Patent ID: 8488447

Claim:
A method for establishing a telephone call over a packet network, said method comprising: receiving a call request to initiate the telephone call from an originating call device to a terminating call device at a call control manager located on the packet network, wherein the originating call device and the terminating call device are not in current communication; determining, by the call control manager, whether the originating call device is authorized to communicate with the terminating call device; responsive to a determination that the originating call device is not authorized to communicate with the terminating call device, transmitting a reject message to the originating call device indicating that the call request is rejected; responsive to a determination that the originating call device is authorized to communicate with the terminating call device, retrieving, by the call control manager, transmission path status information of a transmission path between the originating and terminating call devices; determining, by the call control manager, status of the transmission path on the packet network between the originating and terminating call devices; and responsive to a determination that the status of the transmission path is determined to be within a first range, establishing, by the call control manager, the telephone call between the originating and terminating call devices over the transmission path using a first CODEC having a first data rate; responsive to a determination that the transmission path is determined to be within a second range, determining if there is an alternate transmission path on the packet network between the originating and terminating call devices; in which the status of the alternate path is within the first range; responsive to a determination that there is an alternate transmission path on the packet network between the originating and terminating call devices having a status within the first range, establishing the telephone call between the originating and terminating call devices over the alternate transmission path using the first CODEC having the first data rate; and responsive to a determination that there is no alternate transmission path on the packet network between the originating and terminating call devices having a status within the first range, establishing the telephone call between the originating and terminating call devices over the transmission path using a second CODEC having a second, lower data rate.