Patent ID: 6937596

Claim:
A hybrid telephony server for establishing calls to and from a subscriber connected through an access node to an Internet Protocol (IP)-based network, wherein the server is connected to the IP-based network and a circuit-switched telecommunications network, said server comprising: an interface with the access node for sending and receiving call setup messages to and from the access node; an interface with a telephone number/IP address database for obtaining IP addresses corresponding to dialed telephone numbers; an IP gateway that converts pulse code modulation (PCM) encoded signals to IP packets for transmission over the IP network, and converts IP packets received from the IP network to PCM encoded signals; an IP switch controller that communicates with and controls media gateways in the IP network; circuit-switched switching hardware for connecting calls to and from the circuit-switched telecommunications network; and a server controller connected to the interface with the access node, the interface with the telephone number/IP address database, the IP gateway, the IP switch controller, and the circuit-switched switching hardware, wherein the server controller determines from information received from the access node whether each call is an incoming call to the subscriber, an outgoing call from the subscriber, or a call between other parties, and determines whether each call received in the server is destined for the IP-based network or the circuit-switched telecommunications network, wherein, upon determining that a call is an incoming call from the IP-based network to the subscriber, the server controller controls the IP gateway and the IP switch controller to route the call from the IP network to the subscriber, wherein, upon determining that a call is an outgoing call from the subscriber to the IP-based network, the server controller controls the interface with the telephone number/IP address database to convert a dialed telephone number to an IP address for a further party, and controls the IP gateway and the IP switch controller to route the call from the subscriber to the IP network utilizing the converted IP address, wherein, upon determining that a call is an incoming call from the circuit-switched telecommunications network to the subscriber, the server controller controls the interface with the telephone number/IP address database to convert the dialed telephone number of the subscriber to an IP address, and controls the IP gateway and the IP switch controller to route the call from the subscriber through the IP network to the subscriber utilizing the converted IP address, and wherein, upon determining that a call is an outgoing call from the subscriber to the circuit-switched telecommunications network, the server controller controls the IP gateway and the circuit-switched switching hardware to connect the call from the subscriber to the circuit-switched telecommunications network.