Patent ID: 7738644

Claim:
A method for implementing a call jump from an outbound call, the method comprising: (a) receiving a session initiation protocol (SIP) message from a calling phone associated with a calling party for initiating a call with a called phone; (b) establishing the call between called phone and calling phone using a voice over IP (VoIP) application server; and (c) during the call, receiving at the VoIP application server an indication from the calling phone to jump the call to a user-selected destination, and, in response to receiving the indication to jump the call, jumping the call to the destination such that the call continues between the destination and the called phone, wherein jumping the call includes: (i) establishing, using SIP signaling, a media connection between the VoIP application server and the destination (ii) issuing a challenge to the destination over the media connection, wherein issuing a challenge to the destination includes requesting that the calling party at the destination enter predetermined digits to complete the jumping of the call; and (iii) in response to receiving the predetermined digits from the calling party at the destination over the media connection, initiating signaling from the VoIP application server to establish an audio stream between the called phone and the destination, wherein the destination comprises a phone separate from the called phone and wherein establishing the call between the calling phone and the called phone includes sending a SIP Invite message to a SIP gateway and wherein the SIP gateway generates and sends a corresponding SS7 message to an end office associated with the called phone.