Abstract:
The present invention is directed to the maintenance of call signaling information in connection with realtime communications established using a packet data network. According to the present invention, call state information related to a realtime communication is provided by a call controller to an interconnected client. The client stores the call state information. In the event of a failure of a call signaling channel between the call controller and the client or in the event of a failure of the call controller, the client may establish contact with an alternate call controller, and may provide the call state information that has been stored on the client to the alternate call controller. The alternate call controller may then restore call features associated with the realtime communication.
Abstract:
A hybrid coaxial cable network employing interdiction to ensure privacy in telephony communications. The video and telephony signals are secured such that telephony and interactive video signals to and from a subscriber do not appear on the network at any other undesired subscriber location.
Abstract:
A hybrid coaxial cable network employing interdiction to ensure privacy in telephony communications. The video and telephony signals are secured such that telephony and interactive video signals to and from a subscriber do not appear on the network at any other undesired subscriber location.
Abstract:
A method for managing transmission lines within a communication system which enables the automatic restoration of network access for user lines. The communication system includes user lines interfaced with groups of transmission lines and each group of transmission lines includes dedicated transmission lines which are connected to the user lines, idle transmission lines and reserved transmission lines. The method makes a number of idle transmission lines among the groups of transmission lines available for coupling by user lines which have a dedicated transmission line in a group of transmission lines that fails. The method determines the minimum number of transmission lines to be reserved by a comparison of the numbers of certain types of transmission lines in the different groups.
Abstract:
An alarm system includes plural customer sites and first and second alarm monitoring stations. Each customer site has an alarm communicator for calling a monitoring station and transmitting an alarm message. The first and second monitoring stations are provided for receiving the alarm message through a telecommunications network. Each monitoring station includes an alarm processor system for processing the alarm message. Alternate routing in the network allows an alarm call to be rerouted from the first monitoring station to the second central monitoring station if the alarm call to the first station cannot be completed.
Abstract:
A video telephone system which automatically switches during a normally operating communicating function to a minimum voice signal and a sub-power source when a master power source fails, and automatically switches back to the normally operating communicating function when the failure is remedied. The system includes first CODEC equipment which encodes a voice signal input from voice input-output equipment, and outputs various signals. Image pickup equipment receives an image signal and display equipment displays the image signal. The first CODEC equipment, the image pickup equipment and the display equipment function as voice and image signal encoding and decoding equipment. Second CODEC equipment encodes an input voice signal from the voice input-output equipment and outputs various signals. Line control equipment selectively outputs a signal input from the first or second CODECs for controlling switching of the first and second CODECs to the transmission path. Switching control equipment inputs a signal indicating the condition of the master power source, outputs a control signal in accordance with the input signal, and automatically controls voice communication by switching the first and second CODECs if the master power source fails.
Abstract:
A programmable telecommunications switch has automatic backup of line cards to provide complete redundancy. The switch has I/O cards which terminate the external telecommunications spans. Each I/O card passes the data from its spans to a line card. When the line card fails, the I/O card switches the data onto an I/O bus which is connected to a standby I/O card. The standby I/O card switches a standby line card into connection with the I/O bus such that the data stream is then serviced by the standby line card. The failed line card may then be removed and replaced. All I/O cards are attached to the I/O bus such that redundancy for all active line cards using the same signalling protocol is provided with a single standby line card. With multiple I/O busses, standby I/O cards and standby line cards, multiple redundancy is possible. Finally, the failure of a single line module of a line card may be handled by switching only the span serviced by that module to a standby line card. Spans from different I/O cards may be serviced by different line modules of a single standby line card, and may be all connected to the same standby line card by the same bus.
Abstract:
In an automatic call distribution (ACD) system having a plurality of client systems and at least one host server system, the host server system for conducting transactions in real time, a method is provided for creating and reporting data substantially synchronously with other data and in substantial real-time with events which generate the data wherein at the host server system requests are handled and translated directly into executable machine code containing all knowledge needed to execute the request as a query as if the query were directed to a relational database, a query in real-time interaction is used to access data in shared memory of the host server system and report information, typically status information related to transactions of interest, to the requesting client system. Method and apparatus are provided for mapping between the logical view of shared memory and the physical structure of shared memory wherein in the form of a data access module which provides a function to execute for each field in the logical view of shared memory. These functions can return a value from shared memory or can return a value based on calculations on data in shared memory. A database manager module is employed to monitor data in a static database and to provide relevant information to shared memory for access by the data access module, so that the data access module need not access the static database directly.
Abstract:
A mail center management system includes a first network accommodating a plurality of subscriber terminals via lines, and a plurality of mail devices connected to the first network. Each of the mail devices, which has a device number and subscriber information about all the subscriber terminals, includes a storage medium for storing mails received from the subscriber terminals. A second network connects the mail devices to each other and transfers the mails between the mail devices. Each of the mail devices includes a first part for determining whether a request to transfer from a first one of the subscriber terminals to a second one of the subscriber terminals includes a subscriber number of the second one of the subscriber terminals or the device number of one of the mail devices together with the subscriber number. Further, each of the mail devices includes a second part for storing, via the second network, the mail in the storage medium of one of the mail devices to which the first and second ones of the subscriber terminals are connected when the first means determines that the request includes no device number and for storing, via the first and second networks, the mail in the storage medium of one of the mail devices to which the second one of the mail devices is connected when the first means determines that the request includes the device number together with the subscriber number.
Abstract:
Contemporary communication systems must have extremely high availability and malfunctioning equipment must be repaired and replaced as quickly as possible. To this end, optical displays are provided for all equipment. An optical display is driven in case of malfunction as a function of the results provided by a fault procedure, whereby the drive of the optical display displays current information indicating the permissibility and necessity of equipment replacement. The advantages of this procedure are fast repair of the fault and enhanced availability of the communication system.