. There is a vast PSTN infrastructure which provides single monophonic lines into millions of homes and businesses, all of which are shackled with these limitations.
• proxies in the manner of the invention provides greater flexibility and access to new services which may be implemented quickly and at very low cost. More details are provided hereinafter regarding the preferred use of proxies.
• Participants who do not have the capability of interacting with the active network will have generic proxies assigned to them which are dictated by the nature of their telecommunication connections. For example, the system knows that a Participant only has PSTN access if that is the connection the call manager has identified as the best connection during call setup.
• Participant D has a similar stereo arrangement, over which he has defined Participant A to reside on the left speaker telephone, Participant D on the right speaker telephone and Participant C on both channels. This arrangement also creates a metaphorical stereo spectrum. Other means are known in the art for carrying stereo over the PSTN, but such methods generally require more complicated hardware at the Participant's end. Participant D has the same GUI as Participants A and B so he is able to control his proxy and mixer on the active network directly. As an example, exemplary signal processing software for participant A is presented as a block diagram in Figure 3. Voice streams from other participants arrive in different forms and need to be converted to a consistent form, companded and then mixed.
• RealAudio has been chosen as the consistent form though MP3 or a number of other forms could be used.
• RealAudio is particularly convenient as it is a realtime streaming standard that is well known in the industry and for which many tools are currently available, such as codecs and mixers. This type of processing is also required for the other listeners, and it takes slightly different forms for each participant which correlate to their respective setups.
• PCM pulse code modulated
• the RealAudio mixer 68 combines the incoming audio signals in accordance with the participant's requirements.
• a bi-directional Activity and Control line is shown which interfaces the RealAudio mixer 68 with the PC 26 via an Ethernet card 72.
• the audio output of the RealAudio mixer 68 goes to the Ethernet card 72 as well, and also to a PCM convertor 74.
• This PCM convertor 74 feeds the echo cancellor 76 with an audio signal that more or less matches the output from the participant's speaker 34. This way, the echo cancellor 76 can remove the speaker output signal that is inadvertently picked up by the microphone 36.
• the PCM signal leaving the echo cancellor 76 is converted to RealAudio at the voice coder 78.
• RealAudio packets are numbered sequentially to ensure that they are arranged in the proper order when they are decoded. Generally, it is not necessary to time stamp packets as the time delays are short, and the varied delays in data packets that result from their transport from different sources, or by different routes, will not generally be detectable by the participants. In fact, RealAudio may deliberately add a delay to the incoming signals by storing them in a buffer to absorb signal jitter. As the data is arriving in finite and distinct data packets, there will inevitably be some degree of jitter, so buffering is preferred. A buffer that causes 20 mSec - 50 mSec delay is sufficient time to absorb the ef ects of jitter most of the time, and is not long enough to annoy the users to a great extent.
• call setup The most important aspect of call setup is the identification of the participants, where they can be found and then of course, creating the connections.
• the teleconference will be created by one or more of the participants who are GUI-enabled. These participants will advise the network of the identities of the participants and the call setup software on the network will make the connection with the participants. Some of the participants will have Internet addresses, while others will have telephone numbers.
• the call setup software will investigate the participant and establish the best possible connection that it is aware of. Those participants without Internet access will be assigned proxies which reflect the resources they have access to. For example, if the call setup software identifies a PSTN telephone number as the best connection, it will assign a PSTN proxy to that participant unless advised otherwise.
• all participants who are GUI-enabled can add participants to the call, but for high-security teleconferences, addition of participants should be controlled by a single participant.
• Telecommunications Operating System provides unified control and access to all system resources and networking links, with the functionality in and implied by Figure 3. This represents a large collection of signal processing and control functions connected together in response to the commands of the callers. This contrasts with the "pure Internet Protocol" approach which require cooperating tasks in all of the various computers to arrange to do their parts of the processing through an application-specific protocol built on socket() calls, with no single program having an overview of the whole setup. This makes it very difficult to optimize and manage the system, and each such application has to Stahl call processing.
• the invention uses socket() as part of the underlying implementation in a preferred embodiment, so that the invention is built as a middleware layer on top of IP.
• a proxy is a piece of software that acts on behalf of a specific party to a connection.
• Participants A through D and each of the networks and Internet providers are separate parties with separate proxies.
• a proxy contains data that represents the preferences and state of the party, such as whether Participant A is already on the telephone and whether the first active network's 28 voice trunk is getting full, and has components that are agents to do specific tasks, such as responding to off-hook on a telephone and managing a voice call in progress.
• proxy and agent are sometimes used interchangeably in the art.
• a proxy is built out of agents, each of which handles a special situation. Therefore, the proxy does not comprise an immense block of code with all conceivable functionality, but in its simplest form, is merely a supervisor which instantiates software agents as required, discarding them when their tasks have been completed.
• These agents are sent to parts of the system in which signal processing is going on and are connected to the signal processing code or hardware through a "controlling application".
• This architecture of proxies, agents and controlling applications is what allows connection management applications to appreciate the whole structure of a connection while still being “owned” by several different parties.
• Proxies should persist in the presence of component failures, so that, for example, a user's forwarding instructions do not get lost during a crash. It is preferred that persistence be provided via a distributed database which is continuously updated, so that all concerned parties are aware of the status of the communication. In the event of a failure, the system is able to work around the failure, allowing the communication to continue. Such transactional interaction techniques are known in the art.
• the graph model constructs the signal processing and communications structure as a mathematical graph, which is later implemented by taking "filters” that implement the nodes out of libraries and modifying them, either by a dynamic linking process or by setting the IP addresses to which they make socket connections, to have the interconnection structure specified by the edges.
• This graph is also used for communication among the agents, as the data structure that defines a connection.
• An API layer that describes characteristics of these graphs is added above the raw graph structure to assist in writing agents.
• this graph data packet contain calls to proxy agents required to set up the call. Proxies may also send their agents to collaborate on building and managing graphs.
• An application programming interface converts a series of comparatively simple and high level functions into the lower level instructions necessary to execute those functions, simplifying use of an operating system.
• APIs for example, a program can open windows, files, and message boxes, as well as perform more complicated tasks, by executing single instructions.
• an API for the invention is implemented are not critical, but it is desirable that a standard API be employed that expresses control, connection and negotiation processes, including payment.
• a standard API be employed that expresses control, connection and negotiation processes, including payment.
• the use of a standard API simplifies the creation of new features by third parties.
• GUI is particularly well suited to the use of a graph model, as the GUI may present the assembled filters as defined by a graph data packet, to the user in a very logical and understandable form. It is also preferred that the GUI have the functionality to let the user modify the graph data packet simply by altering filters and their interconnections.
• RTOS Real Time Operating System
• RTOS Voice teleconferencing is a real time procedure, so RTOS should be used as known in the art. Generally, RTOS's divide code to be executed into smaller units of threads and functions, and then schedule the execution of these threads and functions to be performed prior to specific deadlines.
• a distributed operating system is one in which portions of the software can run on different nodes.
• distribution of software makes it easier to maintain real time operation as there are more options available to schedule timely execution.
• distributed operation improves scalability and speed.
• agents and proxies lends itself to the efficient use of a distributed system, in that agents and proxies may be assigned to run on different nodes of the system. Ideally, agents will be located close to where they are required, to minimize time delays in communicating with the entities they represent.
• Such a suitable distributed RTOS is described in the co-pending patent application under the Patent Cooperation Treaty, Serial No. , titled "Distributed Telco".
• FIG. 4 presents a block diagram of an exemplary operating system architecture in a preferred embodiment of the invention.
• a distributed communications substrate 80 is interposed between user processes and the underlying machines, so that processes can generally be moved from one machine to another without being aware of it, either to distribute load or to recover from failures.
• Processes running in the system come from different sources and accordingly get different treatment in terms of the trade-off between security and performance.
• Call-processing functions acting on behalf of the end users run in a protected "sandbox" environment on a virtual machine. Those working on behalf of the network provider may run there, but may also be implemented directly as processes running on the network operating system.
• Processes belonging to different users are protected from each other by the usual operating system mechanisms such as memory mapping and file privileges, but the source is also reviewed by the network administrator.
• Filter processes on the same machine and part of the same call may share an address space and a thread of control, with data being passed with a function call mechanism and with connections to other hardware being handled by a stub that adapts a function call to a socket-type mechanism. These filters would still be dynamically linked, even with the function-call mechanism.
• filter processes F which also implement drivers and performance-sensitive functions on behalf of the network.
• Call processing on behalf of users is handled by CP processes running in a secure virtual machine VM environment, which also includes checkpointing functions that can transfer control on failure to a "ghost machine" 82. All these processes run on the common software communications layer 80, which places them on appropriate physical systems and arranges for their connections.
• Server processes S also run on the communications substrate 80, but do not have the hard real-time constraints of the filter processes. Secure call-processing functions are one type of server process.
• Mapper The allocation of tasks and network capacity to different communications graphs is done by an optimizer called the mapper.
• an optimizer called the mapper.
• Each of the filters can run on several different nodes, for example, and sometimes there are several types of links over which data can be carried.
• the simplest embodiment uses hints from the proxies about where to put radio links, that is, after the voice coder, and then applies a "greedy algorithm" to put computing resources as close to the network edge as possible.
• a good mapper should be a distributed application in which local decisions are made with local knowledge to the greatest extent possible. It is not essential to get a global optimum, as long as resources are not seriously wasted.
• the most significant resource management problem is the handling of the voice streams.
• each mixer will receive (N-1) voice streams.
• the mapper must balance the benefit of distributing the mixers among various processors against the extra cost of transporting redundant audio signals.
• the factor that governs these decision in the implementation of the invention is quality of service (QoS).
• QoS quality of service
• a caller can choose to try a connection at a reduced quality level if the cost of the high quality connection becomes too high. For example, on Christmas Day, the load may be temporarily high, so users can expect to get through with reduced voice quality rather than getting a busy signal.
• Negotiation management may be implemented by having a negotiation agent for each of the user terminals and for each of the multiple telecommunications networks.
• Each negotiation agents is operable to execute somewhere on the telecommunications system, for example, on the active network, and represents the interests of its respective party in negotiating communication over the telecommunications network. This is done by identify participants in the negotiation and then passing a graph data packet which describe the proposed connection, to each participant for their consideration.
• Each negotiation agent may either accept, reject or revise it to make a new proposal to the other negotiation agents.
• a device When all or part of the graph data packet is to be executed, a device simply assembles the listed filters in the manner defined in the graph data packet. It is also preferred that the invention be implemented with a strong security mechanism that protects proxies from erroneous or malicious code in other proxies. As well, it is presently desirable that proxies and agents be written in JavaTM, but another language with similar advantages could also be used. Advantages of JavaTM include: a. excellent security b. a large community of experienced developers c. object oriented code structure d. simple net-based distribution mechanism A telecommunications system implemented with the functionality described above provides a foundation for the mixed media applications of the future, and for greater flexibility and power to existing services such as high bandwidth telephone, and Internet gaming.
• Companding techniques use "compression” algorithms that try to adjust gains (smoothly) so as to keep a signal's level more constant and "expansion” algorithms that adjust gains to exaggerate signal-level variations.
• Some techniques used in audio are frequency-dependent, such as Dolby companding which adjusts filter cutoffs to suppress background hiss when signal levels are low.
• Voice coders are used to reduce the bandwidth requirements for voice signals. There are many types, but broadly they can act on the waveform, minimizing some mathematical measure like error power; they can model the source; or they can model what the ear will notice. Coding for compression is an active research area, and a steady stream of new coders is likely to appear.
• “Telephony classic” uses waveform coding in the form of 8kHz A-law (or ⁇ - law). Sampling is done at 8kHz on a signal filtered to pass the range from 300Hz to 3300Hz. The passband was defined to get good subjective scores on speech quality and intelligibility, and the sample rate is designed with a 33% margin over the Nyquist minimum in a trade-off between network and prefilter costs.
• A-law and ⁇ -law are specialized 8-bit floating-point representations, chosen as a way to get roughly constant signal-to-noise over a wide range of signal levels.
• compact disc (CD) sound is stereo 16-bit fixed-point sampled at 44.1 kHz, which requires roughly 24 times the bandwidth and the use of a T1 line. Because speech varies slowly from sample to sample, the same quality can be had for roughly half the bandwidth with ADPCM (adaptive differential pulse-code modulation) which, roughly speaking, digitizes the derivative instead.
• ADPCM adaptive differential pulse-code modulation
• Source coders typically try to detect silence, and avoiding the transmission of silence typically saves about 50% of bandwidth on average. At the decoding side it is conventional to replace silence with "comfort noise" so that the listeners know the connection is still live.
• Source coding is difficult to use for music, because it would be necessary to model a large number of different instruments alone and in combination, so early digital audio such as CD and DAT, just used waveform coding with enough bandwidth and dynamic range to satisfy (more or less) the human ear.
• Minidisc and digital compact cassettes brought in coding that reduced CD bandwidth by a factor of about 10 by using psychoacoustics.
• Psychoacoustics applies, in particular, masking effects, where loud tones mask nearby ones for normal ears, and bandwidth can be saved by not transmitting the inaudible components.
• This type of technique can also be rate-adapted, as in RealAudio, and is a good candidate for high-quality speech applications in the system of the invention.
• N-way combining can take advantage of silence to do companding at no additional cost of bandwidth, and only needs to decode and recode during bi-directional conversation.
• MPEG coders do the same type of thing for video signals that perceptual coders do for music. Components of a video stream at high spatial frequencies are digitized at low resolution, using 8 * 8 discrete cosine transforms to do the filtering, and using "motion estimation" so that components of an image that can be derived from adjacent frames are not retransmitted. MPEG decoding is preferably left for the end-user's PC, because it is very demanding and because specialized hardware exists for it. However, the traffic properties are an important consideration in implementing the invention. Straight digitized television requires roughly 30 frames / sec * 200 kpixels / frame * 3 colours * 8 bits / colour, for 144Mb/s. That is beyond what 3G wireless is built to handle, but MPEG2 gives similar quality at 2Mb/s; hence the 3G requirement for that rate. MPEG2 is also bursty, needing more capacity when the image changes suddenly.
• the network operating system could initiate processes in the end-user's PC so that video services can be set up easily.
• the invention could also be implemented to a lesser extent on existing Internet and PSTN networks.
• Internet servers could be given much of the functionality of the invention similar to applications such as NetMeeting.
• On the PSTN a specialized server could be attached to a class 5 switch.
• the method steps of the invention may be embodied in sets of executable machine code stored in a variety of formats such as object code or source code. Such code is described generically herein as programming code, or a computer program for simplification.
• the executable machine code may be integrated with the code of other programs, implemented as subroutines, by external program calls or by other techniques as known in the art.
• the embodiments of the invention may be executed by a computer processor or similar device programmed in the manner of method steps, or may be executed by an electronic system which is provided with means for executing these steps.
• an electronic memory means such computer diskettes, CD-Roms, Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM) or similar computer software storage media known in the art, may be programmed to execute such method steps.
• electronic signals representing these method steps may also be transmitted via a communication network. It would also be clear to one skilled in the art that this invention need not be limited to the described scope of computers and computer systems. The principles of the invention could be applied to citizen's band radio, amateur radio, or packet radio. Again, such implementations would be clear to one skilled in the art, and do not take away from the invention.

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• 1999
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