Patent ID: 7493145

Claim:
A method of providing a telephony service comprising: creating, within a computer communications network, a database of subscriber identities and subscriber voice prints and telephony services associated with said subscriber identities; receiving a phone call from a subscriber from an originating device connected to a public switched telephone network connected to the computer communications network via a media gateway; determining by switching systems within the public switched telephone network that the phone call is to be routed to the media gateway based on a called number specified by the phone call; translating the called number to a network address by the media gateway; obtaining a voice sample from the subscriber; packetizing by the media gateway the voice sample received from the subscriber over the public switched telephone network for communication over the computer communications network; identifying a voice print from the voice sample by a voice server connected to the computer communications network, the voice print uniquely identifying the subscriber; determining a subscriber identity according to the identified voice print by comparing the identified voice print with the subscriber voice prints stored in the database, the determination being made by the voice server, the voice server being communicatively linked to the database; during a telephone call in which said subscriber participates, activating a telephony service executing on a telephony application server connected to the computer communications network, wherein the telephony service is associated with said subscriber according to said determined subscriber identity and wherein the telephony service is activated in response to the determining of the subscriber identity based upon the voice print identification; and charging a fee for the telephony service activated during the telephone call, the fee being charged by the telephony application server to an account associated with said subscriber according to said determined subscriber identity.