In-band address tunneling

A method of operating a gateway comprising:

• a) receiving a request over a packet-based network to establish a call from a first communication client to a second communication client using a directory number associated with the second communication client, the request including a packet communication address associated with the first communication client;
• b) forwarding the request towards the second communication client via a service node;
• c) establishing a circuit-switched connection, which forms a portion of a bearer path for the call, over a circuit-switched telephone network with a first network gateway associated with the first communication client;
• d) establishing a packet connection with the second communication client over the packet-based network;
• e) receiving information from the first network gateway bearing on the packet communication address for the first communication client using in-band signaling over the circuit-switched connection;
• f) transferring the call from the portion of the bearer path to a packet-based session;
• and
• g) providing, via in-band signaling over the circuit-switched connection, information indicating that the call has been transferred, wherein traffic over the portion of the bearer path is digitized and transported in frames using a digital format comprising a plurality of bits, and the in-band signaling comprising replacing at least one of the plurality of bits in select ones of the frames with information corresponding to the packet communication address.

A gateway comprising:

• a) a plurality of communication interfaces;
• and
• b) a control system associated with the plurality of communication interfaces and configured to:
• i) receive a request over a packet network from a service node to establish a call from a first communication client to a second communication client using a directory number associated with the second communication client, the request including a packet communication address associated with the first communication client;
• ii) establish a circuit-switched connection, which forms a portion of a bearer path for the call, over a circuit-switched telephone network with a network gateway associated with the second communication client;
• iii) establish a packet connection, which forms the portion of the bearer path for the call, over the packet network with the first communication client;
• iv) provide to the network gateway information bearing on the packet communication address for the first communication client using in-band signaling over the circuit-switched connection;
• v) effect a transfer of the bearer path connection from the circuit-switched connection to a packet-switched connection;
• and
• vi) receive, via in-band signaling over the circuit-switched connection, information indicating that the call has been transferred, wherein traffic over the portion of the bearer path is digitized and transported in frames using a digital format comprising a plurality of bits, and the in-band signaling comprising replacing at least one of the plurality of bits in select ones of the frames with information corresponding to the packet communication address.

A gateway comprising:

• a) a plurality of communication interfaces;
• and
• b) a control system associated with the plurality of communication interfaces and configured to:
• i) receive a request over a packet network to establish a call from a first communication client to a second communication client using a directory number associated with the second communication client, the request including a packet communication address associated with the first communication client;
• ii) forward the request towards the second communication client via a service node;
• iii) establish a circuit-switched connection, which forms a portion of a bearer path for the call, over a circuit-switched telephone network with a first network gateway associated with the first communication client;
• iv) establish a packet connection, which forms the portion of the bearer path for the call, over the packet network with the second communication client;
• v) transfer the call from the portion of the bearer path to a packet-based session;
• and
• vi) provide, via in-band signaling over the circuit-switched connection, information indicating that the call is being transferred, wherein traffic over the portion of the bearer path is digitized and transported in frames using a digital format comprising a plurality of bits, and the in-band signaling comprising replacing at least one of the plurality of bits in select ones of the frames with information corresponding to the packet communication address.