System and method for managing multimedia communications across convergent networks

摘要

A method and device that interrogates the availability of a called party before placing a communication from the calling party to the called party. A callback may be initiated so that both communications are completed simultaneously. The routing of communication may take place through any one of a number of different networks and at another time of the day, even if the caller does not otherwise have access to those networks.

主权项

1. A method for communication between two access devices via one or more networks, comprising the steps:
receiving a transmission in a first format through a first communication network from a first access device of a calling party, the transmission comprising a signaling message for one of establishing and transmitting voice communication for a phone call in one of a digital telephone network, an analog telephone network, and a cellular network from the calling party to a called party; performing a first conversion converting the transmission from the first format to a second format, the second format being Internet protocol (IP); sending the converted transmission through a second communication network, the second communication network being a data network, for reception by a second access device of the called party, performing a second conversion further converting the converted transmission from the second format to a further format suitable for the second access device, wherein each respective one of the first access device and the second access device comprises one of a telephone, a pager, a cellular phone, a laptop, a facsimile machine, and a multimedia workstation and said further format comprises said first format or another telecommunication protocol, and optimizing routing of a multimedia communication between access devices, the optimizing including: determining, by a control node, a quality of each IP network of a plurality of IP networks connected to the control node; creating, by the control node, a quality matrix including the determined quality for the each IP network; setting up, by the control node, a media session between an originating access device and a receiving access device across a plurality of communications networks having different communications protocols including Internet protocol (IP); and upon successful setup of the media session, routing by the control node the multimedia communication between the originating and receiving access devices along a select path through at least a portion of one of the IP networks based on the quality matrix.