Telecom company Vonage (VG) has received a new patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its invention in improving Internet Protocol (or IP) phone systems, the company announced Tuesday.
Vonage's patented invention (US Pat. No. 8,472,342) will substantially improve voice quality in in IP-based telephony systems, the company says, and the technology "dynamically selects the path of the communication based on network conditions at the time of the call." This is Vonage's seventh patent in 2013, and the company currently has nearly 170 U.S. patent applications still pending.
Vonage Chief Legal Officer Kurt Rogers believes the new patent will give Vonage a great advantage in the VoIP industry. "This invention creates important advantages for any VoIP network operator, directly impacting the quality, reliability and user experience of its service."
Vonage was given expedited treatment by the Patent Office, receiving the patent in less than three months. Rogers said the company received an accelerated evaluation because the office recognized "the high value and novelty of this solution," and that the fast treatment "validates the uniqueness of the invention."
