Comcast IP Holdings I, LLC

Hewlett-packard Development Company, L.p.

Hewlett-packard Company

Cegetel Groupe

Nicolas Bouthors

Colin Andrew Low

Andrew Franklin Seaborne

Nicolas Raguideau

Ulf Beyschlag

David Penkler

Service resource items for use in call setup in a telephone system are held on servers that are connected to a computer network which is logically distinct from the telephone system infrastructure; this computer network may, for example, make use of the Internet. Each service item is locatable on the network at a corresponding URI and is associated with a particular telephone number. A mapping is provided between telephone numbers and the URIs of associated service resource items. When it is desired to access a service resource item associated with a particular telephone number, this mapping is used to retrieve the corresponding URI which is then used to access the desired service resource item.

Method for accessing service resource items that are for use in a telecommunications system

Method and apparatus for accessing service resource items that are for use in a telecommunications system

Method and apparatus for accessing communication data relevant to a target entity identified by a number string

Service resource items () for use in call setup in a telephone system are held on servers () that are connected to a computer network which is logically distinct from the telephone system infrastructure; this computer network may, for example, make use of the Internet. Each service item () is locatable on the network at a corresponding URI and is associated with a particular telephone number. A mapping is provided between telephone numbers and the URIs of associated service resource items. When it is desired to access a service resource item () associated with a particular telephone number, this mapping is used to retrieve the corresponding URI (step) which is then used to access the desired service resource item ().

Service resource items () for use in call setup in a telephone system are held on servers () that are connected to a computer network which is logically distinct from the telephone system infrastructure, this computer network may, for example, make use of the Internet. Each service resource item () is locatable on the network at a corresponding URI and is associated with a particular telephone number. A mapping is provided between telephone numbers and the URIs of associated service resource items. When it is desired to access a service resource item () associated with a particular telephone number, this mapping is used to retrieve the corresponding URI (step) which is then used to access the desired service resource item ().

The invention concerns payment for transmission and/or service operations within a data packet transmission network () (improvement in payment token technology). According to the invention, between the source unit (S) and the destination unit (D), at least one node is used as a cache node (NC) and also behaves like a debit node. It includes a debit gateway (PD) modifying the payment token assigned to each data packet received, so as to reduce the initial value of the payment token, by an amount representing the cost of the at least one cache operation carried out, for the packet received, by the cache node. A manager of said at least one cache node receives from the toll center, for each packet received during the session, the financial settlement of the representative amount and restores it to a manager of said at least one replaced unit or node, or allows a manager of said at least one replaced unit or node to receive the financial settlement directly.

Payment process and system for transmission and/or service operations within a data packet transmission network

Service resource items () for use in call setup in a telephone system are held on servers () that are connected to a computer network which is logically distinct from the telephone system infrastructure; this computer network may, for example, make use of the Internet. Each service resource item () is locatable on the network at a corresponding URI and is associated with a particular telephone number. A mapping is provided between telephone numbers and the URIs of associated service resource items. When it is desired to access a service resource item () associated with a particular telephone number, this mapping is used to retrieve the corresponding URI (step) which is then used to access the desired service resource item ().

Method and apparatus for determining a telephone number for accessing a target entity

A third-party call setup gateway ( ) is provided for setting up bearer channels ( ) through a switched telecommunications system, such as a PSTN, by controlling an associated switch ( ). The call setup gateway ( ) has an interface onto a computer network, such as the Internet, that is accessible to users of the telecommunications system. In a preferred arrangement, a user A wishing to place a call to user B gets the details of B's current telephone number from a &ldquo;phone page&rdquo; ( ) on B's website and then sends this telephone number together with A's own telephone number, to the gateway ( ). The gateway ( ) then commands the switch ( ) to establish a call between A's telephone and B's telephone.

Call setup gateway for telecommunications system

A method of accessing service resource items for use in setting up bearer channels through a switched telecommunications system including the step of provisioning one or more servers connected to a computer network with a plurality of service resource items that are located with corresponding known URIs. The computer network is logically distinct from a telecommunications system and the service resource items relate to setup control for bearer channels through the telecommunications system. Each of the service resource items is associated with a respective predetermined code. The predetermined codes are distinct from the URIs and identify end-point entities for the bearer channels. The method also includes providing a mapping between the predetermined codes and the known URI of the service resource item associated with its predetermined code. The method further includies utilizing the predetermined codes to access service resource items by using the mapping to determine the URI corresponding to that resource item and then using the URI to access the service resource item.

Method of accessing service resource items that are for use in a telecommunications system

Traditional Intelligent network services in a PSTN use service logic and data that is accessible for use only by the PSTN, though provision may be made for users to change certain controlled parameters of the services. The present system has the service logic and data placed on a server accessible over the Internet. This permits anyone to access useful telephone data such as time-of-day routing or diversion number information of a user. Thus a calling party can determine before placing a call over the PSTN the best number to call by accessing the phone page of the intended called party. This phone page would remain accessible to the PSTN for service provision. In a preferred embodiment, the service logic and data is maintained by the user independently of the PSTN on a server of the user's choice; in this case, the PSTN would also access the user's server logic and data over the Internet.

Method of providing telecommunication services

Content items (,) are held on Internet servers (,) with each item being locatable at a corresponding URI and having an associated identifying number (&ldquo;,&rdquo;) that can be input using a telephone keypad. A PSTN is provided with an intelligent peripheal (,) that has connectivity with the Internet (,). To access a particular content item (,), a telephone user (A) inputs a service designator code (&ldquo;,&rdquo;) followed by the identifying number (&ldquo;,&rdquo;) of the required content item (,). The intelligent peripheral (,) translates the input identifying number to the URI of the required item. This URI is then used by the intelligent peripheral (,) to retrieve the required content item and deliver it to the telephone user (A), typically as a speech rendition of the item.

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Les Bealires, France

Nicolas Bouthors