System and method for a home network telephone universal phone book

摘要

A system and method are provided for maintaining a universal phone book in a Home Network telephone system. The universal phone book system comprises a gateway to transceive calls via external communication medium and to act as a bridge between the external communication medium and a plurality of endpoint communications devices, which are typically telephones but can also be fax machines, video-phones, modems, or the like. The gateway also maintains a universal phone book that is accessible to all of the plurality of endpoints. The gateway establishes an out-of-band control channel between the gateway and each endpoint accessing the universal phone book. A system and method are provided for maintaining a universal phone book in a Home Network telephone system. The universal phone book system comprises a gateway (102) to transceive calls via external communication medium and to act as a bridge between the external communication medium and a plurality of endpoint communications devices (114-120), which are typically telephones but can also be fax machines, video-phones, modems, or the like. The gateway also maintains a universal phone book (112) that is accessible to all of the plurality of endpoints. The gateway establishes an out-of-band control channel between the gateway and each endpoint accessing the universal phone book.