Patent ID: 9603172
Date: 2017-03-21
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method comprising: storing, by a network device, a plurality of access point names (APNs) and information associated with a plurality of user devices that are served by the network device, where each APN, of the plurality of APNs, corresponds to a respective application, service, or type of traffic to be processed by the network device; receiving, by the network device and from a first user device, traffic to be sent to a second user device; determining, by the network device, whether the traffic is voice traffic based on whether a particular APN that corresponds to the traffic, matches at least one APN, of the plurality of APNs, associated with voice traffic; determining, by the network device, whether the voice traffic corresponds to a local call based on whether a first eNodeB, via which the first user device communicates and a second eNodeB, via which the second user device communicates, are served by the network device; forwarding, by the network device, the voice traffic, as a call that is not a local call, to another network device, associated with a packet data network, for processing when the first eNodeB or be second eNodeB are not served by the network device; processing, by the network device, the voice traffic as a local call when the first eNodeB and the second eNodeB are served by the network device, where the processing includes assigning, to the first user device, an Internet Protocol (IP) address; and forwarding, by the network device and to the second user device via the second eNodeB, the voice traffic, as the local call, in order to establish the communication session based on the IP address, where the forwarding is performed in a manner that does not include routing the voice traffic via the other network device.