Patent ID: 7050424
Filing Date: 2006-05-23
Classification: H04L,H04M

Abstract:
1. A Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, comprising: a network including at least two VoIP proxy servers configured to shift workload automatically and to allow voice data to be transmitted and received over the network; and at least one VoIP client operatively coupled to the network to transmit and receive voice data over the network; wherein: one of the at least two VoIP proxy servers is a primary VoIP proxy server configured to shift workload automatically to another of the at least two VoIP proxy servers by forwarding a request to connect received from the VoIP client to a next one of the at least two VoIP proxy servers in accordance with a predefined sequence; the at least two VoIP proxy servers configured to continue to forward the client request to connect to the next one of the at least two VoIP proxy servers in the predefined sequence until the client request is received by one of the at least two VoIP proxy servers in the predefined sequence whose workload is below a predefined threshold; the one of the at least two VoIP proxy servers whose workload is below the predefined threshold configured to respond to the forwarded request to connect with an identity which is forwarded to the primary VoIP proxy server; the primary VoIP proxy server configured to provide the identity to the at least one VoIP client; and the VoIP client configured to connect to the identified VoIP proxy server in order to transmit and receive voice data.