Provisioning of emergency services in a voice-over-packet environment

摘要

The delivery of emergency services to users of a set of communication devices in a packet-switched network is enabled by a method that determines a routing key corresponding to a particular directory number that is associated with a particular communication device, and stores the directory number and the corresponding routing key in a database accessible to a packet switch. The steps of determining and storing are executed during a provisioning phase, in the absence of an emergency call placed by the communication device. The routing key is indicative of routing instructions to be followed by the packet switch upon receipt of a future emergency call placed by the communication device. When the call is received by the packet switch, it will consult the database to obtain the routing key associated with the directory number and send the call as well as the routing key over a path dedicated to emergency calls.