Port reduction for voice over internet protocol router

Abstract

An apparatus and method for increasing available ports on a voice router is provided. A first gateway and a second gateway are assigned a single port number for a data stream, the direction of packet flow is identified to determine a destination gateway. The destination gateway is one of the first and second gateways, depending on the direction of the packet flow. The packets are then forwarded to the destination gateway. The voice router can further consolidate RTCP streams from a plurality of gateways into a single port on the voice router.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 10 / 270,809, filed Oct. 14, 2002, from which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120. Application Ser. No. 10 / 270,809 is in turn related to provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 338,077, filed Nov. 30, 2001, and provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 329,015, filed Oct. 12, 2001, from which it claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e). Application Ser. Nos. 10 / 270,809, 60 / 338,077, and 60 / 329,015 are hereby incorporated by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]A. Technical Field[0003]The present invention relates generally to network address translation, and more particularly, to address translation of voice packets within a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) connection.[0004]B. Background of the Invention[0005]The popularity of VoIP as a method for providing telephone service across networks is continually increasing. VoIP systems provide telephone connections by transmitting audio packets between two telephone dev...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This solution enhances VoIP connection quality, security, and reduces costs by minimizing the number of ports and networking devices, enabling more efficient and secure communication between diverse networks.

Problems solved by technology

A few years ago, the quality of a VoIP connection was lacking due primarily to packet delay occurring as voice packets traveled across these networks.

This problem was primarily caused by the inefficiency of the Internet over which the VoIP connections occurred.

Internet events such as bottlenecks, jitters and discarding packets reduced the quality of a VoIP telephone conversation occurring across the Internet.

Some providers have also chosen to avoid the public Internet because of the difficulty in ensuring end-to-end control of service quality.

As described above, oftentimes the quality of this connection is lacking due to the characteristics of the Internet 130.

Congestion and failures, within these networks, may drastically reduce the rate at which this data travels in an established connection and may increase the number of packets that are lost or discarded prior to reaching a particular destination address.

This visibility compromises the security of all of the devices attached to a network having a visible gateway.

Network security problems (e.g., hacking) are amplified when a publicly accessible or visible gateway is connected as part of a larger private network.

The visibility of a gateway may allow individuals to hack into the large private network and cause a large amount of damage by accessing other devices connected to the network.

Oftentimes, a device on a network, such as storage and computing devices, is not sufficiently protected from access within the network.

Thus, if a hacker gains access to a network through a gateway, then other devices on that network may be extremely vulnerable and easily accessed by the hacker.

This need is further highlighted by the high cost of networking devices such as proxy devices.

Oftentimes, a simple packet translation method will not properly switch a voice packet along a VoIP connection.

However, there are variations in the implementation of the H.323 standard by network providers that may cause incompatibilities between networks.

First, networking devices are expensive and the initial cost as well as the management cost may be significant.

Second, each networking device increases the possibility of errors such as packets being discarded or failure as well as causes an additional delay within a VoIP connection.

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