Patent ID: 7353021

Claim:
An apparatus, comprising: one or more network controllers that serve to communicatively couple a first network component with a second network component, wherein the first network component sends a signaling message for the second network component to one or more of the one or more network controllers, wherein the signaling message comprises an indication of one or more media connections usable by the first network component; wherein one or more of the one or more network controllers serve to replace the indication of the one or more media connections usable by the first network component in the signaling message with wild card media connection information indicating the second network component is allowed to indicate to one or more of the one or more network controllers one or more media connections usable by the second network component and the wild card media connection information serves to direct the second network component to generate a reply signaling message comprising an indication of one or more of the one or more media connections usable by the second network component, and wherein the one or more of the one or more network controllers employ the indication of the one or more specific media connections usable by the first network component and the indication of the one or more specific media connections usable be the second network component to select one or more networks from a plurality of available networks for media connection of the first network component with the second network component.