The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 15, 2002
Filed:
Nov. 06, 1998
Seyhan Civanlar, Middletown Township, Monmouth County, NJ (US);
Don Richard Coffield, Locust, NJ (US);
William J. Leighton, III, Scotch Plains, NJ (US);
James J. Mansell, Fair Haven, NJ (US);
Vikram R. Saksena, Freehold, NJ (US);
AT&T Corp., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
In one embodiment of the invention, an apparatus is provided for establishing a communication session between first and second terminals in communication over a plurality of networks that employ differing transmission standards. The plurality of networks are selected from among a circuit switched network (e.g., a telephony network), a connectionless packet switched network (e.g., the Internet) and a connection-oriented packet switched network (e.g., an ATM or frame relay network). The apparatus includes a call set-up translator for translating among call set-up protocols associated with the circuit switched network, the connectionless packet switched network and the connection-oriented packet switched network. An encoding format translator is provided for translating among encoding protocols associated with the circuit switched network, the connectionless packet switched network and the connection-oriented packet switched network. Also provided is an address database for storing a plurality of addresses in different formats for each registered terminal, which includes the first and second terminals. The apparatus also includes a session manager for storing control information relating to the first and second terminals. The control information includes an identification of the first and second terminals that participate in the communication session.