Patent ID: 6956820

Claim:
A method for providing a network-aware media gateway having voice over IP (VoIP) hosts, the method comprising: in a media gateway: (a) providing a plurality of voice over IP hosts containing media processing modules for processing media streams associated with media sessions between media gateways; (b) assigning a first set of IP addresses to the voice over IP hosts; (c) providing a plurality of network interfaces for connecting the voice over IP hosts to a network; (d) assigning a second set of IP addresses to the network interfaces, wherein addresses in the second set of IP addresses differ from addresses in the first set of IP addresses; and (e) providing a plurality of per interface routers corresponding to the plurality of network interfaces, wherein the per interface routers advertise reachability information regarding at least one of the voice over IP hosts to the network via at least two of the interfaces and wherein the per interface routers receive network routing information from the network and generate per interface routing tables based on the network routing information.