Universal communications identifier

摘要

An approach is provided for supporting a plurality of communication modes through universal identification. A core identifier is generated for uniquely identifying a user among a plurality of users within the communication system. One or more specific identifiers are derived based upon the core identifier, wherein the specific identifiers serve as addressing information to the respective communication modes. The specific identifiers and the core identifier are designated as a suite of identifiers allocated to the user.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
determining a universal identifier for a party with respect to an overlay network in response to a request to establish a communication session with the party over the overlay network; selecting one of a plurality of communication modes provided by the overlay network; determining a specific identifier derived from the universal identifier according to the selected communication mode for establishing the communication session in the selected communication mode; generating the specific identifier by concatenating the universal identifier with an alphanumeric text associated with one of the communication modes; selecting another one of the communication modes for determining another specific identifier; and translating a first communication protocol corresponding to the selected one of the communication modes to a second communication protocol corresponding to the selected other one of the communication modes.