Two-way call forwarding between VOIP system and pstn without call dead-circle

Abstract

System and method of two-way call forwarding between a Voice over IP (VoIP) system to a regular phone system without causing call dead-circle. A user's regular phone may be configured for automatic call forwarding to the VoIP system, e.g., to avoid roaming. At the same time, the user's VoIP account may also be configured for automatic call forwarding to the regular phone, e.g., to increase the chance that the user can be reached by a caller when the VoIP account is offline. The VoIP system can determine whether a call request is routed from the phone network (e.g., PSTN) of the regular phone or from the Internet. If it is from the phone network, the VoIP system tags the phone number and, if the VoIP account is currently offline, the VoIP system drops the call despite the call-forwarding configuration in the VoIP account.

Description

CROSSREFERENCE[0001]This application claims benefit of and priority to the Chinese patent application No. 201510181502.3, filed on Apr. 16, 2015, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD OF COMMUNICATION BASED ON VOIP PLATFORM;” claims benefit of and priority to the Chinese patent application No. 201510998007.1, filed on Dec. 25, 2015, entitled “FORWARDING ROAMING CALL TO VOIP SYSTEM;” and claims benefit of and priority to the Chinese patent application No. 201510997454.5, filed on Dec. 25, 2015, entitled “VOIP PROVIDING CALL FORWARDING TO EXTERNAL PHONE NETWORK.” The contents of the foregoing patent applications are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The present disclosure relates generally to the field of network communications, and, more specifically, to the field of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology of using digital signal transmission techniques to t...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present patent provides a VoIP system that can improve user experience by increasing the chance of two VoIP users reaching each other for voice communications. This is done by accessing a phone number based on a VoIP call request and, if the callee is offline, forwarding the call request to the phone device associated with the phone number. The system automatically searches for the callee's endpoint device on which the callee account is logged in and connects the caller with the regular phone, even if the callee's VoIP account is offline. This improves user experience and reduces the users' average cost for voice communications. The system also allows the callee's regular phone to automatically convert a call request to a VoIP call request and forward it to the VoIP system, sparing roaming charges. The switching from a regular phone call to a VoIP call is transparent to the caller's device.

Problems solved by technology

A major cause for frustration in using VoIP is that a user account (especially a callee) often stays logged out or offline so the caller cannot reach the callee, for example while the VoIP application program is closed on the callee's IP phone, the callee's IP phone is shut down or has no access to WiFi or any other network service, and etc.

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