Method for dial plan parsing and a system incorporating the same

A method of parsing and routing a call, the method comprising:

• parsing a dial plan by automatically generating a state machine based upon a dial plan, wherein the parsing comprises:
• (a) receiving as input a human-readable dial plan configuration file, (b) parsing the human-readable configuration file, and (c) automatically generating as output, from the human-readable configuration file, a state machine comprising a machine-readable state table;
• applying call signaling data to said state machine;
• adapting a dial plan parser with the state machine to estimate a number of call signaling digits which follow a dial prefix, wherein an output from the state machine comprises an expected dialing length;
• based on the expected dialing length, beginning call routing before dialing is completed.

A gateway comprising:

• a dial plan parser comprising a state machine configured upon a dial plan;
• wherein the dial plan parser is (a) to receive as input a human-readable dial plan configuration file, (b) to parse the human-readable configuration file, and (c) to automatically generate as output, from the human-readable configuration file, a state machine comprising a machine-readable state table;
• and
• a call routing module adapted to transfer a call to a next point;
• wherein the dial plan parser is adapted with the state machine to estimate a number of call signaling digits which follow a dial prefix;
• wherein an output from the state machine comprises an expected dialing length;
• wherein the call routing module is able, based on the expected dialing length, to begin call routing before dialing is completed.