Abstract:
The universal Internet based telephony system is implemented as a process that is accessible via an Internet WEB page and executes on the WEB server that hosts the WEB page and/or a back-end Internet telephony server which is accessed and controlled by the WEB server. The customer accesses the universal Internet based telephony system via any existing Java Enabled Internet Browser software resident on the customer&#39;s personal computer, either as an adjunct process thereon, or as a dedicated Internet telephony process. When a customer accesses the Internet WEB page and clicks on the universal Internet based telephony system icon, the WEB server on which the WEB page resides executes the resident universal Internet based telephony system hyperlink script and transfers a newly opened browser session to the universal Internet based telephony system WEB site. Once connected to the customer&#39;s personal computer, the universal Internet based telephony system WEB site presents the customer with the data entry fields for his/her account number the telephone number of the desired destination (called party). The WEB server uploads an applet to the customer&#39;s personal computer to run on the client machine without disturbing the customer&#39;s existing WEB page access, by opening up a separate window on the customer&#39;s personal computer for the Universal Internet based telephony system, to be seen and operated by the user. The universal Internet based telephony system WEB site then implements the Internet telephony communication connection between the customer&#39;s personal computer and the designated destination.

Description:
This application is a Continuation-In-Part of application Ser. No. 09/272,139, filed Mar. 19, 1999, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to the provision of telephone service via the Internet and, in particular, to a system that enables a customer who accesses a WEB site on the Internet to initiate a telephone call via a WEB page user interface, from any location and from any multi-media personal computer (or other customer terminal device), without the need for the customer to have previously downloaded and accurately configured the client side internet provider specific telephony software for this telephone service on the customer&#39;s accessing personal computer. 
     PROBLEM 
     It is a problem in the field of Internet or IP telephony to provide customers with access to the telephone service without the need to have previously loaded and accurately configured Internet provider specific telephony software on the customer&#39;s accessing personal computer. IP telephony can be defined as using the “Internet Protocol” network of Internet connectivity, which reaches around the globe to all developed countries and most developing countries as the network to route telephone calls to PSTN or standard telephone switching networks. In reality, the Internet, the connectivity for which to the individual user is routed over PSTN networks. That is, people make local calls on a normal PSTN telephone line to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and gain access to the rest of the Internet by utilizing TCP/IP or Internet standard protocols. 
     In operation, presently available Internet telephony service requires the customer to load an Internet telephony software package on the customer&#39;s personal computer in conjunction with establishing a billing account for this telephone service. This process executes on the customer&#39;s personal computer and enables the customer to access a specified and dedicated Internet telephony server to thereby obtain access to the Internet telephone service. The need to install Internet provider specific telephony software on the customer&#39;s personal computer represents an impediment to customers who access the Internet from various computers, since each personal computer used by the customer must be equipped with the same Internet provider specific telephony software. In addition, the existing dedicated Internet telephony software operates to the exclusion of other Internet access software, thereby failing to coordinate with other Internet accesses that the customer may wish to concurrently execute with the Internet telephony call. Thus, the presently available Internet telephony service represents an inexpensive alternative to standard long distance telephone service, but presents a number of constraints to the customer in order to obtain the benefits of low cost communications services. 
     A further problem with existing systems is that they are not adapted to be used in a cellular communication environment, nor are they capable of initiating a directory assistance function and automatic connection to a designated called party. 
     SOLUTION 
     The above described problems are solved and a technical advance achieved by the present universal Internet based telephony system which is implemented as a process that is accessible via an Internet WEB page and which executes on the WEB server that hosts the WEB page and/or a back-end Internet telephony server which is accessed and controlled by the WEB server. The customer accesses the universal Internet based telephony system via any existing Internet browser software resident on the customer&#39;s multimedia terminal device, such as a personal computer, either as an adjunct process thereon, or as a dedicated Internet telephony process. This is accomplished by presenting the universal Internet based telephony system to the customer as an accessible service option on any Internet WEB page, typically in the form of an icon presented thereon. Alternatively, the multimedia customer terminal device can be equipped with an icon which presents the universal Internet based telephony system to the customer as an accessible service option. When a customer, who has accessed the Internet WEB page either via the multimedia customer terminal device based icon or Internet browser, clicks on the universal Internet based telephony system icon, regardless of where the icon resides, the WEB server on which the WEB page resides executes the resident universal Internet based telephony system hyperlink script and transfers a newly opened browser session to the universal Internet based telephony system WEB site. Once connected to the customer&#39;s terminal device, the universal Internet based telephony system WEB site presents the customer with the data entry fields for their account number and the telephone number of the desired destination (called party). The WEB server uploads an applet to the customer&#39;s personal computer to run on the client machine without disturbing the customer&#39;s existing WEB page access, by opening up a separate window on the customer&#39;s terminal device for the Universal Internet based telephony system, to be seen and operated by the user. The universal Internet based telephony system WEB site then extends the Internet telephony communication connection from the customer&#39;s terminal device to an Internet telephony server/network, forwarding the customer provided data to enable the communication connection to be extended by the Internet telephony server/network to the designated destination. 
     Thus, the customer can access Internet telephony service through any hosting WEB server (where one of universal Internet based telephony system&#39;s affiliate links resides; and functions on any web page served up on the WEB) as the access point, and by using the existing Internet browser software that is resident on any multi-media terminal device. The customer&#39;s Internet login and password and the dynamic URL capture of the affiliate WEB site represent the universal Internet based telephony system billing data, which are provided by the customer from any terminal device. In addition, the universal Internet based telephony system process can be installed on any WEB server and the routing of the Internet telephony calls from the WEB server to the designated destination is implemented as a background process via an Internet telephony server/network, in a manner that is transparent to the customer if the customer chooses, as the universal Internet based telephony system page opens a new browser session in a new window which can be minimized during the conversation allowing the user to continue browsing the site from which he/she initiated the universal Internet based telephony system icon while talking to the called party. 
     Furthermore, the WEB page can present a plurality of universal Internet based telephony system icons, with the icons representing either general Internet telephony service access or “hard-wired” access to dedicated destinations. Thus, the customer who accesses a particular WEB server that hosts a commercial enterprise can be provided with a plurality of universal Internet based telephony system icons which are representative of a number of destination choices, such as: customer service, sales, product support, manufacturer&#39;s service representative. By selecting one of these dedicated destination icons, the customer activates the universal Internet based telephony system to automatically initiate an Internet telephony call to the identified destination while concurrently maintaining the customer&#39;s access to the present WEB page. The Internet telephony call that is originated from an affiliate WEB page is routed to an Internet telephony host, with the customer&#39;s login and password being forwarded as the customer billing data and the WEB server URL being forwarded to provide the Internet telephony host with data regarding the universal Internet based telephony system retailer (affiliate) who is assigned credit (pursuant to the retailer&#39;s affiliate agreement with Universal Internet based telephony system, Inc.) for the Internet telephony call initiation. 
     The universal Internet based telephony system can therefore be used to route customer inquiries to predefined destinations while the customer concurrently has access to the data provided by the WEB page, or the WEB page owner can become a universal Internet based telephony system affiliate and simply resell the universal Internet based telephony system that is provided by an Internet telephony server/network through the universal Internet based telephony system web page and related servers. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
     FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form the overall architecture of the present universal Internet based telephony system and a typical environment in which it is operational; 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the exchange of messages among the various elements that comprise the present universal Internet based telephony system; 
     FIG. 3 illustrates a typical display that is produced by a WEB server to enable a user to access the present universal Internet based telephony system; 
     FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate in flow diagram form the operational steps taken by the present universal Internet based telephony system to provide Internet telephone service to a customer in the instance of a call origination; 
     FIG. 6 illustrates in flow diagram form the process flow that occurs when a calling party logs into the Web site and initiates a call to another user who is also logged into the Web site; 
     FIG. 7 illustrates in flow diagram form the process flow that occurs when a calling party logs into the Web site and initiates a call to another user who is available via a telephone station set addressable at a traditional 10-digit telephone number; 
     FIG. 8 illustrates in flow diagram form the process flow that occurs when a calling party dials a call from a traditional telephone station set assigned a 10-digit telephone number to a personal computer; and 
     FIG. 9 illustrates in flow diagram form a case where the universal Internet based telephony system  100  customer can maintain concurrent communication connections via the Internet to provide both data and voice connections. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form the overall architecture of the present universal Internet based telephony system  100  and a typical communication network environment in which it is operational. The communication network environment illustrated in FIG. 1 includes communications networks LEC 1 , LEC 2 , which comprise a part of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) that serves a plurality of customer terminal devices T 1 , T 2  (a personal computer, hand held computing device, cellular/wireless communication device, telephone station set or other data interface device, collectively termed “customer terminal devices” T 1 , T 2  herein) and telephone station sets SS 1 , SS 2 . The operation of such a communications network is well known and is not described in detail herein. In addition, Internet CM (also termed “WEB” herein) is provided to exchange data communications among a plurality of WEB servers S 1 -Sm connected thereto. The operation of the Internet CM is well known and is not described in detail herein. Access to the Internet CM is provided in well known fashion to customers resident at customer terminal devices T 1 , T 2  via Internet Service Providers  105  which interconnect communications networks LEC 1 , LEC 2  with Internet CM. Thus, the customer at customer terminal device T 1  accesses the Internet by activating the WEB browser process that is resident on customer terminal device T 1  and initiating a modem connection from customer terminal device T 1  through communications network LEC 1  to Internet Service Provider  105 . The Internet Service Provider  105  enables the customer to access Internet CM using the WEB browser process to gain access to the plurality of WEB servers S 1 -Sm (such as universal Internet based telephony system WEB server  100 A) that are interconnected by the Internet CM. As part of the Internet access, the Internet Service Provider  105  that the customer contacts typically provides a display to the customer terminal device T 1 , which display is termed a WEB page, which is downloaded from the Internet Service Provider  105  to the customer terminal device T 1 . 
     Universal Internet Based Telephony System Architecture 
     This universal Internet based telephony system represents a paradigm shift from traditional client-focused application software products used in existing communication systems to a server-focused application service that includes a second layer of enhanced integrated services that provides features and benefits over existing communication service offerings. The suite of integrated applications and the customer&#39;s personal data contained in those applications are available to the customer from any browser-enabled terminal device, simply by logging into the Web site of the universal Internet based telephony system. This is accomplished by the low level programming of IP telephony protocol stacks, the interactive delivery of these protocol stacks from server to clients, server side applications that replace traditional client applications, a Web delivered graphical user interface, and server based customer data structures. The client application is a fraction of the size of existing IP telephony applications and the endpoints of a communication are identified in the service, not by IP address, which traditionally ties a calling party and a called party to a particular computing device. Instead of adding function to each client application, the server is updated and functions are downloaded to the client application as needed. In addition, the customer is identified by their login ID which is then mapped to the terminal device presently in use by the customer. 
     The architecture of the universal Internet based telephony system consists of seven logical components which are cooperatively operative on an IP backbone to deliver telephony enabled Web page to the customer&#39;s terminal device. These components include: 
     1. Client side terminal device telephony executable process  115   
     2. Server side telephony application process  111   
     3. Web server system  100 A 
     4. Ancillary services processes  112   
     5. JTAPI integration system  113   
     6. PSTN Gateway system  100 B 
     7. IP address to 10-digit PSTN mapping system  114   
     In operation, presently available IP telephony services require the customer to load an Internet telephony software package on the customer&#39;s personal computer in conjunction with establishing a billing account for this telephone service. This process executes on the customer&#39;s personal computer and enables the customer to access a specified and dedicated Internet telephony server to thereby obtain access to the Internet telephone service. The need to install Internet provider specific telephony software on the customer&#39;s personal computer represents an impediment to customers who access the Internet from various computers, since each personal computer used by the customer must be equipped with the same Internet provider specific telephony software. In addition, the existing dedicated Internet telephony software operates to the exclusion of other Internet access software, thereby failing to coordinate with other Internet accesses that the customer may wish to concurrently execute with the Internet telephony call. Thus, Internet telephony service represents an inexpensive alternative to standard long distance telephone service, but presents a number of constraints to the customer in order to obtain the benefits of low cost communications services. 
     The client side telephony executable process  115  illustrates the unique clientless nature of the universal Internet based telephony system  100 . The present universal Internet based telephony system  100  includes a client side telephony executable process  115  that is interactively delivered to the memory resident Java Virtual Machine running on the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1  via server side Java application processes  111 . 
     The server side telephony application process  111  refers to application software running on the Web server system  100 A of the universal Internet based telephony system  100  that delivers the telephony application to the customer&#39;s desktop, manages call routing, signaling, set up, tear down, and coordinates the activities of the other components contained in the universal Internet based telephony system  100 . 
     The JTAPI integration system  113  consists of a system that is implemented using Java Telephony Applications Programming Interface (JTAPI) and comprises the development environment and tool set that is used by the universal Internet based telephony system  100  to integrate the server side telephony application process  111  with the ancillary services processes  112  that are provided in conjunction with the universal Internet based telephony system  100 . The Java Telephony Applications Programming Interface system  113  is a portable, object-oriented application programming interface for Java based computer telephony applications. 
     Call Origination in the Universal Internet Based Telephony System 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the exchange of messages among the various elements that comprise the present universal Internet based telephony system  100  and the communications systems and devices illustrated in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 illustrates a typical display that is produced by a WEB server to enable a user to access the present universal Internet based telephony system  100  and FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrate in flow diagram form the operational steps taken by the present universal Internet based telephony system  100  to provide Internet telephone service to a customer in the instance of a call origination. The universal Internet based telephony system  100  typically resides on/includes an Internet WEB server, such as WEB server  100 A, as the host. The customer&#39;s WEB browser is the proxy or pseudo-client and enables the customer to talk to an Internet Service Provider  105  via a set of communication scripts. These scripts are typically Java Enabled Internet Browser scripts resident on the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1 . The Internet Service Provider  105  can simply be equipped with a universal Internet based telephony system icon, associated display and hyperlink data that enables a customer who clicks on the displayed icon to be hyper linked to the universal Internet based telephony system  100 . The universal Internet based telephony system  100  allows the customer to place telephone calls to a destination by using the customer&#39;s account name (login) and password via the WEB browser user interface that is executed on the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1 . The WEB page provided by the WEB server  100 A to the customer terminal device T 1  functions as a password protected user interface for the Internet telephony process. 
     The following description includes a description of the process whereby a customer establishes a customer universal Internet based telephony system account for Internet telephony, and also indicates how the customer initiates a universal Internet based telephony system Internet telephone call an existing universal Internet based telephony system account, from any terminal device. 
     The customer at step  401  initiates an Internet communication connection by activating the Java Enabled Internet Browser executing on the customer terminal device T 1  to initiate a local telephone call via communications network LEC 1  to the telephone access number of the customer&#39;s Internet Service Provider  105 . This communication connection is via the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and serves to provide the customer with a physical connection from the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1  to the Internet Service Provider  105 . The WEB server of the Internet Service Provider  105  that is accessed in this manner transmits a WEB page for display on the customer terminal device T 1  at step  402 . As part of the WEB page, the Internet Service Provider  105  can display an icon indicative of the availability of universal Internet based telephony system  100  where the customer can initiate an Internet telephone call to any destination, or the icon can represent a predefined telephone number that automatically executes a script upon selection to initiate an Internet telephone call to a designated destination. Alternatively, the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1  can be equipped with an icon which presents the universal Internet based telephony system to the customer as an accessible service option, and the customer can initiate the universal Internet based telephony system Internet access by simply clicking on this desktop icon for direct connection to the universal Internet based telephony system. 
     The customer at step  403  can initiate access to the universal Internet based telephony system  100  by inputting the URL of the universal Internet based telephony system WEB server  100 A via the customer&#39;s WEB browser that is executing on the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1  or by clicking on the displayed universal Internet based telephony system icon which is presented by the WEB page of the Internet Service Provider  105  to which the customer is connected. The Internet Service Provider  105  at step  404  hyperlink the customer to the universal Internet based telephony system WEB server  100 A when the customer clicks on the displayed icon, which actions transmit a “download( )” message to the WEB phone system  100 , and at step  405  the universal Internet based telephony system WEB server  100 A transmits the WEB page of FIG. 3 to the customer terminal device T 1 . The universal Internet based telephony system WEB server  100 A at step  406  provides the customer with a display by downloading an IP phone applet to the customer terminal device T 1  that executes the customer terminal device portion of the universal Internet based telephony system  100  and enables the customer to either establish a new account with the universal Internet based telephony system  100  or use an existing account. The applet includes the signaling media streaming and media control specific to the microphone and speaker API of the specific customer terminal device T 1  through a server side query of the customer terminal device T 1 . The page can be one page containing a graphic representation of a telephone and two click through links. The first click through reads “If you already have an account click here.” This prompts the user for their account number and allows passage to an active Telephone Java Script where they can click on the numbers to dial and thus invoke HTML which places the telephone call. The phone has a volume button and a clarity button. The second link reads “Set up an account with universal Internet based telephony system”. This secure script prompts the user for their new account information and allows the user to choose from a menu of payment methods including secure credit card or bill the customer directly through their current service provider. Once submitted, the user has an immediate response as to acceptance of the credit card and/or whether their service provider currently has a billing arrangement with Universal Internet based telephony system. 
     At step  407 , the universal Internet based telephony system  100  determines, pursuant to the customer&#39;s data input via customer terminal device T 1  whether a new account is being created. If the customer elects to establish a new account, processing advances to step  408  where the universal Internet based telephony system  100  presents the customer with a set of screens containing data entry fields to enable the customer to input the customer specific data and billing information, in well known fashion, that is necessary to create the new billing account. The customer is provided with a 10-digit virtual telephone number to enable the customer to access this service from anywhere. Once the customer information is received and validated, processing advances to step  409  where the customer is presented with a display screen that contains data entry fields to enable the customer to input a telephone number indicative of the desired destination at step  410 . The user interface for the address book is not part of the applet but rather resides on the server and is accessible via the Web page. The call is placed through an interaction between the applet (media control, media streaming) to the Web Gateway and signaling at the same time between applet&#39;s user agent (signaling) and the SIP location server, which operate together piece the call back together for the called party. 
     At step  411 , the keystrokes input by the customer are used by the universal Internet based telephony system  100  to initiate an Internet telephony connection by forwarding the received data (“create” in FIG. 2) to an Internet Telephony Receiver Proxy Servlet  142 , along with the customer&#39;s login and password identity. In the case of a predetermined destination being represented by the selected icon, the step of customer input of a telephone number is bypassed, since the WEB server  105  already has the destination telephone number data. The WEB server  100 A includes the URL of WEB server  105  to enable the Receiver Proxy Servlet  142  to credit the WEB server  105  with being the source of the Internet telephony call. The Receiver Proxy Servlet  142  at step  412  uses the received data to establish a communication session with the Internet Service Provider WEB server  105  located proximate to the destination terminal device T 2  or telephone station set SS 1 . The Internet Service Provider WEB server  135  completes the Internet telephone call connection at step  413  by extending the call connection (“ring( )” of FIG. 2) to telephone station set (for example) SS 1  via the communications network  102 . When the called telephone station set SS 1  answers the call at step  414 , an “answer( )” message is propagated by Internet Service Provider WEB server  135  at step  415  back through the message path illustrated in FIG.  2  and the customer at customer terminal device T 1  is connected at step  416  to the called party (“Receiver”) located at telephone station set SS 1  to enable the two parties to communicate in a telephone communication session via the Internet  103  and the communications network  101 ,  102 . The universal Internet based telephony system  100  chronicles each Internet telephone call, including the source WEB page, call duration, call destination and this data is used to update a billing database  145  at step  417  at the conclusion of the call connection. The billing can be via pre-established customer account, credit card, associated telephone number, associated Internet user identification, and the like. 
     This system architecture is Fat Host/Thin Client in that the universal Internet based telephony system software allows the customer to remotely operate the universal Internet based telephony system  100  with the WEB page provided by the WEB server  100 A functioning as the user interface. As a speed enhancement in this process, when the customer browses to the WEB server  100 A, the WEB page is downloaded to the customer&#39;s terminal device T 1  and cached for future speed enhancement without direction from the customer. Thus, any terminal device, such as a personal computer, with a multimedia package that includes a microphone and speakers, can function as a telephone without the user having to download any software. 
     Personal Computer to Personal Computer 
     The universal Internet based telephony system  100  can be used for processing communications connections that are Personal Computer to Personal Computer. FIG. 6 illustrates in flow diagram form the process flow that occurs when a calling party at customer terminal device T 1  logs into the Web site of Web server  100 A and initiates a call to a called party at customer terminal device T 3  who is also logged into the Web site of Web server  100 A. At step  601 , the calling party at customer terminal device T 1  logs into the Web site of Web server  100 A, as described above with respect to FIG. 4, to access the Web server  100 A and the server side telephony application process  111  that executes thereon at step  602 . The Web server  100 A loads the Web page on the client personal computer T 1  at step  603 . The telephony application (applet) streams into the client side telephony executable process  115  located in the memory of the customer terminal device T 1  at step  604  and the client selects a telephone number for call initiation at step  605 . Since the called party is also logged into the Web site of Web server  100 A via customer terminal device T 3  and is a subscriber to the IP telephony service, the called party has been assigned a virtual telephone number of 10-digits and can be accessed via this 10-digit virtual telephone number. Therefore, the calling party can input this virtual 10-digit telephone number into the Web site  100 A to initiate a call connection to the called party, regardless of where the called party is located. In addition, the ancillary service processes  112  related to the customer&#39;s selection are made available at step  606 . The Web server  100 A at step  607  searches the IP address mapping database  114  for the destination location and if available, the Web server  100 A establishes an IP telephony circuit between clients, located at customer terminal devices T 1  and T 3 , via the Internet CM at step  608 . The calling party and called party communicate at step  609  and when the call is over, one of the parties initiates a disconnect at step  610 . The Web server  100 A detects the disconnect command and tears down the communication connection between the calling and called parties at step  611 . 
     Personal Computer to Telephone Station Set 
     The universal Internet based telephony system  100  can be used for processing communications connections that are Personal Computer to Telephone Station Set. FIG. 7 illustrates in flow diagram form the process flow that occurs when a calling party logs into the Web site of Web server  100 A and initiates a call to a called party who is available via a telephone station set SS 1  addressable at a traditional 10-digit telephone number. The calling party located at customer terminal device T 1  logs into the Web site of Web server  100 A at step  701 , as described above with respect to FIG. 4, to access the Web server  100 A and the server side telephony application process  111  that executes thereon at step  702 . The Web server  100 A loads the Web page on the client personal computer T 1  at step  703 . The telephony application (applet) streams into the client side telephony executable process  115  located in the memory of the customer personal computer T 1  at step  704  and the client selects a telephone number for call initiation at step  705 . In addition, the ancillary service processes  112  related to the customer&#39;s selection are made available at step  706 . The Web server  100 A at step  707  searches the IP address mapping database  114  for the destination location that is defined by the 10-digit telephone number. Since the destination is a traditional telephone station set, the Web Server  100 A negotiates a session with the PSTN Gateway  100 B at step  708 . If a communication path is available, the Web server  100 A and the PSTN Gateway  100 B establish a hybrid telephony circuit between the calling and called parties at step  709 . The calling party and called party communicate over this hybrid telephony circuit at step  710  and when the call is over, one of the parties initiates a disconnect at step  711 . The Web server  100 A and/or the PSTN Gateway  100 B detect the disconnect command and tear down the communication connection between the calling and called parties at step  712 . 
     Telephone Station Set to Personal Computer 
     The universal Internet based telephony system  100  can be used for processing communications connections that are Telephone Station Set to Personal Computer. FIG. 8 illustrates in flow diagram form the process flow that occurs when a calling party dials a call at step  801  from a traditional telephone station set SS 1 , which is assigned a 10-digit telephone number, to a personal computer T 1  that is served by the universal Internet based telephony system  100 . The local exchange carrier LEC 2  at step  802  receives the dialed digits and extends the telephone call in traditional fashion from telephone station set SS 1  to the PSTN Gateway  100 B via the switching network of the local exchange carrier LEC 2  and the inter-exchange carrier  104 . At step  803 , the PSTN Gateway  100 B detects the inbound call. The PSTN Gateway  100 B, at step  804 , negotiates a session with the Web server  100 A, which searches the IP mapping application process database  114  at step  805  for a destination location. The PSTN Gateway  100 B signals busy or initiates a call setup at step  806  if a communication path is available, where the Web server  100 A and the PSTN Gateway  100 B establish a hybrid telephony circuit between the calling and called parties. The calling party and called party communicate at step  807  and when the call is over, one of the parties initiates a disconnect at step  808 . The Web server  100 A and/or the PSTN Gateway  100 B detect the disconnect command and tear down the communication connection between the calling and called parties at step  809 . 
     Call Center 
     FIG. 9 illustrates in flow diagram form a case where the universal Internet based telephony system  100  customer can maintain concurrent communication connections via the Internet to provide both data and voice connections. For example, at step  901 , the calling party at customer terminal device T 1  logs into the Web site of Web server S 1  to access product/services information that is provided by the vendor to customers via Web Server S 1 . The Web server S 1  loads the Web site home page on the client personal computer T 1  at step  902 . The customer can browse the Web site of the Server S 1  to obtain information, in well known manner, at step  903  and the customer can initiate a telephone call to a vendor service representative via the universal Internet based telephony system  100  at step  904  by clicking on an icon presented by the Web server S 1  on one of its web pages. the icon typically denotes a one of a plurality of possible destinations to which the customer can be linked and in this example, the icon represents the vendor&#39;s customer service representatives, who are available via call center  104 . 
     The calling party located at customer terminal device T 1  by clicking on the icon at step  904 , logs into the Web site of Web server  100 A at step  905 , as described above with respect to FIG. 4, to access the Web server  100 A and the server side telephony application process  111  that executes thereon at step  906 . The telephony application (applet) streams into the client side telephony executable process  115  located in the memory of the customer personal computer T 1  at step  907 . The ancillary service processes  112  related to the icon activation automatically loads the 10-digit telephone number of the call center  104  that serves the customer service representatives, located at telephone station sets CC 1 -CCk, at step  908 . The Web server  100 A at step  909  searches the IP address mapping database  114  for the destination location that is defined by the 10-digit telephone number. Since the destination is a call center  103  serving a plurality of traditional telephone station sets CC 1 -CCk, the Web Server  100 A negotiates a session with the PSTN Gateway  100 B at step  910 . If a communication path is available, the Web server  100 A and the PSTN Gateway  100 B establish a hybrid telephony circuit between the calling party and call center  104  at step  911 . The call center  104  at step  912  interconnects the incoming call from the customer at customer terminal device T 1  to a selected service representative located at telephone station set CC 1  and the calling party and service representative communicate over this hybrid telephony circuit at step  913  and when the call is over, one of the parties initiates a disconnect at step  914 . The Web server  100 A and/or the PSTN Gateway  100 B detect the disconnect command and tear down the communication connection between the calling and called parties at step  915 . 
     Cellular/Wireless Communications 
     The universal Internet based telephony system  100  can be used to serve calls to and from cellular/wireless subscriber stations CS 1 -CSn (collectively termed “mobile subscriber stations” herein to reflect the fact that these stations are not tethered via wires to the telephone switching network). In particular, the mobile subscriber station CS 1  can be used by the customer to initiate an IP telephony call to a called party located at a customer terminal device T 1  as described above with respect to FIG.  8 . In this case, the mobile subscriber station CS 1  is connected via wireless communication system  102  and Inter-Exchange Carrier system  104  to the PSTN Gateway  100 B, in a manner that is analogous to the telephone station set SS 1  being connected to the PSTN Gateway  100 B via Local Exchange Carrier system LEC 2  and the Inter-Exchange Carrier system  104 . Similarly, IP telephony calls originated by a calling party located at the customer terminal device T 1  can be initiated to a called party located at mobile subscriber station CS 1  in a manner that corresponds to that described with regard to FIG.  7 . 
     Implementation Architecture 
     The architecture of the universal Internet based telephony system  100  is a distributed object architecture which makes the execution location of an application subsystem transparent to the application, because multiple objects form a single executing application divided as necessary between computing platforms. Thus, distributed object computing extends an object-oriented programming system by allowing objects to be distributed across a heterogeneous network, so that each of these distributes object components inter-operate as a unified whole. These objects may be distributed on different computers throughout a network, living within their own address space outside of an application, and yet appear as though they were local to an application. Thus, a centralized object broker interconnects each IP telephony object with other telephony objects, which are located either locally or remotely. Each object has an interface and exposes a set of methods. A client device can make method calls on an object reference as if the server object resided in the client&#39;s address space. The object request broker is responsible for finding an object&#39;s implementation, preparing it to receive requests, communicate requests to it and carry the reply back to the client device. Thus, diverse operating system platforms can intercommunicate. 
     As an example, a client makes a call to the client proxy and the client side proxy packs the call parameters into a request message and invokes a wire protocol to ship the message to the server. At the server side, the wire protocol delivers the message to the server side stub. The server side stub then unpacks the message and calls the actual method on the object. The client stub is called the stub or proxy and the server stub is called skeleton. The client stub is referenced to as proxy and the server stub is referred to as stub. The telephony protocol stack resident in server side telephony application process  111  can be implemented using the SIP protocol which is an IETF standard protocol for IP communication, for enabling IP telephony gateways, client endpoints, private branch exchanges, and other communication systems or devices to communicate with each other. The SIP protocol mainly addresses the call setup and tear down mechanisms of sessions and is independent of the transmission of media streams between the calling and called parties. 
     Dynamic Streaming Lossless Compression 
     The universal Internet based telephony system  100  uses a CODEC that performs real time on the fly compression and decompression for voice over IP telephony applications. 32 bit lossless voice compression converts 64 KB PCM to 16 KB and back again to 64 KB PCM uses bit streaming. In the universal Internet based telephony system  100 , the client side telephony executable process  115  and the server side telephony process  111  cooperate in selecting the size of the buffer that is allocated to compression. The universal Internet based telephony system  100  can automatically modify the compression rate on the fly or the user can select a compression rate. 
     Additional Services 
     There are many services to be offered over the Internet telephony connection provided by the universal Internet based telephony system  100 , these are just a few: 
     Calling Cards—A full suite of enhanced feature calling cards can be used, including some with voice over Internet technology. 
     Fax over IP Corporate—A special service custom tailored for small and medium sized business to enable companies to take advantage of cost reductions associated with Internet technology for their fax to fax communications. 
     Fax over IP Broadcasting—Immediate fax over IP broadcast marketing services. 
     IP Telephony LD cards—Pre-paid IP telephony cards over the net allow any user, at any time to dial from any phone into the network with their customer ID and place calls to anywhere in the developed world across the IP telephony network of the universal Internet based telephony system  100 . 
     800 Follow Me Service—The one 10-digit virtual telephone number of the universal Internet based telephony system  100  enables a calling party to locate the customer, regardless of their location. 
     1+Inbound Service—You are able to take advantage of the latest communication technologies without dialing extra digits. 
     800 Inbound—Customers are able to have an 800 number routed to any number worldwide, through pre-existing PSTN to IP network interfaces. 
     Audio and Video Conferencing—This new marriage of IP to PSTN brings in the generation of the IP video board meeting. Anyone, anywhere with a computer is able to remotely attend shareholders meetings, conferences and training seminars with significant travel savings and salient convenience. 
     Sales of Banner Ad&#39;s on this Portal Site—Advertising revenue generated from this high traffic portal site can be in the millions. The possibilities for services to provide over IP-telephony networks can only be limited by the limitations of the entrepreneur&#39;s imagination. 
     Remote Control of Acoustic Echo Suppression for Internet Telephony 
     In Internet telephony applications, the microphone and speakers of the customer terminal device T 1  function as a telephone handset. If there is no headset on the customer terminal device T 1 , just speakers, the audio output of the speakers can be picked up by the microphone, creating an acoustic echo. This acoustic echo is transmitted to the party at the other end of the communication connection as a delayed echo of their voice. The acoustic echo is not heard by the customer at their customer terminal device T 1  and the customer is therefore unaware of the presence and severity of the acoustic echo. The acoustic echo makes it difficult to conduct a normal conversation and degrades the value of voice over Internet protocol applications that rely on multimedia PCS. 
     Acoustic echo can be corrected in two ways: by echo suppression (which disables the microphone when voice is being delivered through the speakers), or by echo cancellation (in which signal processing software “subtracts” the sound picked up from the speakers from the sound relayed from the microphone to the listener). Either method of correcting acoustic echo has shortcomings. Echo suppression methods typically create a half duplex connection, in which only one party can speak at a time. While preferable to the echo, a half duplex connection can seem choppy and is less desirable than a full duplex connection. One the other hand, echo cancellation is processor intensive and is particularly difficult in Internet telephony where both network latency and the acoustic configuration of the connecting PCS are variable. 
     Use of Tone Signals to Control Acoustic Echo Suppression or Cancellation Features 
     In the case when the customer hearing acoustic echo is using a telephone SS 1 , cellular telephone CS 1 , or similar telephony device that is equipped with a touchtone keypad, and an acoustic echo is perceived, the customer may transmit a sequence of tone signals to the Voice over IP gateway  100 A through which the call is routed. These tones are generated by use of the keypad of the customer terminal device SS 1  and the keypad button pushes are translated into digital commands and inserted into IP packets for transmission to the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  at the other end of the connection. (The Voice over IP gateway  100 A is programmed to recognize these keypad sequences and translate them into commands; it does not pass on an audible signal as part of the media stream.) The voice over IP application  115  resident on the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  responds to the digital commands by turning on its echo suppression or echo cancellation features. For example, the Voice over IP application  115  may enable an echo suppression subroutine that converts the voice connection from full duplex to half duplex. Alternatively, the Voice over IP application  115  may invoke an echo cancellation subroutine that attempts to cancel the acoustic echo by subtracting the sound delivered from the speakers to the microphone of the customer terminal device T 1  from the voice stream picked up by the microphone. 
     Tone signals could also be used to turn off echo suppression or echo cancellation features. For some applications, it may be preferable for echo suppression or echo cancellation if it is confirmed that the caller is using a headset. 
     Computer-Based User Controls for Remote Control of Acoustic Echo Suppression or Cancellation Features 
     In the case where a customer experiences an acoustic echo problem and is using a multimedia customer terminal device T 2 , such as a personal computer or other computing device, to provide their voice connection and an acoustic echo is perceived, the customer may access a set of on-screen controls to adjust the echo suppression or echo cancellation settings of the Voice over IP application  115  on the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  at the other end of the connection. Graphically, the control may be buttons, icons, sliders, or other familiar visual devices provided through a graphical user interface. The changes made to the acoustic echo controls are translated into digital parameter settings and conveyed to the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  at the other end of the connection within IP packets. The Voice over IP application  115  on the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  responds by enabling, disabling, or adjusting its echo suppression or echo cancellation features as outlined in the previous section. 
     Remotely Controlling the Display of Web Pages Using a Telephone 
     Companies with call centers  103  may receive Voice over IP calls from customers of their web sites, creating a situation in which it is desirable to interactively “push” web pages out to the remote customer. For call centers  103  that are not equipped to provide agents with multimedia customer terminal devices or to support collaborative browsing applications, the following application enables the call center customer service representative or other user to “push” web pages out to remote customers by using their telephone keypad or an equivalent telephony device. 
     Controlling Remote Display of Web Pages Uses Dial Pad Sequences 
     The call center agent can “push” web pages through a browser-resident Voice over IP or other application using dial pad sequences on their telephone CC 1  or similar telephony device. To make this process work, the agent is provided with a list of dial page command sequences (e.g., *76, equivalent to pressing the star key and the seven and six digit keys) with corresponding web page URLs) typically in printed form. When the dialpad sequences are dialed by the call center agent on their telephone station set CC 1 , the dial tone sequence is interpreted by the Voice over IP gateway  100 A as commands and translated into command sequences embedded within IP packets sent to a web server that would serve up the corresponding web page to the destination multimedia customer terminal device T 1  at the far end of the communication connection. 
     Remotely Controlling Media Settings in Conjunction with Voice Over IP or Multimedia Over IP Communications 
     For some Voice over IP applications, a user&#39;s multimedia customer terminal device T 1  is used as a telephone terminal device. The quality of sound experienced by the person at the other end of the connection is affected by media control settings on the originating multimedia customer terminal device T 1 . In many cases, multimedia customer terminal device T 1  customers are not aware of these controls or their placement within the operating system of the multimedia customer terminal device T 1 . The following system allows a person receiving a Voice over IP call, such as a call center agent, to remotely control the media settings on the caller&#39;s multimedia customer terminal device T 1  functioning as a telephone terminal device. 
     Remotely Controlling Media Settings Using Computer-Displayed Controls 
     The person experiencing a voice quality problem, if the voice connection is provided through a multimedia customer terminal device T 2 , may control the media settings on the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  through a set of controls that interacts with the Voice over IP application  115  resident on the remote multimedia customer terminal device T 1 . Examples of the settings that could be manipulated are microphone volume, speaker volume, an multimedia device settings. These controls could be test-based, or may be implemented as graphical devices such as sliders, buttons, or icons. 
     To make this process work, the Voice over IP or multimedia communications application  115  resident on the remote multimedia customer terminal device T 1  must include a facility for receiving setting changes embedded within Internet packets. The application would recognize the setting changes and translate them into commands for the media controls within the operating system of the multimedia customer terminal device T 1 . (Various connection methods could be used, such as a browser-resident applet that translates the setting changes into remote procedure calls to the Windows operating system on the multimedia customer terminal device T 1 ). 
     Remotely Controlling Media Settings Using Telephone Dialpad Sequences 
     If the customer experiencing a voice quality problem is using a telephone SS 1  with a dialpad or other similar device to participate in a Voice over IP call, the customer can remotely change the media control settings on the remote multimedia customer terminal device T 1  by transmitting dialtone sequences using the touchtone dialpad. Various dialtone sequences would represent different commands (e.g., *22 could mean increase volume by 20% decibels; *88 could mean reduce volume by 20%). 
     To make this process work, the Voice over IP gateway  100 A must be equipped to recognize the dialtone sequences as commands, convert them to digital commands embedded within IP packets, and pass them through to the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  at the other end of the voice connection. Similarly, the Voice over IP application  115  on the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  must be prepared to recognize the commands and translate them into remote procedure calls to the multimedia customer terminal device operating system to make changes to the media control settings. 
     Displaying Data Correlated to a Customer&#39;s Access to Web Pages via Conventional Telephony without a Direct Web-Based Connection 
     For some Voice over IP applications in eCommerce, a customer&#39;s multimedia customer terminal device T 1  is used as telephone terminal device to make contact with a customer call center  103  or contact center. Many call centers  103  are not equipped for Internet telephony and therefore receive these calls using the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), of which local exchange carrier LEC 1  is a part. These call centers  103  use sophisticated call management and customer relationship management systems that display key information about the customer relationship management systems that display key information about the customer&#39;s history, buying preferences, and purchasing behavior that depends on customer identifying information (such as account numbers) or the customer&#39;s phone numbers (which is often identified by a caller identification feature using the ANI standard employed in the PSTN). One of the perceived shortcomings of Internet telephony when a multimedia customer terminal device T 1  is used as a customer&#39;s telephone terminal device is that customer information may not be available to the call center  103  or contact center agent unless the agent is equipped with a PC-based telephone device that can display the same web content the customer is viewing, and/or related customer relationship management data. 
     The present system addresses a way to deliver information about the customer&#39;s access to web pages and customer history data, collected through an application resident on the customer&#39;s multimedia customer terminal device T 1 , drawing upon features built into Web browsers. The information that can be delivered includes any customer identifying information stored in cookies, as well as web pages the customer is currently accessing or has recently accessed along with the contents of selected Web-based forms the customer has complete. All the information can be converged to the call center&#39;s customer relationship management system using only ANI caller identification data provided automatically by the Internet-to-PSTN gateway employed to provide Voice over Internet service, which can then be correlated with other information delivered through the Internet CM to the customer relationship management system. 
     Providing Customer Data for CRM Purposes Using ANI Information Delivered by Conventional Telephone 
     For a call center  103  that has only a conventional telephonic connection to receive an incoming Voice over IP call delivered via a customer&#39;s web browser, the gateway-supplied ANI caller identification number is used as a key to tie the call to a particular user session on the Web. For example, a customer accessing an airline&#39;s web site might “click to call” and establish a connection to a call center agent who uses a mainframe-based 3270 terminal or a client/server multimedia customer terminal device without a web browser to book reservations. The ANI caller identification number is associated with the PSTN gateway, not the customer&#39;s own telephone. However, the customer information can be supplied through a web server than establishes the correlation between a customer session on the airline&#39;s web page, any customer information stored on the customer&#39;s multimedia customer terminal device T 1  (such as cookies), any information maintained on the airline&#39;s or third party web servers, and the phone connection established by the customer using the Voice over IP service. 
     To make this process work, the Voice over IP service must maintain a database that links each active telephone session, in near real-time, to the originating multimedia customer terminal device T 1  as identified by a URL or IP address. A web server linked to this database can upload information from the customer&#39;s web browser (including cookies and referring web page). The browser-based information, for example, might identify the multimedia customer terminal device T 1  as possibly belonging to a customer with a frequent flyer membership that entitles the customer to a specific class of service. It might also indicate that the customer is currently looking at the airline&#39;s special offer for vacation packages in Aruba. This information, along with session history information collected from the airline&#39;s own web server, can be posted to database system accessible to the airline&#39;s customer relationship management system. 
     Using a set of application programming interfaces, the airlines&#39; customer relationship management system could determine that the call was originating from a Voice over IP service (by looking up the ANI caller identification number which is linked to the PSTN gateway) and check the Voice over IP service&#39;s call posting database to collect the available customer data. This data could be secured by only permitting the airline, for example, to access data from call sessions that were initiated from their own web pages. 
     This process could be combined with the process described for “pushing” web pages back to the customer browser to simulated a collaborative browsing experience, even though the call center agent may not have direct access to the World Wide Web and is not necessarily even using a browser-based application. 
     Summary 
     The universal Internet based telephony system provides the following benefits: 
     1. The universal Internet based telephony system gives portal access to an Internet telephony network from anywhere on the Internet, thereby allowing customers to place calls over the Internet from any location, using any multi-media resident personal computer. In addition, new customers can create their own accounts dynamically without the need for complex subscription processes, since the Internet telephony call can be billed back to the customer through the Internet Service provider or a pre-existing long distance account. 
     2. WEB page owners, Internet Service Providers and other portal sites can resell Internet telephony services without having the equipment to implement the process. The WEB site URL is transmitted to the Internet telephony server to identify the source of the telephone call, thereby simplifying the billing process. 
     3. The transmitted URLs can be correlated to identify the calling and browsing patterns of individual customers, thereby creating a customer profile. 
     4. Customers can continue to browse on the Internet while using universal Internet based telephony system.