Patent ID: 6940866

Claim:
A method for interconnecting SS7 signaling points (SPs), the method comprising: (a) connecting a plurality of SS7 link interface modules of an edge device to a plurality of signaling points (SPs) using a plurality of fixed-bandwidth SS7 signaling links; (b) connecting an Internet protocol (IP) interface module of the edge device to an IP-capable node using a variable-bandwidth signaling link; (c) multiplexing call signaling messages received from the SPs received over the fixed-bandwidth SS7 signaling links, converting the call signaling messages to the IP and transmitting the multiplexed, converted call signaling messages to the IP-capable node over the variable-bandwidth signaling link, wherein multiplexing the call signaling messages includes using a message transfer part (MTP) level 3 routing function on each of the SS7 link interface modules to send the call signaling messages to the IP interface module; and (d) at the IP interface module, receiving IP call signaling messages over the variable-bandwidth signaling link that are destined for one of the SPs, converting the IP call signaling messages to SS7 format, and forwarding the SS7-formatted call signaling messages to the SS7 link interface modules using an MTP level 3 routing function on the IP interface module.