Patent ID: 7643446

Claim:
A method for use in a wireless network for determining nodes through which media traffic will be routed in the wireless network comprising the steps of: determining, in response to a call from a first wireless subscriber unit, whether a home node of the first wireless subscriber unit should not be used as a node in a media channel associated with the call; the determining step including: transmitting a setup message from the calling party's home node of the first wireless subscriber unit to a called party's home node of a second wireless subscriber unit, where the setup message contains a request by the home node of the first wireless subscriber unit not to be included in the media channel associated with the call, the setup message containing an address for the home node of the first wireless subscriber unit and an address of a serving node of the first wireless subscriber unit; determining by the called party's home node whether to comply with the request and communicating the latter determination to the home node of the first wireless subscriber unit; transmitting a connect message by the home node of the first wireless subscriber unit to a serving node of the first wireless subscriber unit where the connect message includes a media address to which media channel communications associated with the call are to be directed by the serving node, the media address being the address of the home node of the first wireless subscriber unit upon the called party's home node determining that it will not comply with the request and being the address of the home node of the second wireless subscriber unit upon the called party's home node determining that it will comply with the request; establishing the media channel without incorporating the home node of the calling party as part of a path of the media channel upon the called party's home node determining that it will comply with the request.