Granted Patent B1

US 8,064,354 · App. 12/840,687 · Granted Nov 22, 2011

Assignee: IntelePeer, Inc.

Abstract

Claims (35)

1. A method for routing a call between an ingress point and an egress point, the call being initiated at the ingress point through entry of an identifier associated with the egress point, the method comprising:

receiving the call at a routing component from the ingress point;

determining at the routing component if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in a registry, wherein the egress point is a destination for the call, and wherein storage in the registry indicates registration for direct call routing to the egress point;

if the identifier is stored in the registry, determining at the routing component a delivery route for the call, wherein the delivery route comprises (i) a first path to the egress point if the first path is available, wherein the first path is a dedicated connection to the egress point (ii) a second path to the egress point if the first path is unavailable, wherein the second path is a connection to a carrier associated with the egress point, and (iii) a third path to the egress point if the first and second paths are unavailable, wherein the third path is a connection through a public switched telephone network and local exchange carrier associated with the egress point, wherein a path is deemed available based on its ability to carry the call along the path and unavailable based on its inability to carry the call along the path; and

transmitting the call to the egress point based upon the determined delivery route.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the call at a routing component from the ingress point comprises receiving the call directly from the ingress point or from an interexchange carrier associated with the ingress point.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving at least one of an identifier and an interne protocol (IP) address associated with an egress point;

creating a registry entry comprising the at least one of the identifier and the IP address; and

storing the registry entry in the registry.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein determining at the routing component if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in a registry comprises searching the registry to determine if a stored registry entry comprises the identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a signaling protocol utilized by the ingress point and a signaling protocol utilized by the egress point; and

converting the call to a format compatible with the signaling protocol of the egress point if the egress point signaling protocol differs from that of the ingress point.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifier comprises a E.164 number.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining at the routing component if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in a registry is performed if an identifier associated with the ingress point is stored in the registry.

8. A system for routing a call between an ingress point and an egress point, the call being initiated at the ingress point through entry of an identifier associated with the egress point, the system comprising:

a network that interconnects ingress points and egress points; a registry for storing identifiers, each identifier associated with a corresponding ingress point or egress point, wherein the egress point is a destination for the call, and wherein storage in the registry indicates registration for direct call routing to the corresponding egress point; and

a routing circuit connectable to the ingress points and the egress points, the routing circuit configured to:

receive the call from the ingress point; determine if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in the registry; if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in the registry, determine a delivery route for the call, wherein the delivery route comprises (i) a first path to the egress point if the first path is available, wherein the first path is a dedicated connection to the egress point (ii) a second path to the egress point if the first path is unavailable, wherein the second path is a connection to a carrier associated with the egress point, and (iii) a third path to the egress point if the first and second paths are unavailable, wherein the third path is a connection through a public switched telephone network and local exchange carrier associated with the egress point, wherein a path is deemed available based on its ability to carry the call along the path and unavailable based on its inability to carry the call along the path; and transmit the call to the egress point based upon the determined delivery route.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the routing circuit to receive the call from the ingress point comprises the routing circuit configured to receive the call directly from the ingress point or from an interexchange carrier associated with the ingress point.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the routing circuit is further configured to: receive at least one of an identifier and an internet protocol (IP) addressed associated with an egress point;

create a registry entry comprising the at least one of the identifier and the IP address;

and store the registry entry in the registry.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the routing circuit configured to determine if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in a registry comprises the routing circuit configured to search the registry to determine if a stored registry entry comprises the identifier.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein the routing circuit is further configured to:

determine a signaling protocol utilized by the ingress point and a signaling protocol utilized by the egress point; and

convert the call to a format compatible with the signaling protocol of the egress point if the egress point signaling protocol differs from that of the ingress point.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the identifier comprises a E.164 number.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein the routing circuit determines if the identifier associated with the egress point is stored in the registry if an identifier associated with the ingress point is stored in the registry.

15. A method for routing a call between an ingress point and an egress point, the call being initiated at the ingress point through entry of an E.164 number associated with the egress point, the method comprising:

receiving the call at a routing component from the ingress point;

determining at the routing component if the number associated with the egress point is stored in a registry, wherein the egress point is a destination for the call, and wherein storage in the registry indicates registration for direct call routing to the egress point;

if the number associated with the egress point is stored in the registry, determining at the routing component a delivery route for the call, wherein the delivery route comprises (i) a primary path to the egress point if the primary path is available, wherein the primary path is a dedicated connection to the egress point and (ii) at least one secondary path to the egress point if the primary path is unavailable, wherein a first secondary path comprises a connection to a carrier associated with the egress point, wherein a second secondary path comprises a connection through a public switched telephone network and local exchange carrier associated with the egress point, and wherein the second secondary path is utilized upon a determination of unavailability of the first secondary path, wherein a path is deemed available based on its ability to carry the call along the path and unavailable based on its inability to carry the call along the path; and

transmitting the call to the egress point based upon the determined delivery route.

Assignments (20)