WO2004093398A9

WO2004093398A9 - An internet telephone

Info

Publication number: WO2004093398A9
Application number: PCT/SG2004/000057
Authority: WO
Inventors: Guo Jin Bai
Original assignee: Jp Tech Pte Ltd; Guo Jin Bai
Priority date: 2003-04-16
Filing date: 2004-03-16
Publication date: 2005-01-13
Also published as: WO2004093398A1

Abstract

An Internet telephone for performing voice communication over the Internet and a method for performing is discloses herein. In the described embodiment, the Internet telephone (100) has an identification code associated with a user and is stored in an ID controller (108). The Internet phone (100) is arranged to be connected to an online computer system (200) and the preferred method includes the step of receiving the identification code from the Internet phone (100) via the computer system (200); and receiving or delivering voice messages to or from the Internet phone (100) based on the identification code. Preferably, the Internet phone (100) has audio means (102, 104) for inputting and outputting of voice signals.

Description

AN INTERNET TELEPHONE

Background and Field of the Invention

This invention relates to an Internet telephone for performing voice communications over the Internet.

With the proliferation of Internet, Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) is becoming a cheaper alternative to conventional telephone systems (PSTN) for making voice calls, in particular international voice calls. VoIP is the technology for transmission of voice over packet switched networks and is commonly known as Internet telephony, which can be implemented using software, hardware or a combination of both.

Typically, in Internet telephony, the hardware used is a personal computer (PC) and a user may also use software applications such as NetMeeting or Net2phone to perform voice communications over the Internet via the PC. This implementation requires a full duplex sound card, an external microphone and speakers for the computer system, which can be costly.

To alleviate the above disadvantage, there is proposed an Internet telephone which is disclosed in US patent application No. 09/795,364. In this application, the Internet phone comprises a thin client connectable to the Internet via a local

area network (LAN), and a digital phone with an USB interface for connecting to

the thin client. Voice message is sent via the digital phone through the thin client, stored on the LAN and eventually sent over the Internet to its destination. Such arrangement alleviates a need of a sound card in the thin client, since the digital phone also has audio means for inputting or outputting voice messages. However, such an Internet phone suffers from a disadvantage that the calling party and the receiving party must be "online" at the same time before a voice message can be delivered. In addition, the message must be sent via a local area network (LAN) since the thin client resides within the LAN.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an Internet phone which alleviates at least one of the disadvantage of the prior art and/or provides the public with an useful choice.

Summary of the Invention

In a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an Internet telephone for performing voice communication over the Internet having an identifier that is transmissible over the Internet to identify the Internet phone in such communications.

An advantage of the described embodiment of the invention is that a user can use the Internet telephone on any computer system since the user can be identified by the identification code stored in the telephone. This allows the user to "roam" between computer systems. Preferably, the identifier is associated with a user and the identifier may include a phone ID and/or a product ID. The identifier may further include a vendor ID to identify the manufacturer or seller of the telephone.

Typically, the Internet telephone further comprises an ID controller for storing the identifier. Preferably, the Internet telephone also comprises audio means for inputting or outputting voice messages and thus there is no need to rely on the sound card or microphone of a PC. The voice messages may also be input or output through the computer system.

The Internet telephone may comprise an interface port arranged to connect the phone communicatively to an online computer system. Preferably, the interface is an USB port and the protocol for voice communications is VoIP.

The present invention also relates to a method for performing voice communications using the Internet phone.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided apparatus for performing voice communications over the Internet comprising: a telephone having an identifier; a computer system arranged to connect the telephone to the Internet; and a central server connected to the Internet and arranged to identify the telephone and its connection to the Internet and being arranged to receive the identifier to perform voice communication-related

services. Brief Description of the Drawings

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating internal components of an Internet telephone according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention; Figure 2 illustrates arrangement of two Internet telephones for sending and receiving VoIP messages over the Internet according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 3 illustrates the use of an Internet phone of Figure 1 to make a call to a PSTN.phone.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment

Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating internal components of an Internet telephone (or phone) 100 arranged to be connected to a personal computer (PC) 200 via an input/output port in the form of an USB port 202 in this embodiment. Preferably, the Internet phone 100 comprises audio means such as a speaker 102 and a microphone 104, a keypad 106 and an ID controller 108. Each of these components is controlled by a digital signal processor (DSP) 110. The DSP 110 processes the information from these components and

interfaces with a USB connector/port 112 to communicate with the PC 200. By using the Internet phone 100 with audio means for Internet telephony, this obviates a need of a PC sound card, microphone and speakers for the computer system 200. In addition, the preferred use of USB enables quick and easy installation. The DSP 110 enables the use of Microsoft USB audio driver that is provided by common operating systems such as Windows XP, 2000 and 98.

The design of the keypad 106^" is similar to that of a normal mobile telephone with sixteen available keys comprising numeric keys 0 to 9, and other miscellaneous keys such as #, *, volume, dial/hang up etc. The DSP 110 has a keyboard scanning circuitry which scans and detects the keypad 106 for any key press. When a key is pressed, the command is detected may the DSP 110 and the character may be sent to the PC 200 via the USB interface 112 for display on the computer screen. The scanning circuitry is conventional in design and will not be elaborated here.

The Internet phone 100 is provided with a V6IP software application which functions as software interface to the user. The user interface of the application is designed to be as user-friendly as possible and preferably, the interface has a "keypad" display on the main menu which resembles the keypad 106 on the Internet phone 100. Preferably, the software application also includes an electronic phone book so that the user can create a contact list and

corresponding phone numbers in the software application to help him locate

relevant contacts faster. The user can also save personal information in the

phone book. The Internet phone 100 according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has an ID controller which stores an identifier or identification code for the phone. The identification code comprises a unique phone ID which can be assigned by the vendor or manufacturer of the phone 100. Alternatively, the phone ID can be programmed at point of sale when a user purchased the phone and a user account will be created based on the phone ID. This phone ID which is associated with the user and corresponding account information is then provided to a service provider offering the Internet telephony service so that the user can subsequently be identified based on the identification code.

When a user plugs his Internet phone 100 into the computer, the application would automatically detect the hardware (the phone 100) and read the phone ID stored in the ID controller 108. The application then notifies a central server 300 that the user (as identified by the phone ID) is online. The server 300 functions as a registry which stores the registration records and other relevant information of the users of the service. The server 300 also checks and updates the status of each user whether the user is online or offline. When a user wants to make a VoIP call, the server 300 creates a communication link in the packet switched network (Internet) to facilitate the communication and VoIP messages are sent direct to the recipient.

The use of the identification code offers numerous advantageous features for the Internet phone 100. These features can be selected using the VoIP software application or as "hot keys" on the keypad 106 of the Internet phone 100. PC to PC call

A user can communicate with another user via Internet using the "PC to PC call" feature. This is performed in a conventional manual except that the user makes use of the Internet phone 100 to perform the call and when connected, use the Internet phone 100 to converse similar to a normal mobile phone.

When user A wants to call user B, user A will have to dial user B's phone ID (either from the application or by pressing the buttons on the phone 100). The software application will then send a query to the server 300 to check the online status of user B. If user B is online, the server 300 will inform the caller (user A) so that user A can proceed to establish a direct connection with user B. This is performed by the VoIP application in user A's PC 200 sending a handshaking message or call request message to the user B's Internet phone 100'. When user B acknowledges receipt of the call, the VoIP application in user B's PC 200' will send an acknowledgement message to user A's PC 200. When this is complete, a call is thus established and both users can start talking to each other.

When user A speaks into the microphone 104 of his Internet phone 100, his voice (analog signal) will be sent to the DSP 110 and converted into a digital signal and transmitted to the PC 200 via the USB interface 112. The VoIP application will then place this digital signal in a buffer for transmission over the

Internet to a recipient, User B, as a voice packet. At the recipient end, the voice packet is received by user B's PC 200' and relayed to his Internet phone 100'. The DSP 110 in user B's Internet phone 100 then converts the digital voice packet into analog voice signal for output through the speaker 102_. of user B's Internet phone 100.

If the sen/er 300 detects that user B is offline i.e. user B's Internet phone 100' is not plugged into an online PC 200', the server 300 will return a voice message to the software application or the Internet phone of user A announcing user B's unavailability. User A may then be prompted to leave a voice mail which will be stored or recorded in the server 300. When user B subsequently comes online which is detected by the server 300 receiving the phone ID from the^' Internet phone, the server will send a message to the software application or user B's Internet phone announcing that he (user B) has a new voice mail. User B can then use the Internet phone 100' or the software application to listen, save or delete the message.

If user B's phone is actually online but user B did not pick up the call after a period of time, then user A can similarly be prompted or opt to leave a voice mail for user B.

In this way, the server 300 allows voice messages to be stored until the called party is online again. PC to PSTN telephone call

Through a gateway 400, a user can make a call to a normal PSTN number as shown in Figure 3. This is performed by dialling the number of the PSTN phone using the Internet phone 100 and the call will be routed through the gateway 400. The use of the gateway 400 in establishing calls also enables the user to accept calls through his Internet phone 100 even though the PC to which the phone is connected, resides behind a firewall, proxy server or router.

In use, the user of the Internet phone 100 first installs the VoIP application software provided with his phone 100 on a PC. Alternatively, the user can download the software from the service provider's website. Take for example, if the identification code in user A's Internet phone 100 has a phone ID of 65001012, then whenever he plugs in the Internet phone 100 and the VoIP application is active, the application would automatically read the code 65001012 and sends this number to the service provider's server 300 which resides over the Internet. Once the server 300 receives this message, the server 300 proceeds to register the information in a database that the user with the phone ID 65001012 is online. The server 300 can also check if there is any voice mail available for the user of 65001012 and inform the user accordingly. This is depicted pictorially in Figure 2 which shows a typical set up of an

apparatus for performing VoIP.

When user A wishes to make a PC-to-PC call to another user B associated with another Internet phone 100', user A will need to know user B's phone ID. User B's phone is connected to another computer system 200' and the phone 100" may have an ID of 65002101. Thus user A will dial this phone ID either using the software application or using the keypad 106 on his Internet phone 100. The software application then proceeds to deliver a message to the server 300 which checks the online status of 65002101 (user B). If 65002101 is online at that time, a call request would be sent to user B. User B's Internet phone 100' would then ring to notify user B of an incoming call. If the call is picked up, a connection is thus formed between both users A and B, and a voice communication can commence.

When user A with the ID 65001012 terminates a call but is still online, the status in the database remains unchanged i.e. user A is still online to make or receive further calls. However, when user A disconnects the Internet phone 100, the VoIP application detects this and sends a "disconnect" message automatically to notify the server of the status. Alternatively, the user A may disconnect his phone by closing the application and a "disconnect" message is also sent to the server. Any call that is destined for the phone ID 65001012 (i.e. user A) would thus be received by the server 300. To use the Internet phone again, the user A needs to either re-insert the phone into the USB port or re-activate the VoIP application.

The service provider may charge for either one or both types of calls. For example, the service provider may provide the PC-to-PC call free to the users to

entice users to use their service and may charge only for storing the voice mail. The rates for the voice mail may be time dependent i.e. depending on the length of the recorded voice mail. Alternatively, the voice mail may also be provided free whereas the PC-to-PSTN call would be charged based on a per-minute basis. The length of the call can be tracked by either the software application or the server 300 and the charges calculated accordingly. The user may then be billed at the end of the month.

When a user travels or is away from his normal computer system 200, he merely brings along his Internet phone 100 which will allow him to be contactable once he plugs his Internet phone 100 into an online PC 200 with the VoIP application software. The use of the identification code allows the user to be identified anywhere by the service provider regardless of the computer system since the identification code is provided in the Internet phone 100 and is independent of the computer system 200. The identification code also serves as a "nickname" for the user since the user would be recognised based on this unique identification code.

The described embodiment should not be construed as limitative. For example, the identification code for the Internet phone 100 may include a code to differentiate the phone ID from a normal PSTN number. For example, the first three digits of the code 650XXXXXX may be used for this purpose. In addition, the identification code may also contain a vendor or product ID which can be used by the service provider when for example, the Internet phone is lost and the user wants to block any calls made from that phone but the user wishes to

continue using the same phone ID. Although USB is the preferred technology for the input/output port, other emerging technologies may be applicable. For example, the PC 200 may have an infrared red communication port and this may also be used to establish a communication link with the Internet phone 100.

Having now fully described the invention, it should be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that many modifications can be made hereto without departing from the scope as claimed.

Claims

1. An Internet telephone for performing voice communication over the Internet having an identifier that is transmissible over the Internet to identify the Internet phone in such communications.

2. An Internet telephone according to claim 1 , wherein the identifier is associated with a user.

3. An Internet telephone according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the identifier includes a phone ID.

4. An Internet telephone according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the identifier includes a product ID.

5. An Internet telephone according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the identifier includes a vendor ID.

6. An Internet telephone according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising an ID controller for storing the identifier.

7. An Internet telephone according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the Internet phone comprises audio means for inputting or outputting voice messages.

8. An Internet telephone according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising an interface port arranged to connect the phone communicatively to an online computer system.

9. An Internet telephone according to claim 8, wherein the interface is an USB port.

10. An Internet telephone according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein protocol for the voice communications is VoIP.

11. A method for performing voice communications using an Internet telephone having an identifier, the method including the step of: receiving the identifier over the Internet to identify the telephone for performing voice communication.

12. A method according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of connecting the telephone communicatively to an online computer system to facilitate the transmission of the identifier.

13. A method according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising the step of inputting or outputting voice messages through the Internet telephone.

14. A method according to claim 11 or 12, further comprising the step of inputting or outputting voice messages through the computer system.

15. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, further comprising the step of setting up a VoIP call based on the identifier.

16. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 15, wherein the identifier is associated with a user.

17. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 16, further comprising the step of receiving and storing a voice message.

18. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, further comprising the step of sending a pre-stored voice message to the Internet telephone.

19. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 18, further comprising the step of checking online status of called party.

20. A method according to claim 19, further comprising the step of setting up a voice communication link between caller and called party if the called party is online.

21. Apparatus for performing voice communications over the Internet comprising: a telephone having an identifier; a computer system arranged to connect the telephone to the Internet; and a central server connected to the Internet and arranged to identify the telephone and its connection to the Internet and being arranged to receive the identifier to perform voice communication-related services.