Patent ID: 7881712

Claim:
A method for generating a signaling tone in a communications network, the method carried out at a gateway intermediate node located between a time division multiplex network and a packet switched network, and the method comprising the steps of: receiving, from one or more service providers, tone database configuration information related to one or more tone schemes; receiving a first message at the gateway intermediate node from a mobile switching center in the time division network, the first message initiating a call progress tone generation sequence; sending the first message from the gateway intermediate node to a call agent via the packet switched network; receiving a second message at the gateway intermediate node from the call agent, the second message representing a request for the gateway intermediate node to generate the tone, the second message containing information associated with the requested tone; using the information associated with the tone, accessing a preconfigured database to identify physical tone parameters needed to generate the tone, so that the gateway intermediate node is enabled to support multiple tone schemes and multiple service providers; and generating the tone based on the identified physical tone parameters at the gateway intermediate node, wherein the parameters stored in the database are defined by a user that accesses the gateway intermediate node using a data terminal directly connected to the intermediate node.