Patent ID: 7539176

Claim:
An apparatus for processing a call having associated therewith a remotely-computed virtual circuit, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory containing instructions executable by the processors, the processors when executing the instructions operable to: receive, at an intermediary node that comprises part of the remotely-computed virtual circuit, a service request for the call, the service request sent according to a protocol standard; analyze, at an intermediary node, the contents of the service request to identify any information elements marked as optional extensions to the protocol standard; process the identified information elements at the intermediary node to determine whether there is included therein an indication of whether at least one link type selected from the group comprising encrypted links, satellite links, and public infrastructure links is preferred or non-preferred for the call; if the indication is included, compare a table stored on the intermediary node to routing information for the remotely-computed virtual circuit to determine whether links that are within intermediary node's flooding group and utilized by the remotely-computed virtual circuit correspond to the indication; and assign a new virtual circuit for the call if the comparison indicates that the remotely-computed virtual circuit does not correspond to the indication, the new virtual circuit using at least one link from the intermediary node's flooding group that was not included in the remotely-computed virtual circuit; wherein the service request is interoperable with both intermediary nodes that are configured for support with the organization's optional extension and intermediary nodes that support the asynchronous transfer mode protocol but are not configured with support for the organization's optional extension; wherein the information element of the service request comprises: a predefined application type field to indicate that the information element is associated with an optional extension to the asynchronous transfer mode protocol; and a pass along bit to prevent nodes that do not understand the information element from dropping or rejecting the signaling message.