Patent ID: 6556563
Filing Date: 2003-04-29
Classification: H04M,H04Q

Abstract:
A method for coupling external components to a VOIP network during a connection to a user, said method comprising the acts of:providing a voice converter for transcoding voice data between VOIP format and non-VOIP formats; opening a VOIP port for sending voice data to and receiving voice data from the VOIP network; opening a bridge port for sending voice data to and receiving voice data from an external component; processing requests to determine whether voice data is to be received from the external component (upstream request) or sent to the external component (downstream request); if voice data is to be sent to the external component during the connection with the user: receiving voice data from the user through the VOIP network via the VOIP port, wherein the voice data requires processing in a VOIP format and a non-VOIP format; if the external component is not able to process VOIP format voice data then sending data via the bridge port to the voice converter prior to routing data to the external component; or if the external component is able to process VOIP format voice data sending data via the bridge port directly to the external component; if voice data is to be received from the external component during the connection with the user: if the external component provides VOIP format voice data then sending data directly to the VOIP network via the bridge port and VOIP port; or if the external component does not provide VOIP format voice data, first sending the voice data to the voice converter prior to sending the voice data to the VOIP network via the bridge port and the VOIP port to generate VOIP format voice data; and caching the generated VOIP format voice data in a cache, wherein the cached VOIP format voice data may be provided to the VOIP network when a request for the voice data is received without sending the voice data to the voice converter.