Patent ID: 7792065

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting, by a first proxy, that a secure path between a first session initiation protocol client and a second session initiation protocol client should be created, wherein the secure path allows secure transmission of session setup messages; determining that the first proxy can support a secure path; forwarding a message sent from the first session initiation protocol client to a second proxy, wherein the message indicates a request for the secure path; receiving a session key from the second session initiation protocol client via the second proxy, wherein the session key indicates a portion of the secure path that comprises the second proxy; storing data that associates the session key with the second proxy and that indicates the second proxy as a next hop in the secure path to the second session initiation protocol client; forwarding the session key to the first session initiation protocol client to allow the first session initiation protocol client to send an invite message and the session key to the second session initiation protocol client over the secure path that comprises the first proxy and the second proxy; receiving the invite and the session key, from the first session initiation protocol client; using the session key and the stored data to determine the second proxy to be the next hop in the secure path; forwarding the invite and the session key to the second proxy; receiving an OK response to the invite and a network address of the second session initiation protocol client from the second session initiation protocol client via the second proxy; and forwarding the network address to the first client for the first client to create a secure data connection with the second session initiation protocol client based on the network address.