I'm looking for prior art relative to the (in)validation of several
VOIP related patents. VOIP or ?Voice over a packet switched network?
dates back to the '80's. There had been quite a few research programs
conducted in the late ?80?s and early ?90?s, which aimed at developing
hardware and software, which would facilitate voice communication over
an IP network. One such research program was conducted by Xerox, which
developed a system called Etherphone. There were also various other
initiatives by different groups and organizations, which also aimed at
perfecting voice communication over IP. A typical VOIP communication
would be conducted through the use of a PC with an attached speaker
and microphone, or through a digital phone set.
What I?m looking for is a comprehensive list of references that would
disclose a VOIP call, wherein the initiating party of the VOIP call
uses a standard analog phone set, which is connected to either a PC or
other device, with the PC or other device being connected to the IP
network.
Another aspect, which I?m looking for, is a VOIP call wherein the
receiving party uses a standard PSTN phone line. In other words, there
is a switcher and converter, which after receiving the voice data
packets from the initiator of the VOIP call, would then convert the
digitized, voice data packets to analog voice, and transmit to the
receiving part over the PSTN.
Particularly, I am looking for references that would incorporate both of the above.
All the references should be prior to November 1995. |
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
21 Jul 2004 18:12 PDT
Hi there,
Your question is quite clear, overall, but I'm having trouble
understanding one line:
<<What I?m looking for is a comprehensive list of references that would
disclose a VOIP call>>
What do you have in mind by a "comprehensive list of references", and
also, I'm uncertain about the meaning of "disclose" a VOIP call.
Can you clarify these for me.
Thanks.
pafalafa-ga
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Clarification of Question by
com2004-ga
on
21 Jul 2004 19:33 PDT
What I mean by "disclose a VOIP call", is the disclosure of a system
or method about conducting a VOIP call... The references can be
publications and/or the specifcations of a device or service. By
"comprehensive list", I mean that I would preferably want several
references if that is possible. However, if only one reference can be
found that would also do, provided, that the references are clear and
concise.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
23 Jul 2004 16:35 PDT
com2004-ga,
Just wanted to check in.
There are plenty of pre-Nov 95 references to phone calls over the
internet, but for the most part, they are PC to PC, like the
technology described in this article excerpt:
=====
Zilka is the chief financial officer and vice-president of business
development for the tiny innovative Israeli company, VocalTec, that
has rediscovered the telephone - Internet style. We have all heard
about the convergence of the computer and the telephone, but what does
it really mean? Where VocalTec is concerned, it means a better than
90% saving on any long-distance phone call. VocalTec's Internet Phone,
a $US59 software program available through the Internet, lets users
with microphone and speakers make voice calls to any other Internet
Phone user anywhere for the cost of a local connection to the
Internet.
In the never-ending search for "cool" things to do on the Net,
thousands of PC users are discovering cheaper ways of communicating
around the globe. Using Internet Phone, or any one of a handful of
programs designed to turn a $3000 computer into a telephone, users are
proving once again that the primary attraction of the largest computer
network, in addition to the information stored in it, is the people
that can be reached through it.
=====
Presumably, this is NOT what you need, but I would just like some
confirmation from you.
Let me know what you think.
pafalafa-ga
|
Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
23 Jul 2004 17:46 PDT
Also, would a patent FILED in February 1995 (but not granted until
1997) meet your date-cut-off requirements?
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Clarification of Question by
com2004-ga
on
25 Jul 2004 21:42 PDT
Thanks Pafalafa and David1997 for your input. Let me just clarify more
precisely what I?m searching for.
All references should be prior to Nov-1995. A patent application with
a filing date (or a priority date) prior to Nov-1995 is just as good.
There is no question that real time voice communication over a LAN or
other type data networks, existed and were well researched prior to
Nov-1995. What I?m specifically looking for is a VOIP system that
includes an interface to a regular analog telephone set. This is
similar to the phone adapters that are available today by the VOIP
providers (e.g. Vonage), which are interfaced to a regular telephone
set.
The scheme is basically as follows: There?s a client hardware device,
which is connected to the data network like a LAN, the device includes
a CODEC which has capabilities of analog to digital decoding and
encoding. The device receives analog voice from the telephone set and
encodes the voice in to data packets, which is then transferred over
the network to the destination. The device also receives the voice
data from the destination through the network, and decodes the data
packets to analog, which is output to the telephone set. The device
also includes the function of receiving digitized voice from the
destination over the network, and depacketizing the voice data packets
back into analog voice. The analog voice input/ouput to/from the
device is not via a microphone connected to the device, but rather a
regular telephone set is interfaced to the device, and the analog
voice is transmitted vie the handset to the device. A telephone is
placed, by picking up the handset of the telephone set and using the
touch pad to dial a destination number. The device the creates a VOIP
connection with the destination. The device detects the DTMF signals
and on-hook/off-hook signals transmitted by the telephone set. It
should be understood that the device may either be an external
stand-alone device, or may be internally integrated in a host
computer.
David, I read the articles, which you referenced. The one that is the
most relevant is by CRL (Cambridge Research Lab) with a date of June
1993. In Section 5.5 entitled ?Telephony? the article describes the
LoFi device to include an interface to a telephone line and telephone
set. The LoFi device is similar to the client device, which I
described above. However, based on my understanding from the article,
the interface to the telephone line and telephone set is not used in
the same context as what I?m looking for. Basically, what it describes
is, that the LoFi device can be used to dial out to an external line
via the telephone interface. The LoFi device can detect an incoming
call from the line and transmit the call over the data network. It can
also transmit voice from the data network to the external line. It has
the functions of detecting the state of the line, and for generating
DTMF signal in order to dial out to the line. So in other words it is
mainly interfaced to the line and not to a telephone set.
What I?m looking for, is a device, which interfaces with a telephone
set, and telephone calls are initiated and conducted over a packet
switched network, by using the telephone set functions, like on/off
hook and DTMF signaling.
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Request for Question Clarification by
pafalafa-ga
on
26 Jul 2004 05:08 PDT
Hello again,
The patent I found -- which is dated February 1995, and is thus far
the only document I have that seems to meet your requirements -- has a
description as follows:
=====
FIG. 5 also shows how this UniPost system can be used for providing a
direct telephone link using the data transmission network involving
Internet. In this case, voice is transmitted digitally and a live
communication is maintained between Toronto UniPost Access Node 6 and
Tokyo UniPost Access Node 6. Each of these have formed a live
communication with the originating telephone set and the receiving
telephone set. This can thus provide the subscriber with a further
cost advantage in completing his international communications or other
long distance communications.
The discount long distance voice messaging requires that each UniPost
Access Node is able to accept and digitize voice calls. The actual
data communication link utilizes protocols and routing logic which
ensures that the digitized voice packets remain in sequence from
sender to recipient. As with long distance facsimile calls, the call
originator will dial the local UniPost Access Node and enter his
account and the number of the recipient. The UniPost Access Node will
establish a packet path between the originating UniPost Access Node
and the destination UniPost Access Node closest to the recipient. The
destination UniPost Access Node will then place a local call to the
recipient and deliver the voice message...
Fig 5, in turn, shows a diagram with the following sequence:
phone===>Local PSTN===>Toronto UniPost Access Node===>Global Internet
system===>Tokyo UniPost Access Node===>Local PSTN===>phone
=====
Does this look useful?
And if so...if it is the only document I can find, would it suffice as an answer?
Let me know.
pafalafa-ga
|
Clarification of Question by
com2004-ga
on
26 Jul 2004 08:05 PDT
Hi,
Thanks for your reference to the patent. The patent however does not
suffice to answer my question. The patent describes a regular phone,
which is connected through the PSTN to Central Office (CO) of the
Telephone Company. At the CO the call is then switched to the Unipost
node, which converts the voice into data packets, and then transfers
the data to the Unipost node in close proximity to the destination.
In contrast to the patent, I?m looking for a system where the
telephone is connected locally to a CODEC device or phone adapter, and
which locally converts the voice to data packets, and transfers the
data over the data network to a central IP switching facility.
This is a link to a product description of recent times, which is
substantially what I?m looking for.
http://www.vonage.com/products_tour.php.
I?m sorry but the only acceptable answer would be a reference to a
telephone set connected locally to a CODEC device, and which the
telephone set is used to conduct VOIP teleconferencing.
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