Metaswitch Networks Limited

Other

Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Data Connection Limited

Paul John Brittain

Martin Taylor

Andrew John Tylee

Nicolas Peter Everard Weeds

Chris Mairs

Peter Louis White

Calum Sutherland Loudon

Colin Michael Dancer

David William Maxwell Reekie

Adam Paul Shepherd

Benjamin Mark Simon Kenneth Miller

A site network service (SNS) design is deployed in a computing system. A network function (NF) design is received and transferred to a data store. A network service (NS) design is generated that includes a reference to a NF design from the data store and a NS configuration including information for partially configuring the referenced NF design. The NS design is transferred to the data store. A SNS design is deployed that includes a reference to the NS design from the data store and a SNS configuration.

Site network service design

A virtualized computing environment of a telecommunications network comprises a cluster of virtual machines with a one-to-one ratio of active and backup virtual machines. One or more additional clusters of virtual machines have a N-to-K ratio of active and backup virtual machines where N&#x3e;K. The backup virtual machines are configured to provide failover capacity for processing communications sessions in an event of a failure of one of the active virtual machines. A cluster redundancy capability indicates the ratio of the active and backup virtual machines for that cluster. A predetermined type associated with a requested communication session is determined. A cluster having a cluster redundancy capability corresponding to the predetermined type is selected. Data for the requested communication session is sent to an active virtual machine in the selected cluster.

Processing communication sessions

Methods, apparatus and computer program products for processing signaling information for telephone call attempts in a packet-based telephony service. An overload protection node is introduced to protect a signaling node from an overload of signaling information for telephone call attempts. A characteristic of signaling information for telephone call attempts in the packet-based telephony service is monitored by the overload protection node and on the basis of the monitored characteristic, the overload protection node processes signaling information for telephone call attempts according to one of a number of different modes of operation. A mode of operation may involve transmitting signaling information for a call attempt to the signaling node or selecting one or more call attempts at the overload protection node for the purpose of reducing overload in the signaling node.

Telephone call processing method and apparatus

A method and apparatus for establishing a communication session with a user in a telecommunications network. The session is to be established between a remote device and one of a plurality of communication clients. Each of the clients is on a user device at which the user may participate in the session. A communication session control system located in a signalling path for the session transmits a session establishment request to a given client to place that client in a prior-to-answer session state. In response, the system receives a request from that client that the option to establish the session with the remote device be made available to at least one client of the plurality of clients other than the given client. The system transmits notification data to the at least one other client to notify that the session is available for retrieval by the at least one other client.

Establishing communication sessions

Processing an incoming request message and transmitting outgoing request messages to telephony devices located in various different geographic regions of a telephony system are provided. The telephony devices include at least one group of potential recipient telephony devices. A group of potential recipient devices include mobile telephony devices that can move between the various different geographic regions. An incoming request message comprising a telephony party identifier is received. The telephony party identifier is recognized as a telephony party identifier to be subject to location-based processing. A subgroup, including a plurality of potential recipient telephony devices currently within one or more target geographic regions associated with the recognized telephony party identifier, of the group of potential recipient telephony devices is determined. An outgoing request message is transmitted to each of a plurality of different telephony party identifiers, each being associated with a different potential recipient telephony device in the subgroup.

Message processing

A method and apparatus for processing telephone calls in a packet-based telephony service is disclosed. A store of telephone party identifiers is maintained for multi-service users having access to the packet-based telephony service and an alternate telephony service. Incoming signaling information for telephone calls in the packet-based telephony service is monitored and outgoing signaling information may be altered with reference to the store. An alteration may involve replacing telephony party identification data associated with one telephony service for telephony party identification data associated with another telephony service. The invention allows a multi-service user to be consistently identified by other telephony users by a single telephony party identifier instead of one telephony party identifier for each service they subscribe to. Further, a multi-service user can be identified at the call destination by a single telephony party identifier, irrespective of which telephony service is used to make the call.

Embodiments of the present invention, include provision of enhanced telephony services for telephone calls received at local telephone exchange switches which do not themselves support identification of enhanced telephony service users and the associated triggering to initiate the provision of enhanced telephony services. Using a supported number portability mechanism, local telephone exchange switches allow provision of enhanced telephony services.

Telephone call processing

In a fault-tolerant system employing software fault-tolerance techniques, the identifiers used for control blocks or objects referenced on an interface between two co-operating partner software processes either require resynchronization after fail over of one or both of the partners or impose unwanted performance impacts on normal operation of the system. Replicated handles enhance the techniques currently used in such systems to avoid both the need for resynchronization and other potential performance impacts of the prior art.

Replicated control block handles for fault-tolerant computer systems

When updating a running program in a system that uses a one-to-one backup program, fault-tolerance is lost while the backup program is itself being updated. To overcome this temporary loss of an available backup program, the number of backup copies of a software process is temporarily and dynamically increased during the software upgrade. The extra backup software processes may run on an unused processing unit or may run as an extra software process on a processing unit which is already performing a task. The technique may be applied to communication line cards.

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Chester, United Kingdom

Paul John Brittain