Patent ID: 8130749

Claim:
A telephony bridge unit, comprising: A first interface for connecting to a connection-oriented switched telephony (COST) network; a second interface for connecting to a data network for data network telephony (DNT) calls; a protocol converter for converting calls between DNT and COST network protocols; a processor for managing operations of the bridge unit; and a data repository storing code and data; wherein the bridge unit, receiving a call from a caller on the COST network, accesses a look-up table in the data repository relating COST telephone numbers to data network addresses representing final destinations for the COST calls, retrieves a data network address associated with the COST telephone number, places a data network call on the DNT network to a destination using the data network address, connects the incoming COST and outgoing DNT calls, and translates protocol in both directions between the COST and the DNT networks while the calls are connected, and in the event of receiving a call from a caller on the data network, accesses information in the received call indicating a COST telephone number final destination, places a call on the COST network to the COST number, connects the incoming DNT and outgoing COST calls, and translates protocol in both directions between the DNT and the COST networks while the calls are connected.