Patent ID: 7564840

Claim:
A system for transmitting media traffic over a packet-switched network, the system comprising: a first media gateway operable to receive the media traffic from third party networks and initiate transmission of the media traffic over the packet-switched network; and a soft switch operable to: receive signaling information associated with media traffic received at the first media gateway and extract therefrom a first identifier corresponding to a particular third party network and a second identifier corresponding to an intended destination for the media traffic; reference a configuration database using the first identifier in order to select therefrom call processing information specifically defined for the particular third party network, wherein the call processing information specifies provisioning instructions for transmitting media traffic received from the particular third party network across the packet-switched network; reference a routing database using at least the second identifier to select therefrom routing instructions for use in selecting a second media gateway for egressing the media traffic from the packet-switch network; and control the first media gateway to initiate the transmission of the media traffic across the packet-switched network in accordance with at least the provisioning instructions and the routing instructions.