VoIP Inc. said Thursday that it has filed a patent application for technology that dramatically improves the reliability of Internet-based phones in handling emergency calls.

Phones based on voice over Internet Protocol don't have the reliability of traditional telephones in accessing 911 emergency services. In addition, the new technology goes down during power outages, while phones based on older networks continue working.

VoIP said it has asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a patent on a technological process for a specific coding scheme to redirect certain call types based on emergency dialing patterns, such as 911, to the traditional public switched telephone network.

In addition, VoIP's technology also provides a fail-safe mechanism for routing calls during power failures by automatically passing calls to the public telephone network during power failures, the company said.

"We will be filing additional patent applications before year-end as we continue to develop and enhance our core technologies and the product portfolio they support," John Todd, VoIP's chief technology officer, said in a statement.