Stumble It!
The
text below is from the abstract of the AT&T patent in question. It
seems to me that the abstract describes virtually all VoIP systems; not
just Vonage’s. I’m continually amazed at how ambiguous patents can be.
I think I’ll file a patent for ToIP (Telepathy Over IP). Someday,
someone will create a money making service based on the concept and
when they do, I’ll sue their butts!
A
packet telephone system which employs a packet network that provides
virtual circuits. The packet telephone system employs short packets
containing compressed speech. The use of the short packets makes
possible compression and decompression times and bounded delays in the
virtual circuits which are together short enough to permit toll-quality
telephone service.
The packet
telephone system employs an intelligent network interface unit to
interface between the packet network and standard telephone devices.
The network interface unit does the speech compression and
decompression and also responds to control packets from the packet
network. Consequently, many telephone system features can be
implemented in the network interface unit instead of in the switches.
The
network interface unit may also be used to provide data connections to
devices attached to it. The combination of virtual circuits, with
bounded delays, short packets, rapid compression and decompression, and
intelligent network interface units makes it possible to build a
telephone system with fewer and cheaper switches and fewer links for a
given volume of traffic than heretofore possible and also permits
substantial savings in provisioning and maintaining the system.
Rick McCharles
Telecom Consultant, Toronto
