Patent ID: 8139729

Claim:
A first network device for establishing a communication session between a calling party and a destination, the first network device comprising: a first network interface to: receive, from the calling party, a first inbound portion of an inbound call leg, and transmit, to a second network device, a second inbound portion of the inbound call leg; a second network interface to: receive, from the second network device, a first outbound portion of an outbound call leg that connects the calling party with the destination, and transmit, to the destination, a second outbound portion of the outbound call leg; and a processor operatively associated with the first network interface and the second network interface, the processor to: cause the first network interface to transmit the second inbound portion to the second network device, cause the second network interface to receive the first outbound portion when the second network device has interacted with the second inbound portion, and bridge the first inbound portion to the second outbound portion, in response to detecting a particular dual tone multifrequency (DTMF) signal, to maintain connectivity, where when bridging the first inbound portion to the second outbound portion, the processor is to: cause the second inbound portion to be dropped in response to a BYE request associated with the second inbound portion, and cause the first outbound portion to be dropped in response to a BYE request associated with the first outbound portion.