Patents by Inventor Dana A. Johnston

Dana A. Johnston has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 10819856
    Abstract: Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 27, 2020
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Claudia M. Combellas, Adam C. Uzelac, Michael F. Robles
  • Patent number: 10735553
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing services to customers or other users of a telecommunications network through implementation of one or more micro-services instantiated on the network. Through the micro-services, one or more of the processes or functions used to provide the services from the network may be separately located logically within the network, thereby divorcing such processes from dedicated service components of the network. The breaking apart of the processes to be instantiated within the network on a generic computing device of the network, otherwise known as “micro-services”, allows the telecommunications to adjust or scale the available services in response to operating conditions of the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2017
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Adam C. Uzelac, Claudia M. Combellas
  • Publication number: 20200186650
    Abstract: Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 18, 2020
    Publication date: June 11, 2020
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Claudia M. Combellas, Adam C. Uzelac, Michael F. Robles
  • Patent number: 10574831
    Abstract: Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Claudia M. Combellas, Adam C. Uzelac, Michael F. Robles
  • Patent number: 10575366
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing disaster routing of particular communications through a telecommunications network during a network outage. The disaster routing may ensure that communications from a particular source or to a particular destination are connected to the destination even during times when portions of the network may be inoperable. In one particular embodiment, the disaster routing may be performed for emergency communications received at the network and connected to one or more emergency services configured to receive the emergency communication. However, the disaster routing mechanisms and techniques described herein may be applied or available to any type of communication from any source or customer to the telecommunications network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 25, 2020
    Assignee: LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana A. Johnston, Adam C. Uzelac, David A. Tschirhart
  • Patent number: 10536468
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for identifying and mitigating attacks on a voice component of a telecommunications network. In general, the process includes obtaining Layer 3 through Layer 7 transmission information from one or more edge devices to the telecommunications network. In one particular embodiment, a plurality of edge devices (also referred to herein as “session border controllers” or SBCs) is included in the telecommunications network in disparate geographical locations. Each SBC may provide Layer 3 through Layer 7 transmission information for each packet or communication transmitted through the SBC to a local database, which in turn may provide the information to a Central Analysis System or database. In one particular embodiment, the Layer 3 through Layer 7 information includes Session Initiation Protocol routing information for the communications sent to each of the SBCs of the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 14, 2020
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Clyde David Cooper, III
  • Patent number: 10514957
    Abstract: A network service infrastructure management system includes a computing system that communicates with a network service computing device to receive a request to generate a network service comprising one or more network node functions. Based on the request the computing system communicates with an operating system of the network service computing device to instantiate one or more tasks corresponding to the one or more network node functions in which each task is instantiated at a level of workload capability specified for its respective network node function. Once instantiated, the computing system may then launch each network node function on its respective task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: December 24, 2019
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana Johnston
  • Publication number: 20190335533
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing disaster routing of particular communications through a telecommunications network during a network outage. The disaster routing may ensure that communications from a particular source or to a particular destination are connected to the destination even during times when portions of the network may be inoperable. In one particular embodiment, the disaster routing may be performed for emergency communications received at the network and connected to one or more emergency services configured to receive the emergency communication. However, the disaster routing mechanisms and techniques described herein may be applied or available to any type of communication from any source or customer to the telecommunications network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Publication date: October 31, 2019
    Applicant: LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. COMBELLAS, Dana A. JOHNSTON, Adam C. UZELAC, David A. TSCHIRHART
  • Patent number: 10362631
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing disaster routing of particular communications through a telecommunications network during a network outage. The disaster routing may ensure that communications from a particular source or to a particular destination are connected to the destination even during times when portions of the network may be inoperable. In one particular embodiment, the disaster routing may be performed for emergency communications received at the network and connected to one or more emergency services configured to receive the emergency communication. However, the disaster routing mechanisms and techniques described herein may be applied or available to any type of communication from any source or customer to the telecommunications network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 23, 2019
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana A. Johnston, Adam C. Uzelac, David A. Tschirhart
  • Publication number: 20190018706
    Abstract: A network service infrastructure management system includes a computing system that communicates with a network service computing device to receive a request to generate a network service comprising one or more network node functions. Based on the request the computing system communicates with an operating system of the network service computing device to instantiate one or more tasks corresponding to the one or more network node functions in which each task is instantiated at a level of workload capability specified for its respective network node function. Once instantiated, the computing system may then launch each network node function on its respective task.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 18, 2018
    Publication date: January 17, 2019
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana Johnston
  • Patent number: 10148704
    Abstract: A telecommunications network includes a network service computing device and a host routing device. The host routing device includes a switch. The host routing device is coupled with a remote network and a PSTN. The remote network is coupled to a plurality of communication devices. The network service computing device is in communication with a database. The database includes a plurality of tags associated with VoIP lines. The tags identify the physical location where a plurality of VoIP lines are being operated. The tags determine routing and billing of calls made from each of the VoIP lines. Using a tag as a main routing identifier, instead of just an actual phone number, increases the probability that calls made from the VoIP line are properly routed and correctly billed through the telecommunications network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2018
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Katrina D. Hall, Dana A. Johnston
  • Publication number: 20180316797
    Abstract: Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Claudia M. Combellas, Adam C, Uzelac, Michael F. Robles
  • Patent number: 10114665
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a communication node upgrade system includes a computer-based set of instructions that are executed to identify an existing virtual machine (VM) to be upgraded, obtain upgraded software for the existing VM, create a new VM in a virtualized computing environment using the upgraded software, and copy configuration information from the existing VM to the new VM. Thereafter, the operation of the existing VM may be replaced with the new VM in the communication network. The existing VM comprising at least one communication node that provides one or more communication services for a communication network in which the existing VM is executed in a virtualized computing environment, and the configuration information includes information associated with configuration of the existing VM to provide the communication services by the existing VM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana A. Johnston
  • Publication number: 20180288828
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing disaster routing of particular communications through a telecommunications network during a network outage. The disaster routing may ensure that communications from a particular source or to a particular destination are connected to the destination even during times when portions of the network may be inoperable. In one particular embodiment, the disaster routing may be performed for emergency communications received at the network and connected to one or more emergency services configured to receive the emergency communication. However, the disaster routing mechanisms and techniques described herein may be applied or available to any type of communication from any source or customer to the telecommunications network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 2, 2018
    Publication date: October 4, 2018
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana A. Johnston, Adam C. Uzelac, David A. Tschirhart
  • Patent number: 10084923
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems and methods for providing routing of a communication received at a telecommunications network based on a unique identifier. In particular, a telecommunications network may route one or more communications based on a dynamically updated trunk group identifier associated with an egress user. Thus, in addition to routing the communication based on a telephone number or Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a user, the network may also route the communication based upon a dynamically updated trunk group identifier included in an updated routing function of the network.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 25, 2018
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana A. Johnston
  • Patent number: 10078535
    Abstract: A network service infrastructure management system includes a computing system that communicates with a network service computing device to receive a request to generate a network service comprising one or more network node functions. Based on the request the computing system communicates with an operating system of the network service computing device to instantiate one or more tasks corresponding to the one or more network node functions in which each task is instantiated at a level of workload capability specified for its respective network node function. Once instantiated, the computing system may then launch each network node function on its respective task.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 8, 2016
    Date of Patent: September 18, 2018
    Assignee: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana Johnston
  • Publication number: 20180146068
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for providing services to customers or other users of a telecommunications network through implementation of one or more micro-services instantiated on the network. Through the micro-services, one or more of the processes or functions used to provide the services from the network may be separately located logically within the network, thereby divorcing such processes from dedicated service components of the network. The breaking apart of the processes to be instantiated within the network on a generic computing device of the network, otherwise known as “micro-services”, allows the telecommunications to adjust or scale the available services in response to operating conditions of the network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2017
    Publication date: May 24, 2018
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Adam C. Uzelac, Claudia M. Combellas
  • Publication number: 20180124251
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems and methods for providing routing of a communication received at a telecommunications network based on a unique identifier. In particular, a telecommunications network may route one or more communications based on a dynamically updated trunk group identifier associated with an egress user. Thus, in addition to routing the communication based on a telephone number or Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a user, the network may also route the communication based upon a dynamically updated trunk group identifier included in an updated routing function of the network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2017
    Publication date: May 3, 2018
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Dana A. Johnston
  • Publication number: 20180091561
    Abstract: A telecommunications network includes a network service computing device and a host routing device. The host routing device includes a switch. The host routing device is coupled with a remote network and a PSTN. The remote network is coupled to a plurality of communication devices. The network service computing device is in communication with a database. The database includes a plurality of tags associated with VoIP lines. The tags identify the physical location where a plurality of VoIP lines are being operated. The tags determine routing and billing of calls made from each of the VoIP lines. Using a tag as a main routing identifier, instead of just an actual phone number, increases the probability that calls made from the VoIP line are properly routed and correctly billed through the telecommunications network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 4, 2017
    Publication date: March 29, 2018
    Inventors: Claudia M. Combellas, Katrina D. Hall, Dana A. Johnston
  • Publication number: 20180026997
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure involve systems, methods, computer program products, and the like, for identifying and mitigating attacks on a voice component of a telecommunications network. In general, the process includes obtaining Layer 3 through Layer 7 transmission information from one or more edge devices to the telecommunications network. In one particular embodiment, a plurality of edge devices (also referred to herein as “session border controllers” or SBCs) is included in the telecommunications network in disparate geographical locations. Each SBC may provide Layer 3 through Layer 7 transmission information for each packet or communication transmitted through the SBC to a local database, which in turn may provide the information to a Central Analysis System or database. In one particular embodiment, the Layer 3 through Layer 7 information includes Session Initiation Protocol routing information for the communications sent to each of the SBCs of the network.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2016
    Publication date: January 25, 2018
    Applicant: Level 3 Communications, LLC
    Inventors: Dana A. Johnston, Clyde David Cooper, III