VoIP has radically changed the way businesses communicate today. VoIP connections allow businesses to conduct voice calls over all over the world while avoiding the costly long-distance and international fees associated with traditional landlines. But VoIP doesn’t simply replace wirelines as a way to make phone calls—VoIP allows for mobile communication from a wide range of wireless devices, and comes with a host of additional features such as voice and video conference calls.
But while VoIP is revolutionizing business, the technology itself continues to evolve. This week, Vonage (News - Alert) Holdings Corp., which provides communication services through cloud-connected devices worldwide, announced that it was granted four new patents this month by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). All four patents are intended to improve or enhance VoIP communication in some way. And while four patents in one month may sound like a lot, Vonage has actually been granted 24 U.S. patents so far this year, bringing its current U.S. patent total to 61 overall, with 249 more patent applications pending.
Two of the patents will improve the VoIP experience from the user end. The first patent approved this month is called "Systems and Methods of Conducting Conference Calls," which pertains to a feature that will allow users to switch their phones to conference mode so that incoming calls are automatically added to a conference call. The next patent, called "Systems and Methods for Enabling Data Communications (News - Alert) to a Telephony Device," will offer a way for mobile devices using VoIP to maintain a connection when the user is not on a call, while conserving battery life to increase VoIP reliability.
The other two patents awarded this month will go towards making things easier for business VoIP providers. The "Systems and Methods of Improving the Quality of VoIP Communications" patent will create a feature allowing VoIP operators to detect when a subscriber's device may be having difficulty registering with its network. This feature includes the ability to instruct the device in question to reboot itself to correct the problem. With the final patent, "Method and Apparatus for Performing Network Registration," VoIP operators will be able to collaborate with the operators of other systems—like social networking platforms or Wi-Fi hotspot networks—to determine VoIP users’ current IP addresses… even if the VoIP users are not connected to that particular provider’s network at the time.
Vonage hopes that these patents will improve the experience of both the operator providing VoIP services, and of the business end-users taking advantage of the technology.
Edited by Maurice Nagle