System and method for providing advanced telephony services using a virtual telephone number

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing advanced telephony services to telephone numbers served by telecommunications networks lacking the infrastructure to provide these advanced services directly are described. In an embodiment of the present invention, a service-providing network, which has the capability of providing advanced telephony services to a service subscriber for calls that traverse it, provides advanced telephony services to calls directed to a telephony device on a native transport network. The native transport network is a network that naturally carries a subscriber's calls but does not have the capabilities required to provide advanced services. In one embodiment, the system uses a virtual number to map a service in the service-provider network with a device in the native transport network.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.