Patent ID: 7046683

Claim:
A packet voice gateway comprising: at least one voice data port configured to connect to and communicate with an access network device that is not a Publicly Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) switch and does not perform call switching; at least one packet data port configured to connect to and communicate with a packet-based network; and an access network interface configured to: exchange signaling, using an access network protocol, with the access network device connected to the voice data port, exchange signaling packets, using a packet-based gateway control protocol and the packet data port, with a call agent reachable over the packet-based network, and translate signaling between the access network protocol and the packet-based gateway control protocol, such that the gateway emulates a group of physical subscriber connections to the access network device, and such that the gateway controls the access network device directly based on commands in signaling packets issued by the call agent.