Patent ID: 7529557

Claim:
An apparatus for providing advanced voice services in a wireless network, comprising: a mobile phone network for making calls between mobile phones, wherein the calls are initiated by call setup and in-band signaling within the mobile phone network and voice frames for the calls are routed between the mobile phones through at least one mobile switching center and across bearer paths in the mobile phone network; and a real-time exchange that interfaces to at least one mobile switching center in the mobile phone network to provide the advanced voice services therein, the advanced voice services including a capability to make a Press-to-Connect (PTC) call between an initiator mobile phone and one or more recipient mobile phones within the mobile phone network, wherein the PTC call comprises a time-limited Press-to-Talk (P2T) call having a duration controlled by the real-time exchange, both the real-time exchange and the mobile phones that use the PTC call communicate with each other using the call setup and in-band signaling within the mobile phone network, and the real-time exchange switches the voice frames for the PTC call between the initiator mobile phone and the recipient mobile phones across the bearer paths and through at least one mobile switching center in the mobile phone network.