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

[0006]Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a VoIP system that can increase the chance of one VoIP user reaching another for voice communications and thereby improves user experience with the VoIP system.

[0007]Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a VoIP system configured to access a phone number based a VoIP call request and, if the callee is offline, forward the call request to the phone device associated with the phone number. The phone device is controlled by a phone network external to the VoIP system, such as a land line phone, a mobile phone, a phone in a private phone network, or a phone in another VoIP system of the callee (collectively referred to as “a regular phone” herein). Upon receiving the VoIP call request, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) server of the VoIP system searches for any endpoint device on which the callee account is logged in. If it is determined that the callee account is offline, the SIP server automatically transfers the call request to the phone network associated with the phone number. In this manner, the callee can be advantageously reached by the regular phone despite his or her VoIP account being offline. In some embodiments, the VoIP system uses a phone number of a regular phone as a user's VoIP account ID. Thus, during call forwarding, the SIP server can automatically and directly use the callee's VoIP account ID to contact the callee's regular phone. The process of forwarding the VoIP call request to an external phone network is transparent to the caller endpoint device and so the caller. Thus, the caller only needs dial for the callee once and yet is offered with the possibility of reaching the callee by a VoIP call or otherwise a phone call. Further, because the VoIP system according to the present disclosure gives priority to using VoIP communication than a phone network, it advantageously reduces the users' average cost for voice communications.

[0008]Embodiments of the present disclosure also provide a mechanism of using a VoIP system to process a call request directed to a regular phone, especially when the regular phone is outside the home network coverage area and roaming charge would apply. A callee's regular phone is configured to automatically convert a call request to a VoIP call request which is automatically forwarded to an SIP platform that is associated with a local access number. The access number is selected such that the communication between the regular phone and the SIP platform is free of roaming fee. As the callee's VoIP account ID is set the same as the regular phone number, the SIP platform can send the call request to the callee's VoIP account directly based on the dialed number. This mechanism can advantageously spare the callee roaming fees that would have been imposed when the callee is in a foreign country with reference to the home network of the regular phone. The switching from a regular phone call to a VoIP call can be transparent to the caller's device and so the caller.

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.

Images