Telephone supporting selective local call termination and call bridging

In a telephony infrastructure supporting a first telephony device and a second telephony device via an Internet network and a public switched telephony network, a telephone comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• a user interface communicatively coupled to the processing circuitry;
• a first communication interface communicatively coupling the processing circuitry and the public switched telephone network;
• a second communication interface communicatively coupling the processing circuitry and the Internet network;
• and
• the processing circuitry, based on a first call setup signal received from the first telephony device via a first one of the first communication interface and the second communication interface, delivers a second call setup request signal to the second telephony device via a second one of the first communication interface and the second communication interface, and the processing circuitry responds to a first pick-up event signal received from the second telephony device by delivering a second pick-up event signal to the first telephony device.

A telephone comprising:

• processing circuitry;
• a first interface communicatively coupling the processing circuitry to a first network;
• a second interface communicatively coupling the processing circuitry to a second network;
• and
• the processing circuitry operable to:
• receive a first call setup request via the first interface;
• selectively prepare a second call setup request based upon the first call setup request;
• and
• send the second call setup request via the second interface.

A method for processing a call by a dual-mode telephone having both a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) interface and a packet data network interface, the method comprising:

• receiving a first call setup request from the PSTN via the PSTN interface;
• selectively preparing a second call setup request based upon the first call setup request;
• and
• sending the second call setup request to the Internet via the packet data network interface.

A method for processing a call by a dual-mode telephone having both a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) interface and a packet data network interface, the method comprising:

• receiving a first call setup request from the Internet via the packet data network interface;
• selectively preparing a second call setup request based upon the first call setup request;
• and
• sending the second call setup request to the PSTN via the PSTN interface.

A method for processing a call by a telephone having a packet data network interface, the method comprising:

• receiving a first call setup request from the Internet via the packet data network interface;
• retrieving telephony bridging instructions based upon the first call setup request;
• selectively preparing a second call setup request based upon the first call setup request and the telephony bridging instructions;
• and
• sending the second call setup request to the Internet via the packet data network interface.