James D Gossett

US Patent:

6426955, Jul 30, 2002

Filed:

Sep 16, 1998

Appl. No.:

09/154564

Inventors:

James Pleasant Gossett Dalton, Jr. - Atlanta GA
Alcina de Figueiredo Dalton - Atlanta GA
Stephen Anthony Thomas - Marietta GA
Maria Osterholt Cown - Austell GA
Rich Carroll Vaughn - Roswell GA
Pawel Szczerbina - Atlanta GA
Brian Keith Lovette - Duluth GA

Assignee:

Transnexus, Inc. - Atlanta GA

International Classification:

H04L 1228

US Classification:

370401, 370352, 379133, 379114

Abstract:

The present invention discloses a centralized routing engine that is able to assist gateways in making routing decisions for calls being placed in an IP network environment. Types of calls include voice, fax, video, etc. The routing engine provides significant flexibility to the gateways by allowing the gateways to designate preferences that define operational limits or requirements. A source gateway operator may set preferences such as the maximum price that is willing to be paid for a call, the maximum delay that will be tolerated and the maximum autonomous system hop count that will be tolerated. A destination gateway operator is likely only to be concerned with setting price schedules as preferences. Gateway operators may also set âpreference criteria,â which define the circumstances in which a certain set of preferences is to be applied. Based on preferences and preference criteria, the routing engine is able to locate destination gateways that are eligible to terminate a voice over telephony IP call.