Abstract:
An apparatus is comprised of a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions for implementing a set of communication services for establishing and supporting a direct quality voice call to a public switched telephone network (PSTN) extension, and an execution unit, coupled to the storage medium, for executing the plurality of programming instructions. In particular, the set of communication services include services for establishing and facilitating the voice call to the PSTN extension on behalf of the client computer, and services for causing a direct connection to be established between the client computer and the apparatus.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for establishing and facilitating a direct quality voice call to a telephone extension on behalf of a client computer. 
     2. Background Information 
     Numerous advances have been made in recent years in the field of telecommunications. In particular, the field of internet telephony has emerged as a viable technology that is evolving at an ever increasing rate. Evidence of this evolution of internet telephony is best characterized by the number of new products recently become available in the market. Products such as CoolTalk by Netscape Communications Corporation of Mountain View, Calif.; Internet Connection Phone by International Business Machines of Amonk, N.Y.; Intel Internet Phone (IPhone) by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif.; NetMeeting by Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash.; Quarterdeck WebTalk by Quarterdeck Corporation of Marina Del Rey, Calif.; TeleVox by Voxware Incorporated of Princeton, N.J.; and WebPhone by Netspeak Corporation of Boca Raton, Fla., are representative of the current state of applications facilitating interent telephony. 
     Each of these products offers internet based voice communications with a telephone motif, between two users each using the same (or compatible) product on either end of the Internet connection. That is, the Internet provides the “switching” architecture for the system, while the computer acts as the “handset”, or the audio interface. One reason for the proliferation of these applications is a desire to push the technology of the internet to provide a total communications tool. The appeal to users is that, currently, the use of the Internet is free of toll charges. Therefore, currently, a user of an internet phone product may communicate with another user located anywhere else in the world without having to pay the long distance charges associated with making a telephone call using the public switched telephone network (PSTN). 
     However, consumers expecting to completely eliminate their long-distance telephone bills through the exclusive use of internet telephony are in for a disappointment. As they shall soon discover, although innovative in their own right, the current internet based telephony applications identified above have a number of limitations which retard their acceptance as a primary communications tool. One such limitation is that many of the applications identified above require that both users have installed the same software package, or compatible packages and, therefore, provide a relatively low level of interoperability. One reason for this lack of interoperability between internet telephony applications is that the developers of many of these products have incorporated different voice encoders (commonly referred to as a “voice codec”, or simply a “codec” by those in the telecommunication arts) in the products. Consequently, as a result of the different codecs used, many internet telephony applications are unable to recognize speech encoded (i.e., digitized) by a codec of a disimilar application. 
     This problem is alleviated for those products that are upgraded to comply with emerging telephony standards, such as International Telecommunication Union&#39;s (ITU) H.323 standard. However, other limitations remain. For example, another limitation associated with many of these products is that they are tied to the internet, often requiring all users to access a common server in order to maintain a directory of available users in which to call. That is to say, many of the applications identified above do not integrate the packet switched network of the internet with the circuit switched public switched telephone network (PSTN). Therefore, although a computer connected to the internet may communicate with another user on the internet, assuming they are both using a common software application (or at least applications with compatible codecs), these applications do not support communication with a user of a Telephone handset. 
     The reason for this limitation is readily understood by those who appreciate the complexity of the two networks. As alluded to above, the internet is a packet switched network. That is to say, communication over the internet is accomplished by “breaking” the transmitted data into varying-sized packages (or “packets”), based primarily on communication content, and interleaving the various-sized packages to best utilize the bandwidth available at any given time on the internet. When the packets reach their intended destination, they must be reassembled into the originally transmitted data. Loss of packets, and thus data, occur frequently in such a network, and the ability of the network to succesfully transmit information from one point in the network to another determines the quality of the network. For inter-computer communication transactions involving non real-time data, the ability to transmit packets and retransmit any packets that are perceived to have been dropped is not a severe limitation and may not even be perceived by the user of the system. However, in a voice communication transaction, the delay required to retransmit even one data packet may be perceived by a user. At best, such delays are an annoying inconvenience. In practice, the delays actually can become intolerable, as the cumulative latency adds up with successive transmissions. 
     In contrast to the packet switched network of the internet, the public switched telephone network (PSTN) is a circuit switched network. That is to say that the PSTN assigns a dedicated communication line to a user with which to complete the telephone call, wherein the user can utilize the assigned resource of the PSTN in any way they choose, with the understanding that the user is paying for the use of the dedicated resource of the PSTN. While the circuit switched approach of the PSTN system is not necessarily the most efficient system in terms of call traffic (i.e., it does not make use of the “dead space” common in a conversation), it is relatively easy to ensure that information destined for a particular user is delivered, it simply provides a dedicated line to complete the transaction. 
     Nonetheless, despite these engineering challanges, a few products have emerged which purport to integrate the PSTN to the internet. Products such as Net2Phone by IDT Corporation of Hackensack, N.J., claim to provide a computer user with the ability to place and receive a phone call to/from a PSTN extension. Unfortunately, none of these products completely solve the problem of integrating the two networks. The limitations perhaps best characterized by way of an example communication session. With these prior art internet telephony applications, a user of an internet telephony enabled client computer initiating a telephone call to a Telephone handset launches the voice call from the client computer by accessing a server (the primary access server), operated by the developer of the internet telephony application that supports internet telecommunications. As the initiator accesses the primary access server, he/she is prompted for a destination address, which takes the form of a PSTN telephone number for an outgoing call to a Telephone handset. Having provided the primary access server with the PSTN telephone number associated with the Telephone handset, the primary server somehow determines which server in a community of similarly enabled servers (i.e., servers with the hardware/software necessary to provide access to the PSTN) is closest to the destination address, and completes the telephone call by routing the telephone call through a number of intermediate servers on the internet to the selected server, which will actually place the voice call to the Telephone handset on behalf of the client computer, facilitating the voice call between the client computer and the Telephone handset. In other words, the user of the client computer is required to have prior knowledge of the destination phone number, which is limiting in many circumstances. For example, in a situation where the user of the client computer is engaged in a data communication session involving a webpage for a corporate entity, the user may wish to speak with someone in a “local office” of the corporate entity. Prior art internet telephony applications require that the telephone number for the “local office” of the corporate entity be provided by the user of the client computer in order to place the telephone call. If the telephone number for the “local office” of the corporate entity is not provided by the webpage, the user of client computer must look it up or have prior knowledge of it. 
       1 The manner in which the “primary access server” determines the “call originating server” is not known.  
     Additionally, while the prior art approach of simply finding the Internet telephony enabled server closest to the destination address may offer the simplest technical solution and a seemingly cheaper connection, it does not ensure the quality of the voice connection. One skilled in the art will appreciate that there are a number of characteristics which may impact the quality of the voice connection. For example, insofar as the internet is a packet switched network, as the number of intermediate routers required to interface the client computer to the selected server increases so, too, does the likelihood that data packets containing voice information could be lost or corrupted. The result of lost or corrupted data packets is broken or garbled speech. Another factor affecting internet telephony communication performance is the bandwidth available on the selected server. If, for example, the selected server is very busy handling a number of other processes, the performance associated with each of the processes begins to degrade (i.e., slow down), which may also result in delayed delivery of data packets containing speech, which in turn results in user perception of poor quality. Therefore, while it is important to some users of internet telephony applications to simply keep the cost down, quality considerations must also be accounted for to enable internet telephony to evolve into a viable communications tool. 
     Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus for establishing and facilitating a direct quality voice call to a telephone extension on behalf of a client computer, that is unencumbered by the limitations associated with the prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a method and apparatus for establishing and facilitating a direct quality voice call to a telephone handset on behalf of a client computer is provided. In a first embodiment, for example, the apparatus comprises a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions for implementing a set of communication services for establishing and facilitating the direct quality voice call, and an execution unit, coupled to the storage medium for executing the programming instructions. The set of communication services include, for example, services for establishing and facilitating the voice call from the client computer to a PSTN extension, and services for causing the direct connection to be established between the client computer and the apparatus, as appropriate. 
     In one embodiment, the services for causing the direct connection to be established include services for providing the client computer with a software that automatically replaces an established connection between the client computer and a network server, with the direct connection between the client computer and the apparatus. 
     In one embodiment, the set of communication services include services for seeking the client computer&#39;s concurrence to establish the direct telephone connection between the client computer and the apparatus. In one embodiment, the client computer&#39;s concurrence is sought dynamically in the middle of a pre-direct connection phase of the voice call, at the discretion of the apparatus. In alternate embodiments, the client computer&#39;s concurrence is sought at the beginning of the voice call, at the discretion of the apparatus, another apparatus, or at the discretion of the web server which offers a Push-To-Talk™ 2  feature to the client computer. 
       2 Push-To-Talk™ is a Trademark of eFusion™, Incorporated of Beaverton, Oreg.  
     In one embodiment, the decision of whether to establish a direct connection between the client computer and the apparatus is initiated as a result of monitoring voice call quality. In one embodiment, the apparatus monitors any number of quality metrics associated with voice call quality In one embodiment, the apparatus establishes a direct connection, with the concurrence of the client computer, due to the number of intermediate servers between the client computer and the apparatus. In one embodiment, a second apparatus instructs the apparatus, with the concurrence of the client computer, to establish a direct connection between the client computer and the apparatus due to the number of intermediate servers between the client computer and the apparatus. In another embodiment, a web server instructs the apparatus, with the concurrence of the client computer, to establish a direct connection between the client computer and the apparatus. In other embodiments, a direct connection is established between the client computer and the apparatus, without the concurrence of the client computer, by the apparatus, and optionally at the direction of another apparatus, or the web server. In one embodiment, the direct connection is established by the user of the client computer at the onset of the voice call by, for example, selecting an icon on the desktop of the client computer. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention will be described by way of exemplary embodiments, but not limitations, illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like references denote similar elements, and in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary communication system incorporating the teachings of the present invention; 
     FIGS. 2A and 2B are flow charts illustrating one embodiment of a method for establishing a voice communication session between a client computer and a PSTN handset, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2C is a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for establishing a direct connection between the client computer and the exemplary communication system; 
     FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary server suitable for use as an internet/PSTN changeover server of the present invention; 
     FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the software architecture of the exemplary server of FIG. 3, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention; and 
     FIGS. 5,  6  and  7  are graphical illustrations of alternate embodiments of Push-To-Talk™ indicators for requesting a voice communication session, suitable for use in the exemplary communication system described in FIGS. 1-4. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     In the following description, for purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details. In other instances, well known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention. Furthermore, for ease of understanding, certain method steps are delineated as separate steps, however, these separately delineated steps should not be construed as necessarily order dependent in their performance. 
     Referring now to FIG. 1, a block diagram is presented illustrating an exemplary communication system  100  incorporating the teachings of the present invention for connecting a user of an internet telephony enabled client computer with a user of a PSTN endpoint (e.g., telephone handset), and routing the voice call off of the internet. While the present invention will be described in the context of this exemplary computer system, based on the descriptions to follow, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and may be also practiced with intranet (in lieu of the internet) and/or automated/computerized telephony answering equipment (in lieu of telephone handsets). 
     For the illustrated embodiment, client computer  102  incorporated with the teachings of the present invention, while in data communication with a web server, e.g. web server  128 , through PSTN  140  and Internet  150 , is presented with a Push-To-Talk™ option by web server  128 . When client computer  102  selects the Push-To-Talk™ option, a server incorporated with the teachings of the present invention (e.g., bridgeport  162 ) automatically determines an appropriate destination PSTN extension, e.g. the PSTN extension of telephone handset  142 , as well as an appropriate one of a “community” of internet/PSTN changeover servers (e.g., bridgeports  162  and  165 ) to place the voice call to the PSTN extension and facilitate the voice call between the user of client computer  102  and the user of telephone handset  142 . In the context of the example embodiment, for differentiation and ease of explanation, bridgeport  162  will be referred to as a page bridgeport, while the selected internet/PSTN changeover server will be referred to as a changeover bridgeport. In one embodiment, the Push-To-Talk™ option is pre-associated with page bridgeport  162  by web server  128 , and the determination of the destination PSTN extension by page bridgeport  162  is made in accordance with one or more attributes of web server  128 , such as the identity of web server  128 , and optionally, one or more attributes of client computer  102 , such as the zip code of the geographic area client computer  102  is located. In an alternate embodiment, page bridgeport  162  is not pre-associated with the Push-To-Talk™ option, but rather is selected dynamically by web server  128 . 
     Client computer  102 , web servers  120  and  128 , bridgeports  162  and  165 , and handset  142  are communicatively coupled to each other by way of PSTN  140  and internet  150  as shown. More specifically, client computer  102  is coupled to internet  150  by way of a direct connection (e.g., a direct PSTN telephony connection, a direct wireless telephony connection, etc.) to internet service provider (ISP)  112 . Client computer  102  is coupled to ISP  112  through PSTN extension  104 , communication line  106  and PSTN  140 . In other words, for the illustrated embodiment, client computer  102  includes a modulation/demodulation (MODEM) device (not shown) coupled to PSTN extension  104 . However, a client computer may be coupled to ISP  112  through a network connection using a network interface instead, such as client computer  108  using network connection  110 . Alternatively, a client computer may also be directly coupled to internet  150  such as client computer  116  using direct connection  118 . 
     Web servers  120  and  128  are coupled to internet  150  through connections  122  and  130 . Although not illustrated, web servers  120  and  128  may also be coupled to PSTN  140 . Similarly, bridgeports  162  and  165  of the present invention are coupled to internet  150  through connections  164  and  167 . Bridgeports  162  and  165  are also coupled to PSIN  140  through communication lines  163  and  166  respectively. Handset  142  is coupled to PSTN  140  through PSTN extension  143  and communication line  144 . 
     Communication lines  106 ,  115  and  144  may simply be plain old telephone service (POTS) communication lines, although other types of communication lines may be used. For example, in the case of communication line  106 , it may be an integrated service digital network (ISDN) line, whereas in the case of communication line  115 , it may be a T1 (1.533 Mbps) or an E1 (2.0488 Mbps) trunk line. In the case of communication line  144 , it may be a wireless cellular connection, a Personal Communication Services (PCS) connection, and the like. 
     PSTN  140  includes a number of Service Switching Points (SSP), Signal Transfer Points (STP), and Service Control Points (SCP) coupled to each other (not shown). PSTN extension  104  through communication line  106  is coupled to a “local” SSP, which in turn is coupled to a number of other “local” PSTN extensions, including e.g. PSTN extension  113  if ISP  112  is a “local” ISP served by the same SSP. In addition, the “local” SSP is also coupled to an associated STP, which in turn is coupled to other “remote” SSPs. Each of the “remote” SSPs is coupled to a number of “remote” PSTN extensions, including e.g. extension  143 , if handset  142  is a “remote” handset served by a “remote” SSP. As is well known in the art, internet  150  includes a number of networks interconnected by routers, interconnecting the various client computers, web servers and bridgeports together. [As described earlier, internet  150  may be a private intranet instead.] 
     Except for the incorporated teachings of the present invention (to be more fully described below), client computer  102  is intended to represent a broad category of internet telephony enabled computer systems known in the art. An example of such a computer system is a desktop computer system equipped with a high performance microprocessor, such as the Pentium® processor manufactured by Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. or the Alpha® processor manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation of Manard, Mass.; a number of audio input and output peripherals/interface for inputting, digitizing and compressing outbound audio, and for decompressing and rendering inbound audio; a communication interface for sending and receiving various data packets (including audio data packets) in accordance with certain standard communication protocol, such as a V.42bis compliant modem or an Ethernet adapter card; a windows-based operating system including internetworking communication services providing support for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) (and other Internet Communication Suite protocols) and socket services, such as Windows™ 95 developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash.; a web communications tool such as Navigator™, developed by Netscape Communications of Mountain View, Calif.; and an Internet telephony application, such as the above described IPhone™ 3  developed by Intel Corporation. 
       3 Note that it is not necessary for the internet telephony application to explicitly support voice calls with telephone handsets, as is the case with IPhone and many of the prior art internet telephony applications.  
     In one embodiment, the teachings of the present invention are incorporated in client computer  102  in the form of a client application. In one embodiment, the application is a “bridgeport driver”. The client bridgeport driver may be made available to client computer  102  in a number of alternate means. For example, the client bridgeport driver may be distributed via diskettes produced by a bridgeport vendor, or downloaded from a web server of the bridgeport vendor. In other embodiments, the teachings of the present invention are incorporated in the browser and/or the operating system (OS) of client computer  102 . For ease of understanding, the remaining descriptions will be presented in the context of the client bridgeport driver embodiment. 
     Except for the presentation of webpages having Push-To-Talk™ options pre-associated with the bridgeports of the present invention, web servers  120  and  128  are intended to represent a broad category of web servers, including e.g. corporate presence servers and government presence servers, known in the art. Any number of high performance computer servers may be employed as web servers  120  and  128 , e.g. a computer server equipped with one or more Pentium® Pro processors from Intel Corp., running Mircrosoft&#39;s Windows® NT operating system, or a computer server equipped with one or more SPARC® processors from Sun Microsystems of Mountain View, Calif., running Sun&#39;s Solaris® operating system. 
     Similarly, ISP  112  is intended to represent a broad category of internet service providers. An ISP may be a “small” local internet access provider, or one of a number of point of presence providers offered by a “large” ISP. It is also anticipated that ISP  112  may be incorporated with an SSP of PSTN  140 . Handset  142  is intended to represent a broad category of conventional handsets known in the art, including but not limited to desktop handsets, cordless handsets, and wireless handsets. No special features are required of handset  142  for it to be called and connected to internet telephony enabled client computer  102 , in accordance with the present invention. [As described earlier, handset  142  may also be automated/computerized telephony answering equipment.] 
     Before we proceed to describe bridgeports  162  and  165  in further detail, it should be noted that one skilled in the art of, for example, telecommunications, will appreciate that the communication system illustrated in FIG. 1, is significantly more complex than that which is depicted. For example, each SSP of PSTN  140  may service thousands of PSTN extensions, and there are numerous SSPs, STPs and SCPs in a common PSTN implementation. Internet  150  includes well over several hundred thousand networks. Together, PSTN  140  and internet  150  interconnect millions of client computers and web servers. Nonetheless, FIG. 1 does capture a number of the more relevant components of a communication system necessary to illustrate the interrelationship between client computer  102 , web server  128 , bridgeports  162  and  165 , and handset  142 , such that one skilled in the art may practice the present invention. Also, while the present invention is being described in the context of client computer  102  being engaged in data communication with web server  128 , as will be readily apparent from the description to follow, the present invention may be practiced with any “client” computer engaged in data communication with any “web” or “info” server. 
     Turning now to FIG. 2A, a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of the method steps of the present invention for establishing and facilitating a voice call to a PSTN extension for a networked client computer is shown. For ease of explanation, the method of FIGS. 2A-2C will be developed in the context of an example implementation, wherein a user of client computer  102  is engaged in a data communication session involving a webpage, projected by web server  128 , which incorporates a Push-To-Talk™ feature wherein the user of the webpage may “push” a displayed Push-To-Talk™ button to cause a voice connection with a local office, retail center and the like, associated with the web server, to be established, enabling the user of client computer  102  to engage in a voice call with a user of a PSTN endpoint (e.g., handset  142 ) located at the “local office”. [Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the terms “push” and “pushing” are metaphoric descriptions of the action taken by a user. The action is in actuality accomplished, e.g., by the user clicking a mouse button, upon moving a cursor over the displayed Push-To-Talk™ button.] 
     With reference to FIG. 2A, the method begins at step  202  with a user of client computer  102  “pushing” the Push-To-Talk™ button projected with the webpage. As described earlier, the Push-To-Talk™ button is pre-associated with a bridgeport, e.g. page bridgeport  162 . In one embodiment, the pre-association is accomplished via HyperText Markup Language (HTML) elements embedded in the webpage, identifying the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of page bridgeport  162 . The HTML elements further specify that a Push-To-Talk™ event notice including the URL of web server  128  is to be posted to page bridgeport  162 . Thus, in response to the user&#39;s “pushing” of the Push-To-Talk™ button, a HyperText Transmission Protocol (HTTP) connection is temporarily established between client computer  102  and page bridgeport  162 , and a message posting the Push-To-Talk™ event is sent to page bridgeport  162 . 
     For the illustrated embodiment, in response to the Push-To-Talk™ event notification, page bridgeport  162  identifies itself to client computer  102 , providing client computer  102  with its internet protocol (IP) address, step  204 . The HTTP connection is closed upon sending the return data to client computer  102  by page bridgeport  162 . In one embodiment, the identification and provision of page bridgeport&#39;s IP address also includes identification that the information is associated with a Push-To-Talk™ button projected by web server  128 . More specifically, the URL of web server  128  is also returned to client computer  102 . For the illustrated embodiment, the returned data also includes a command for starting up the client bridgeport driver on client computer  102 . 
     Next, for the illustrated embodiment, client computer  102  identifies itself to page bridgeport  162 , providing page bridgeport  162  with its IP address and attributes. For the illustrated embodiment, the identification is performed by the launched client bridgeport driver, by way of another HTTP connection. In one embodiment, the identification is also made in the form of a call request to talk to a person, such as an agent, associated with web server  128 . In one embodiment, the attribute information includes a zip code for the area client computer  102  is located. In another embodiment, the attribute information includes a PSTN extension associated with client computer  102 . In one embodiment, the URL of web server  128  is also re-transmitted. 
     In response, page bridgeport  162  determines a destination PSTN extension for the requested call, step  208 . In one embodiment, the determination is based on attributes of web server  162 , e.g. the URL or the associated corporate name (if provided) of web server  162 . In another embodiment, the determination is also based on attributes of client computer  102 , e.g. the zip code or the telephone area code/prefix associated with client computer  102 . In one embodiment, page bridgeport  162  is equipped with a PSTN extension database having the necessary attributes and PSIN extension information for performing the determination. In an alternate embodiment, page bridgeport  162  is not equipped with such a PSTN extension database, but equipped with services that access external on-line services (e.g., geographic location services, directory services, etc.) to make the determination. An example of an on-line geographic location service is MapBlast™, developed by Vicinity Corporation of Palo Alto, Calif. 
     Upon determining the destination PSTN extension, for the illustrated embodiment, page bridgeport  162  selects an internet/PSTN changeover server. In one embodiment, the internet/PSTN changeover server is a bridgeport, such as bridgeport  165  (changeover bridgeport), where the requested voice call is routed off internet  150  and onto PSTN  140 , step  210 . The selection is made from a “community” of bridgeports, to be described more fully below. In one embodiment, the community of bridgeports are “private” bridgeports deployed by the owner of web server  128  (e.g., a corporation). In another embodiment, the community of bridgeports are “public” bridgeports deployed by a service company that offers the bridgeport service of the present invention, and subscribed by the corporation of web server  128 . Note that page bridgeport  162  may select itself as the changeover bridgeport, either because of the selection criteria employed dictate the result, or by virtue of a singleton community, i.e. page bridgeport  162  is the only bridgeport of the “community”. For ease of understanding, the remaining descriptions will be presented in the context of bridgeport  165  being the selected changeover bridgeport. 
     Upon selecting changeover bridgeport  165 , for the illustrated embodiment, page bridgeport  162  registers the requested call with changeover bridgeport  165 , step  210 . In one embodiment, the registration reserves bandwidth on changeover bridgeport  165  for the requested call. For example, in one embodiment, the registration includes provision of the source IP address of the voice call, i.e. the IP address of client computer  102 , the source type (e.g. H.323), the destination address, i.e. the destination PSTN extension of handset  142 , and the destination type (e.g. POTS). 
     Next, for the illustrated embodiment, page bridgeport  162  identifies changeover bridgeport  165  to client computer  102 , providing client computer  102  with the IP address of changeover bridgeport  165 , step  212 . In one embodiment, where the call request is made through an HTTP connection, step  212  also includes closing the HTTP connection. In one embodiment, the identification also includes provision of the URL of web server  128 . In one embodiment, both the identification, i.e. the IP address of changeover bridgeport  165 , and the URL of web server  128  are provided to client bridgeport driver. 
     Next, for the illustrated embodiment, client computer  102  places a net call to changeover bridgeport  165 , step  214 . In one embodiment, the net call is an H.323 call placed by an internet telephony application. In one embodiment, step  214  also includes automatic launching of the internet telephony application to place the net call, if an internet telephony application has not been previously launched. For the illustrated embodiment, the automatic launching is performed by the client bridgeport driver. 
     In response, changeover bridgeport  165  places a voice call to the PSTN extension of handset  142 , and bridges the net and the voice calls, step  216 , thereby allowing a user of client computer  102  to communicate with a user of handset  142 . In bridging the two calls, changeover bridgeport  165  digitizes and compresses inbound call signals received from handset  142 , and delivers the encoded call signals to client computer  102  via the previously established H.323 connection. The compressed inbound call signals are decompressed by the communication interface of client computer  102  and rendered by the internet telephony application. Similarly, outbound call signals emanating from client computer  102  are digitized by the audio interface, compressed by the communication interface of client computer  102  and delivered to changeover bridgeport  165  via the H.323 connection, wherein they are decompressed, and upon conversion, forwarded to handset  142 . In other words, changeover bridgeport  165  converts the voice information between PSTN and IP protocols and delivers voice call information to/from handset  142  and client computer  102  until call completion. 
     With reference now being made to FIG. 2B, one embodiment of step  216  is illustrated. As the H.323 connection between client computer  102  and changeover bridgeport  165  is established, changeover bridgeport  165  determines if a direct connection with client computer  102  is to be established, if client computer  102  and changeover bridgeport  165  are not in direct connection with each other. If changeover bridgeport  165  makes the determination not to establish a direct connection between client computer  102  and itself, changeover bridgeport  165  establishes and facilitates the voice call to PSTN extension  143  as described earlier, in step  230 . Additionally, in those cases where changeover bridgeport  165  is not in direct telephony contact with client computer  102 , (i.e., the call is being routed through a number of intermediate servers throughout Internet  150 ), changeover bridgeport  165  also monitors the “quality” of the voice call. Any number of metrics known in the art may be beneficially employed to measure the quality of the voice call, e.g. the number of audio packets dropped within a predetermined time interval (Packet Error Rate), the signal to noise ratio, the rise in the measured noise floor, and the like. 
     If the quality of the voice call is not monitored and the voice call has not been completed, steps  232 - 234 , changeover bridgeport  165  returns to step  230 . However, if the quality of the voice call is monitored, step  232 , changeover bridgeport  165  further determines if the quality has reached a predetermined threshold and, in addition, whether the user of client computer  102  has previously rejected an offer to switch to a direct connection with changeover bridgeport  165 , step  236 . If the measured quality level is in an acceptable range, or the user has previously rejected an offer to establish a direct connection, changeover bridgeport  165  returns to step  230 . Otherwise, changeover bridgeport  165  prompts the user of client computer  102  whether the user would like to switch to a direct connection between client computer  102  and changeover bridgeport  165 , step  238 . If the user of client computer  102  responds with an election not to switch to a direct connection, step  240 , changeover bridgeport  165  returns to step  230 . However, if the user of client computer  102  responds with an election to switch to a direct connection, step  240 , changeover bridgeport  165  causes a direct connection to be established between itself and client computer  102 , step  242 . Upon establishing the direct connection, changeover bridgeport  165  re-connects the connection between client computer  102  and PSTN extension  143  and continues to facilitate the voice call as described earlier, step  230 . 
     Similarly, if back in step  228 , changeover bridgeport  165  makes the determination to establish a direct connection between client computer  102  and itself, the process proceeds to step  238  wherein the user of client computer  102  is offered the opportunity to accept or reject the direct connection between client computer  102  and changeover bridgeport  165 . From step  238 , the process proceeds as described earlier. Whether changeover bridgeport  165  proceeds to step  230  or to step  238  directly from step  228  will be described in more detail below. 
     Turning now to FIG. 2C, a flow chart illustrating one embodiment of a method for establishing a direct connection between client computer  102  and the PSTN extension associated with handset  142 . In the context of the illustrated embodiment, changeover bridgeport  165  provides software to client computer  102 , step  250 . The software is a set of instructions containing information necessary to enable client computer  102  to establish a connection with changeover bridgeport  165 . Upon receipt of the software by client computer  102 , the software tears down the existing data connection between client computer  102  and the ISP currently in direct telephony contact with client computer  102  (e.g., ISP  112 ), step  252 . Having disconnected the prior connection, the provided software initiates a direct connection to changeover bridgeport  165  through the modem of client computer  102 , thereby eliminating any intermediate servers, step  254 . For the illustrated embodiment, the software is “equipped” with one of changeover bridgeport&#39;s PSTN extensions before being provided to client computer  102 . Finally, once the direct connection from client computer  102  is established, changeover bridgeport  165  logically “re-links” client computer  102  with PSTN extension  143  for handset  142 , step  256 , thereby allowing the previously established voice call to be re-connected (although, it should be noted that the physical PSTN connection between the changeover bridgeport and the destination PSTN extension is maintained throughout the direct connect process; rather, it is the data connection between the client computer and the changeover bridgeport that is disconnected and reestablished). In an alternate embodiment, direct connect software may be pre-installed on client computer  102 , e.g. as an integral part of client bridgeport application described earlier. 
     Returning now to step  228  of FIG. 2B, in one embodiment, changeover bridgeport  165  proceeds to step  238  directly, without first monitoring the quality of the voice call, if the changeover bridgeport  165  “knows” a priori that the quality of the voice call will be below an acceptable threshold. For example, assume that it has been determined that the quality of a voice call drops below a predetermined quality level when the number of intermediate servers between a client computer (e.g., client computer  102 ) and a changeover bridgeport (e.g., changeover bridgeport  165 ) exceeds a certain number N 2 . Given this example, notwithstanding the fact that changeover bridgeport  165  was selected as the “best” changeover bridgeport from the “community” of bridgeports, if the actual number of intermediate servers N 1  between client computer  102  and changeover bridgeport  165  exceeds N 2 , changeover bridgeport  165  will know, before the voice call has been established, that the quality of the voice call will be below the acceptable predetermined quality level. In one embodiment, the number of intermediate servers is returned to changeover bridgeport  165  when page bridgeport  162  selects bridgeport  165  as the changeover bridgeport, and registers the voice call with changeover bridgeport  165 . In one embodiment, changeover bridgeport  165  preserves the inputs along with the registration information for use at step  228 . In another embodiment, bridgeport  165  may retain up to a predetermined number of “bid responses”, which will include the number of intermediate servers, for a period of time sufficiently long to ensure that if bridgeport  165  is selected as the changeover bridgeport, the bid response information is available. 
     In an alternate embodiment, changeover bridgeport  165  proceeds to step  238  directly, without having first monitored the quality of the voice call, if changeover bridgeport  165  was instructed to do so by page bridgeport  162  when page bridgeport  162  selects bridgeport  165  as the changeover bridgeport and registers the voice call. Page bridgeport  162  may select to so instruct changeover bridgeport  165  based on a similar decision process described earlier for the case where changeover bridgeport  165  makes the decision. Alternatively, page bridgeport  162  may do so because it is so instructed by web server  128 , through parameters embedded within the Push-To-Talk™ button. In other words, the Push-To-Talk™ button, projected by web server  128 , is a “direct quality” Push-To-Talk™ button that inherently includes offering the user of client computer  102  to conduct the voice call via a direct connection at a “direct quality” level. 
     In summary, page bridgeport  162 , in response to a Push-To-Talk™ event notification, solicits inputs and selects a changeover bridgeport  165  from a “community” of bridgeports. The changeover bridgeport  165 , in response to the placement of a net call from client computer  102  establishes a PSTN connection to the appropriate PSTN extension and bridge the call. In so doing, client computer  102  may be offered to have the voice call conducted at a “direct quality” level via a direct connection between client computer  102  and changeover bridgeport  165 . The offer may be presented dynamically in the middle of the call, at the discretion of changeover bridgeport  165 , as it detects the quality of the voice call dropping below an predetermined quality level. Alternatively, the offer may be presented at the beginning of the voice call, at the discretion of changeover bridgeport  165 , page bridgeport  162  or web server  128 . 
     Note that except for the solicitation of the concurrence of the user of client computer  102  to switch to a direct connection with changeover bridgeport  165 , steps  204 - 206  are all performed automatically in response to step  202 , without requiring any intervention from the user of client computer  102 . In particular, it does not require the user of client computer  102  to enter the PSTN extension of handset  142 , nor the IP address of changeover bridgeport  165 . It does not even require the user of client computer  102  to know this information. All that is required of the user is metaphorically “pushing” the Push-To-Talk™ button projected by web server  128 . Furthermore, it should also be noted that the concurrence of the user of client computer  102  is not necessary. For example, in the instance where the direct connection will be toll free, e.g., a local call, or the changeover bridgeport has an “800” access number, or the toll charge is to be borne by the web server, the Push-To-Talk™ button may be embedded with direct connection software that automatically establishes a direct connection with the changeover bridgeport. 
     It should also be noted that the voice connection has minimal impact on establishing any additional data connections with any number of web servers  120  and  128 . In other words, client computer  102  may continue to browse webpages offered by web servers  120  and  128 , while simultaneously supporting the voice connection with handset  142  via changeover bridgeport  165 . In addition, although there may be a number of intermediate routers in Internet  150  between changeover bridgeport  165  and client computer  102 , changeover bridgeport  165  is the only server charged with supporting both the voice connection and the H.323 connection, while the voice connection is transparent to the intermediate routers. In other words, the information exchange between changeover bridgeport  165 , through the plurality of intermediate routers of Internet  150 , to client computer  102  will appear as normal data packets to the intermediate routers. 
     Returning now to the selection of an internet/PSTN changeover server described in step  210 , page bridgeport  162  selects changeover bridgeport  165  from a community of bridgeports. In one embodiment, page bridgeport  162  first solicits input on a number of call characteristics from each bridgeport member of the community. The call characteristics may include the number of intermediate servers (Is) required to connect client computer  102  with the responding bridgeport member, the toll charge (Tc) that may be incurred by placing the telephone call from the responding bridgeport, the bandwidth (B) currently available on the responding bridgeport, the number of PSTN connections (P) supported by the responding bridgeport, service premiums (S), if any, charged by the responding bridgeport, and so forth. In the context of the example implementation, one member bridgeport may respond with an indication that there are no intermediaries between itself and client computer  102  which may provide a higher quality of service, however, given its connection point to PSTN  140 , there may be a significant toll charge incurred in placing the telephone call to handset  142  from this member bridgeport. On the other hand, another member bridgeport may respond with a low toll charge, but with a higher number of intermediaries as the voice data will have to route through a large number of routers. 
     In any event, for the illustrated embodiment, page bridgeport  162  calculates a Call Metric (CM) for each of the responding bridgeport that is representative of the bridgeports ability to establish and facilitate the voice call between client computer  102  and handset  142 . Equation (1) is an exemplary equation used to calculate the Call Metric for each of the responding bridgeport, wherein the bridgeport with the lowest CM is determined to be able to provide the best all around service. It should be noted that equation (1) is merely illustrative, as one skilled in the art will appreciate that suitable alternative equations may be beneficially employed to calculate alternative call metrics.                CM   i     =         W   1          (     Is   i     )       +       W   2          (     Tc   i     )       +       W   3       B   i       +       W   4       P   i       +       W   5          (     S   i     )                 (   1   )                                
     where: 
     Is number of intermediate servers 
     Tc toll charge estimate 
     B available bandwidth on responding server 
     P number of PSTN ports available on responding server 
     S premium service charge 
     W weighting factor 
     In one embodiment of the present invention, the number of intermediate servers (Is) is determined by each of the responding bridgeports from the community of bridgeports through the use of a “traceroute” function, common to the UNIX network operating environment. As one skilled in the art will appreciate, the execution of a “traceroute” command by a bridgeport will produce a result quantifying the number of intermediate routers between the execution bridgeport and a destination address (provided in the command line). Accordingly, in one embodiment, the execution of the command: “traceroute (IP_address)”, will return a number representative of the intermediate routers required for the responding bridgeport to communicate with the source address, represented by IP_address. 
     In one embodiment, an estimate of the toll charge is determined locally at the responding bridgeport by accessing a toll rate table stored on the responding bridgeport. An example toll rate table is depicted in Table 1. As illustrated in the example toll rate table of Table 1, an estimate toll charge is determined by analyzing the components of the destination telephone number against a toll charge hierarchy. If none of the elements of the destination telephone number match (i.e., hit) the elements of the toll rate table, a high toll charge estimate is returned. If, however, there is a hit on the area code and the telephone number prefix, a much lower toll charge or even toll free estimate is returned. In alternate embodiments of the present invention, the responding bridgeport may query the local SSP (i.e., the SSP to which it is coupled) to ascertain a specific toll charge value. In such a case, the communication between the responding bridgeport and the local SSP is conducted via an out-of-band signaling protocol such as Signaling System 7 (SS7). 
     
       
         
               
             
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 TOLL CHARGE LOOKUP TABLE 
               
             
          
           
               
                 Elements of Destination Telephone No. 
                 Relative Toll Charge Estimate 
               
               
                   
               
               
                 No Hit 
                 $ $ $ $ 
               
               
                 Area Code Hit 
                 $ $ 
               
               
                 Area Code and PSTN Prefix Hit 
                 0 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
     In an alternate embodiment, page bridgeport  162  may also involve client computer  102  in the selection of changeover bridgeport  165 , by presenting the solicited responses to the client computer  102 , in even an uncondensed or a condensed format. Whether client computer  102  should be involved in the selection process is a design choice, a trade off between ease of use (without requiring intervention from the user of client computer  102 ) and functionality (allowing the user of client computer  102  to veto or influence the selection). Between the two distinct choices, a number of hybrid arrangements can also be made. 
     It should also be noted that while bridgeport  162  is being described as page bridgeport and bridgeport  165  is being described as changeover bridgeport, being members of a community of bridgeports, a member bridgeport not only may be a page bridgeport at one point in time, and a changeover bridgeport at another time, a member bridgeport actually can be a page bridgeport and a changeover bridgeport at the same time for either the same or different clients. As will be readily apparent from the descriptions to follow, bridgeports  162  and  165  of the present invention can be practiced with computer servers programmed to perform the above described bridgeport functions, thus it is expected that a bridgeport may be integrated with other equipment in a variety of manners, for examples, with a web server, an ISP, a STP, and so forth. 
     Turning now to FIGS. 3 and 4, two block diagrams illustrating the hardware and software elements of an exemplary computer server  300  suitable to be employed as a bridgeport are depicted. As illustrated, exemplary computer server  300  is comprised of multiple processors  302   a - 302   n  and memory subsystem  308  coupled to processor bus  304  as depicted. Additionally, computer server  300  is comprised of a second bus  310 , a third bus  312  and a fourth bus  314 . In one embodiment, buses  312  and  314  are Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) buses, while bus  310  is an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus. PCI buses  312  and  314  are bridged by bus bridge  316 , and bridged to ISA bus  310  and processor bus  304  by I/O controller  306 . Coupled to PCI bus  312  are network interface  318  and display interface  320 , which in turn is coupled to display  322 . Coupled to PCI bus  314  is computer telephony interface (CTI)  324 , PSIN interface  326  and SS 7  Interface  328 . Coupled to ISA bus  310  are hard disk interface  330 , which in turn is coupled to a hard drive  332 . Additionally, coupled to ISA bus  310 . keyboard and cursor control device  334 , which in turn is coupled keyboard  336  and cursor control device  338 . 
     CTI interface  324  provides the necessary hardware to interface exemplary computer server  300  to telephony equipment, such as private branch exchange (PBX) equipment. PSTN interface  326  provides the necessary hardware to interface exemplary computer server  300  to a plurality of PSTN communication lines (e.g., T1, E1 or POTS), wherein the actual number of PSTN communication lines interfaced will be implementation dependent. Additionally, PSTN interface  326  provides advanced DSP-based voice, dual-tone multiple frequency (DTMF) and call progress functionality, which allows for downloadable DSP protocol and voice processing algorithms, thereby providing CODEC support locally on the interface. Examples of supported codecs include the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) codec and the ITU-T G.723.1 protocol codecs, the specification for which are commonly available from the GSM consortium and the International Telecommunications Union, respectively. Similarly, SS7 interface  328  provides the hardware necessary to interface exemplary computer server  300  with PSTN trunk lines (e.g., ISDN) supporting the out-of-band communication protocol (e.g., SS7)) used between PSTN network elements (i.e., SSP-SSP, SSP-STP, STP-SCP, etc.). In one embodiment, PSTN interface  326  is preferably an AG-T1™ (for U.S. implementations, while an AG-E1 may be seamlessly substituted for European implementations), while SS7 interface  328  is preferably the TX3000™, both of which, along with their accompanying software drivers, are manufactured by and commonly available from Natural MicroSystems of Natick, Massachusetts. Otherwise, all other elements, processors  302 *, memory system  308  and so forth perform their conventional functions known in the art. Insofar as their constitutions are generally well known to those skilled in the art, they need not be further described. 
     From a software perspective, FIG. 4 illustrates the software elements of exemplary computer server  300 . In particular, exemplary computer server  300  is shown comprising an application layer consisting of a Bridgeport Management Driver  402 , Hop Off™ 4  driver  404 , and other drivers  406 . Hop Off™ driver  404 , supported by Management Driver  402 , optional drivers  406 , and abstracted service layer  408  implements the method steps of FIG. 2 that are the responsibility of the community of bridgeports (i.e., bridgeports  162 , and  165 ). Accordingly, changeover bridgeport  165  may be referred to as a Hop Off™ bridgeport, in view of its incorporation of Hop Off™ driver  404 . 
       4  Hop Off™ is a Trademark of eFusion™, Incorporated of Beaverton, Oreg.  
     The Service Abstraction Layer (SAL)  408  is shown comprising SS7 services  410 , CTI Services  411 , Management Services  412 , Connection Services  414 , Streaming Services  416 , and Data Services  418 . The protocol/service layer is shown comprising Telephony Application Programming Interface (TAPI)  420 , Telephony Connection Protocol  422 , PSTN Data Interface  424 , CODEC  426 , Real Time (Streaming) Protocol  428 , and HTTP server  434 . Also shown in this “layer” are configuration management data  419  maintained by management service  412 , and codec services  426  employed by streaming services  416 . The driver layer is shown comprising SS7 driver  427 , CTI driver  429 , PSTN driver  430  and socket service  432 . Data and control information are exchanged between these elements in the fashion depicted. 
     Within the context of the present invention, one purpose of SAL  408  is to provide an Application Programming Interface (API) for all the available bridgeport and related services in exemplary computer server  300 . The API abstracts out the actual modules used for providing services such as connection establishment ( 414 ), streaming and data exchange services ( 416  and  418 ). Additionally, SAL  408  provides the common operation tools such as queue management, statistics management, state management and the necessary interface between the software services (i.e., drivers in the driver layer). SAL  408  is also responsible for loading and unloading the appropriate drivers as appropriate. 
     Connection service  414  includes a connection establishment and tear-down mechanism facilitating the interconnection to the PSTN  140 . Additionally, for the illustrated embodiment, connection service  414  employs connection and compatibility services which facilitate interoperation between communication equipment that support industry standards, thereby allowing a variety of communication equipment manufactured by different vendors to be benefited from the present invention. Connection services  414  include, in particular, services for supporting standard video telephony, such as ITU-T&#39;s H.323 video telephony, and standard data communication, such as ITU-T&#39;s T.120 data communication protocol. Examples of the connection establishment and tear-down mechanisms supported by connection service layer  414  include opening and starting PSTN ports, call control, DTMF collection, and tone generation, to name but a few. 
     Streaming service  416  is responsible for interfacing with the components that provide the real-time streaming functionality for the multimedia data. Once the connection has been established between the connection points (i.e., PSTN, H.323, etc.), streaming service  416  will take over the management and streaming of data between the two connected parties, until the connection is terminated. CODEC service  426  facilitates the above described compression and transmission of inbound call signals from handset  142  as well as decompression and transmission of outbound call signals from client computer  102 . 
     Data service  418  is responsible for providing non real-time peer to peer (i.e., computer-computer) messaging and data exchange between exemplary computer server  300  and other Internet and perhaps PSTN based applications. Sending messages to exemplary computer server end-points (i.e., other similarly equipped bridgeports on the Internet) or other servers within the PSTN is accomplished via data service  418 . 
     CTI services  411  service all communications and automatic call distribution (ACD) necessary for Private Branch Exchange (PBX) based systems. SS7 services  410  service all out of band communications with STPs and/or SCPs of PSTN  140 . 
     PSTN driver  430  is equipped to accommodate particularized PSTN interfaces  326 , whereas CTI driver  429  is equipped to support particularized ACD and PBX equipment. Similarly, SS7 driver  427  is equipped to support particularized SS7 interface  328 . 
     Turning now to FIGS. 5,  6  and  7 , graphical representations of alternate embodiments of a Push-To-Talk™ indicator for requesting a voice communication session, suitable for use in the exemplary communication system of FIGS. 1-4, is shown. In FIG. 5, indicator  500  is a binary prompt embedded in the HTML information for a webpage projected by a web server (e.g., web server  128 ), and is selectively actuated by a user to initiate a voice connection with a PSTN extension associated with a handset. In one embodiment, indicator  500  is a Push-To-Talk™ button. In response to a user actuation of Push-To-Talk™ button  500 , a prompt  502  for location information is projected to the user of client computer  102 . In one embodiment, prompt  502  may be a pull-down selection of predetermined locations (e.g., city/state and country locations), wherein the user is requested to make a selection of a location closest to the user. In response to providing the location information, an additional prompt  504  may then be generated which allows the user to set the weighting of different characteristics associated with establishing and facilitating the voice connection (e.g., cost and call quality). In one embodiment, call characteristic prompt  504  includes slide members  506  and  508  which are selectively manipulated by the user of client computer  102  to correspond to “weighting values” (W i ) to be given to, for example, cost and connection quality, respectively. 
     Alternatively, in FIG. 6, indicator  600  is shown comprising Push-To-Talk™ button  500  and location information prompt  502 . In response to the coextensive selection of location information and the actuation of Push-To-Talk™ button  500 , an additional prompt  504  may then be generated which allows the user to set the weighting of different characteristics associated with establishing and facilitating the voice connection (e.g., cost and call quality). In the alternate embodiment of FIG. 7, exemplary indicator  700  is shown comprising Push-To-Talk™ button  500 , location information prompt  502  and call characteristic prompt  504 . In accordance with the coextensive selection of location information and call characteristic information with the actuation of Push-To-Talk™ button  500 , the establishment of a voice connection is initiated in accordance with the method steps of FIGS. 2A-2C. In alternate embodiments, the location and call characteristic information may be collected from information resident on the client computer at the start-up of the internet telephony software, the bridgeport client application software, or by querying the internet browser application running on the client computer (via a “cookie”). 
     While the method and apparatus of the present invention has been described in terms of the above illustrated embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the invention is not limited to the embodiments so described. In particular, the present invention may beneficially be implemented in combination with other technology to accommodate a wide variety of communication needs. For example, in one embodiment, the Push-To-Talk™ service instead of being offered by the corporate web server, may be offered by an independent third party. Accordingly, an intermediate third party server (or bridgeport) other than the web server may “inject” a Push-To-Talk™ button into the information exchange between the web server and the client computer which, when enabled, will initiate a voice call to the local affiliate. Just such an invention is discussed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/818,771, entitled “Method and Apparatus for Value Added Content Delivery”, filed contemporaneously herewith and commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference. In other communication environments, it may be beneficial for the user of the client computer and the user of the PSTN extension (who also has access to a computer) to view common information on the computer displays while maintaining the voice connection (e.g., a customer service, help desk, sales, etc.). A description of just such an invention is discussed in the U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Synchronizing Information Browsing Among Multiple Systems”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/818,741 filed contemporaneously herewith and commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference. In other embodiments, it may be beneficial to provide customized call processing services to the communication environment. Examples of such customized call processing services include providing an automated call attendant service having specialized call processing features. Just such an invention is disclosed in the U.S. patent application entitled “Method and Apparatus for Providing Customized Call Processing”, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/818,579 filed contemporaneously herewith and commonly assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosure of which is fully incorporated herein by reference. All of the foregoing patent applications are expressly incorporated herein by reference. Thus, the present invention can be practiced with modification and alteration within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Accordingly, the description is to be regarded as illustrative instead of restrictive on the present invention. 
     Thus, a method and apparatus for establishing and facilitating a direct quality voice call to a telephone extension on behalf of a client computer has been described.