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Portable voip service access moduleRelated Patent Categories: Multiplex Communications, Pathfinding Or Routing, Combined Circuit Switching And Packet SwitchingPortable voip service access module description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20070248081, Portable voip service access module. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/US 2005/037790 entitled, filed Oct. 20, 2005, which is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 10/972,726, flied Oct. 25, 2004, which is a continuation in part of application Ser. No. 10/969,516 filed Oct. 20, 2004. The 10/969,516 and the 10/972,726 applications are incorporated herein in their entirety for all purposes. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] Embodiments of the present invention are generally directed to enabling digital telephony and more particularly to systems and methods for providing digital telephone services via a portable media. [0003] Packet switched networks (PSNs), most notably the Internet, have become increasingly accessible on a worldwide scale. Digital telephony service offers the promise of relatively inexpensive and feature-rich telephone service to users of PSNs. [0004] One form of digital telephony, voice over Internet protocol or "VoIP," has attracted significant market attention. A typical VoIP environment comprises a telephone that is connected to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The ADC converts analog voice signal from a plain old telephone (POT) phone and converts it into a compressed audio data stream. The ADC may be a standalone device that is connected to a computing device (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a personal digital assistant) or a component of a computing device (e.g., a sound card). [0005] The computing device runs a software client (sometimes referred to as a "soft-phone client"). The softphone client presents the user a graphical interface that provides access to various telephone functions, for example, dialing, answering machine, call log, and number directory. The soft-phone client generates telephone-signaling information and converts the signaling information and compressed audio stream into packets. The soft-phone client may also use the sound card of the computer to provide two-way voice communication thereby dispensing with the need for the POT. [0006] The softphone clients typically use the session initiation protocol (SIP) to establish call "sessions." The softphone client also comprises one more audio compression codecs. Having more codecs allows the audio compression scheme to optimally utilize the network bandwidth. [0007] What would be useful is a portable digital telephone softphone access module that may be operated from a computing device without significant reconfiguration of the operating system of the computing device. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0008] In an embodiment of the present invention, a digital telephony softphone access module comprises a softphone client installed on a portable memory device (PMD). The softphone client is installed in its own read-only partition. The softphone client is adapted to autorun from the PMD when the PMD is connected to a computing device and to load an instance of the softphone client in the volatile memory of the computing device. Use of the VSAM is protected by a login process that is known in the art. [0009] In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the digital telephony service is a VoIP service and the digital telephony softphone access module is a VoIP softphone access module (VSAM). When used with a computing device comprising a duplex audio system with analog-to-digital conversion and an Internet connection, the VSAM permits a VoIP service subscriber to send and receive VoIP telephone calls. [0010] While embodiments of the present invention will be described in terms of a VoIP service, the present invention is not so limited. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, a softphone access module used in conjunction with other digital telephony services provided over a packet network are within the scope of the present invention. [0011] In an embodiment of the present invention, the PMD further comprises read/write memory that is accessible to the computing device. In this embodiment, the read/write memory comprises a telephone directory file and user preference information file. When the softphone client is loaded, the VSAM locates the files and loads the directory and user preference information into the volatile memory of the computing device. [0012] In an alternate embodiment of the present invention, softphone client resides on a CD. The softphone client is installed in a closed session. The softphone client is adapted to autorun from the CD ROM when the CD is inserted in an appropriate reader and to load an instance of the softphone client in the volatile memory of the computing device. In yet another embodiment of the present invention the softphone client resides on a mini-disk (MD). [0013] It is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide a VoIP service subscriber with a portable VSAM that may be operated from different computing devices. It is another aspect of the present invention to load a softphone client from a portable VSAM into the volatile memory of a computing device when the VSAM is connected to the computing device. [0014] It is still another aspect of the present invention to unload the softphone client if the portable VSAM is disconnected from the computing device. [0015] It is another aspect of the present invention to account for usage of the softphone from a central location. [0016] It is an aspect of the present invention to provide a VoIP subscriber a VSAM comprising pre-paid softphone usage credits. [0017] It is still another aspect of the present invention to allow a subscriber using a VSAM with pre-paid softphone usage to add additional softphone usage credits to the VSAM. [0018] It is yet another aspect of the present invention to permit a subscriber to add additional softphone usage credits to a VSAM from a home computer and a retailer computer. [0019] It is another aspect of the present invention to permit a subscriber to add additional softphone usage credits to a VSAM from a telephone. [0020] It is an aspect of the present invention to integrate a VSAM with a USB headset. Continue reading about Portable voip service access module... Full patent description for Portable voip service access module Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Portable voip service access module patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. 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