Patent ID: 7203190

Claim:
A method of routing in an Internet Protocol data network, which comprises: receiving a data packet originating from a calling user by a network node in the Internet Protocol data network; assigning a first piece of information contained in the data packet to a second piece of information available to the network node, the second piece of information relating to at least one of the calling user and services available to the calling user in the Internet Protocol data network; determining, with the network node, a route for the data packet through the Internet Protocol data network to a destination address within the Internet Protocol data network by determining at least one further network node within the Internet Protocol data network through which the route passes based on the second piece of information; passing on the data packet to a next network node on the determined route to the destination address within the Internet Protocol data network; uniquely determining the route of the data packet from the network node to a defined node of available nodes within the Internet Protocol data network; and upon receiving the data packet by the destination address, sending a response packet from the destination address to the calling user over the IP data network.