Patent ID: 8311206

Claim:
A method for providing voicemail services to a subscriber of a private-branch exchange, the method comprising: exchanging, between a first gateway and a private-branch exchange, a first signaling message formed in accordance with a first signaling protocol of a digital private network signaling system; exchanging, between the first gateway and a second gateway, a second signaling message formed in accordance with a second signaling protocol for serving voice over internet-protocol services; exchanging, between the second gateway and a server for serving voicemail services, a third signaling message formed in accordance with a terminal-control protocol for an internet-protocol network; converting, at the first gateway, between the first and second signaling messages by processing the first signaling message to obtain the second signaling message for upstream communications and by processing the second signaling message to obtain the first signaling message for downstream communications; and converting, at the second gateway, between the second and third signaling messages by processing the second signaling message to obtain the third signaling message for upstream communications and by processing the third signaling message to obtain the second signaling message for downstream communications.