Patent ID: 8638780

Claim:
A system for obtaining an internet address associated with a telephone number, comprising: a wireless carrier network including: a subscriber database including subscriber information of at least one subscriber of the wireless carrier network; and a telephone number mapping (ENUMI gateway; wherein the ENUM gateway has a first interface and a second interface and is configured to: receive an ENUM query related to a target subscriber of the wireless carrier network from a third party using the first interface, wherein the ENUM query comprises a telephone number of the target subscriber; consult the subscriber database in response to the received ENUM query to obtain information related to the target subscriber using the second interface; forward the ENUM query to a public ENUM database using the first interface of the ENUM gateway when the subscriber database does not include the information related to the target subscriber requested by the third party, wherein the public ENUM database is external to the wireless carrier network and not directly linked to any wireless carrier network operator; receive a response to the ENUM query from the public ENUM database using the first interface of the ENUM gateway, wherein the response comprises information related to the telephone number of the target subscriber; and provide an ENUM response to the ENUM query to the third party including the information related to the target subscriber requested by the third party using the first interface of the ENUM gateway, wherein the third party uses the ENUM response to the ENUM query for routing purposes and billing purposes.