Patent ID: 8018920
Filing Date: 2011-09-13
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04Q

Abstract:
1. A communications system capable of circuit-switched and packet-based calls, comprising: a call agent connected for modifying routing of calls to and from an IP backbone network, the call agent further connected to a circuit switched network to exchange signaling information; a database containing routing instructions to determine a called party routing number in accordance with a subscriber routing plan that is independent of whether call origination and termination are circuit-switched or packet-based; and at least one network control point connected to the circuit-switched network for receiving queries to obtain routing instructions for calls originating in the circuit switched network and connected to the call agent for receiving queries to obtain routing instructions for calls originating in the IP backbone network, the at least one network control point further being connected to the database for retrieving routing instructions in response to the queries; the call agent being configured to map the called party routing number to a physical port in the network when the called party routing number corresponds to a circuit-switched call destination; and to an IP address when the called party routing number corresponds to a packet-based call destination.