IP TELEPHONY GATEWAY

摘要

The present invention provides an IP telephony gateway. According to a first aspect of the invention, the gateway provides communications between a switched circui t network (SCN) and an IP network. The gateway can handle calls between clients on the switched circuit network and IP clients on the IP network. The gateway provides supplementary call services/features for calls to/from IP clients on the IP network, thus providing IP clients with similar features to those that are available to terminals on a PBX. The gateway is preferably a PBX which supports the supplementary services/features. Advantageously, the gateway can also provide supplementary call services/features to calls between IP clients on the IP network. This can be achieved by routing call control signaling for IP client - IP client calls via the gatew ay where the services can be controlled. A further aspect of the invention provides an IP network in which IP clients have access to a range of supplementary call features/services. At least one of t he supplementary features/services is provided by a gateway, such as a PBX, at an interface to the IP network. A call from an IP client is routed via the gateway to app ly the supplementary feature/service.