Source: http://patents.com/us-20170295092.html
Timestamp: 2018-07-15 19:51:23
Document Index: 271181621

Matched Legal Cases: ['application No. 61', 'application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61', 'Application No. 61']

Application # 2017/0295092. METHOD FOR ROUTING IN A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER - Patents.com
United States Patent Application 20170295092
Broadworth; Andrew James ; et al. October 12, 2017
Inventors: Broadworth; Andrew James; (Thornton, CO) ; Behmlander; Darren James; (White Lake, MI) ; Uzelac; Adam C.; (Rochester, NY)
Family ID: 1000002752764
Appl. No.: 15/632776
14930644 Nov 2, 2015 9692798
13708659 Dec 7, 2012 9178918
Current CPC Class: H04L 45/44 20130101; H04L 65/1069 20130101; H04L 47/15 20130101; H04L 12/1813 20130101
International Class: H04L 12/721 20060101 H04L012/721; H04L 12/801 20060101 H04L012/801; H04L 12/18 20060101 H04L012/18
1. A method of designating a master conferencing routing server from a plurality of collaboration routing servers, the method comprising: receiving a first total number of conference bridges to which a first collaboration conferencing routing server of the plurality of collaboration conferencing routing servers is locally connected and at least one other collaboration conferencing routing server of the plurality of collaboration conferencing routing servers is locally connected; receiving a second total number of conference bridges to which a second collaboration conferencing routing server of the plurality of collaboration conferencing routing servers is locally connected and at least one other collaboration conferencing routing server of the plurality of collaboration conferencing routing servers is locally connected; and designating the master conferencing routing server from the plurality of collaboration routing servers based on the highest of the first total and the second total.
[0001] This application is a divisional of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/930,644 titled "METHOD FOR ROUTING IN A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER," filed on Nov. 2, 2015, and is hereby incorporated by reference herein. application Ser. No. 14/930,644 is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 13/708,659 titled "METHOD FOR ROUTING IN A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER," filed on Dec. 7, 2012 (issued on Nov. 3, 21015 as U.S. Pat. No. 9,178,918), and is hereby incorporated by reference herein. application Ser. No. 13/708,659 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) to provisional patent application No. 61/584,115 titled "CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVICE" and provisional patent application No. 61/584,122 titled "CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVICE," both filed on Jan. 6, 2012 and both of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein. application Ser. No. 13/708,659 claims priority under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/578,794 entitled "SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION", U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/578,798 entitled "SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION", U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/578,803 entitled "SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION", U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/578,807 entitled "SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION" and U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/578,810 entitled "SIP-BASED VOIP COLLABORATION" all filed on Dec. 21, 2011 and each of which is incorporated by reference in their entirety herein. In addition, this application is related to co-owned U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/708,636 titled "CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER," (Attorney Docket No. 0408-US-U1), co-owned U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/708,678 titled "LOAD BALANCING IN A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER," (Attorney Docket No. 0408-US-U3) and co-owned U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 13/708,689 titled "DISASTER RECOVERY WITH A CENTRAL CONFERENCING ROUTING SERVER," (Attorney Docket No. 0408-US-U4), each of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.
[0010] FIG. 3A is a flowchart of a method for the CCRS of the network 102 to receive a request from one or more participants to join a collaboration session and route the participants to the proper conference bridge
[0033] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary conference bridge device that may be utilized in the network configuration 100 of FIG. 1. The conference bridge 202 comprises an application server 208 and a digital signal processing (DSP) component 206. In general, the application server 208 of the conference bridge 204 communicates with one or more applications of the network to establish the collaboration conference. In addition, for SIP-based or other IP-based conference bridges, the bridge may include a network interface unit 210. In general, the application server 208 includes one or more applications that can be executed by the conference bridge 202 to perform many of the functions described herein for the conference bridge. In addition, the conference bridge 202 may include a network interface unit 210 for receiving information and/or instructions from the network 202 to route and connect a collaboration conference communication for that particular bridge. The network interface unit 210 connects to the media gateway 133 of FIG. 1 or connects directly to the core of the network 100 to receive the communications of the participants and connects each participant to each other to establish the collaboration conference. The network interface unit 210 may also initiate one or more of the applications stored in the application server for execution by the conference bridge. In general, the conference bridge 202 may receive a request from the network to connect a requester with a hosted conference. The request may be received through a signaling protocol, such as through a SIP-based communication. In response, the application server 208 may provision one or more ports for connection to the requester's communication. The app server 208 may then signal to the network 102 that the ports are available, at which point the data or audio portion of the communication may be routed to an available port in the conference bridge 202. In this manner, the handshaking between the network and the conference bridge 202 may occur over the signaling plane of the IP-based protocol separate from the data or audio portion of the communication request. A more detailed description of the method through which a request is routed to a conference bridge 202 is included below with reference to FIG. 3A.
[0034] Returning to FIG. 1, the network 100 may be utilized by one or more participants to a collaboration or conferencing communication hosted on a conference bridge 142, 144. In particular, FIG. 3A is a flowchart of a method for the CCRS of the network 102 to receive a request from one or more participants to join a collaboration session and route the participants to the proper conference bridge 142, 144 through which the collaboration is hosted. In general, the operations described in relation to the flowchart of FIG. 3A are performed by one or more components of the CCRS 140 as part of the telecommunications network 102.
[0035] Beginning with operation 302, a participant to a conference communication may dial into the conference using a telephonic device 110, 115 and/or 120. In particular, the participant may dial a conference number and/or enter a conference code to access the collaboration conference. The media gateway 130, 132 or other switching device routes the request from the participant to the CCRS 140 through the network 102. In FIG. 1, the request is illustrated by the dashed line between the media gateway 130, 132 and the CCRS 140. As should be appreciated, in some IP networks, the request may be routed to the CCRS 140 on a signaling plane and does not include the audio portion of the communication. The request is then received by the CCRS 140, as indicated by operation 302 of FIG. 3A.
[0061] In one embodiment, the CCRS may be located in different geographic locations, such that CCRS A 602 may be located in Denver, CO, CCRS B 604 may be located in Minneapolis, MN and CCRS C 606 may be located in London, England, for example. In general, the CCRS 602-606 of the system 600 may be located in any geographic location the telecommunications network through which the CCRS operates is located. Further, each CCRS 602-606 of the system 600 may communicate with the other CCRS devices within the system, as shown in FIG. 6 through CCRS communication lines 618. Through these CCRS communication lines 618, the CCRS 602-606 can exchange information concerning the routing and handling of the collaboration conferences. The CCRS communication lines 618 may be included as a portion of or may be separate from the telecommunications network.
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