Methods and apparatus to route a communication session directly to a voicemail mailbox

An apparatus comprising:

• a session initiation protocol (SIP) interface to receive a communication session initiation message for a voice over internet protocol call from a caller at a source telephone number, the communication session initiation message including a destination telephone number and a direct voicemail feature identifier;
• a direct voicemail configurer to determine that the direct voicemail feature identifier indicates that the caller requests that the call be sent to a voicemail mailbox associated with the destination telephone number;
• and
• a telephone number mapping (ENUM) querier to request a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the destination telephone number from a ENUM server, to receive from the ENUM server a list of URIs associated with the destination telephone number in response to the request, the list of URIs including indications of service names and service types, to select a voicemail URI from the list, and to replace a uniform resource locator of the communication session initiation message with the voicemail URI, the voicemail URI in the list of URIs including a service name indicating voicemail and a service type indicating voicemail,
• the direct voicemail configurer to forward the call directly to the voicemail mailbox associated with the destination telephone number without ringing the destination telephone number, by:
• inserting the destination telephone number in a redirecting number field,
• replacing content of a destination field with an identifier associated with a voicemail server containing the voicemail mailbox, and
• forwarding the communication session initiation message to a call session control function server.

A system comprising:

• a call session control function server to receive a communication session initiation message for a voice over internet protocol call from a caller at a source telephone number and to forward the communication session initiation message, the communication session initiation message including a destination telephone number and a direct voicemail feature identifier;
• and
• a feature server to:
• determine that the direct voicemail feature identifier of the communication session initiation message received from the call session control function server indicates that the caller requests that the call be sent to a voicemail mailbox associated with the destination telephone number;
• request a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the destination telephone number from a telephone number (ENUM) server;
• in response to the request, receive from the ENUM server a list of URIs associated with the destination telephone number, the list of URIs including indications of service names and service types;
• select a voicemail URI from the list, the voicemail URI in the list of URIs including a service name indicating voicemail and a service type indicating voicemail;
• replace a uniform resource locator of the communication session initiation message with the voicemail URI;
• and
• forward the call directly to the voicemail mailbox associated with the destination telephone number without ringing the destination telephone number, by:
• inserting the destination telephone number in a redirecting number field;
• and
• replacing content of a destination field with an identifier associated with a voicemail server containing the voicemail mailbox.

A tangible machine readable storage device comprising machine readable instructions that, when executed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

• accessing a communication session initiation message for a voice over internet protocol call from a caller, the communication session initiation message including a destination telephone number and a direct voicemail feature identifier;
• determining that the direct voicemail feature identifier indicates that the caller requests that the call be sent directly to a voicemail mailbox associated with the destination telephone number;
• requesting a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the destination telephone number from a telephone number (ENUM) server;
• selecting a voicemail URI from a list of URIs associated with the destination telephone number and received from the ENUM server, the list of URIs including indications of service names and service types, the voicemail URI on the list of URIs including a service name indicating voicemail and a service type indicating voicemail;
• replacing a uniform resource locator of the communication session initiation message with the voicemail URI;
• and
• forwarding the call directly to the voicemail mailbox associated with the destination telephone number without ringing a device at the destination telephone number, wherein the forwarding includes:
• inserting the destination telephone number in a redirecting number field;
• and
• replacing content of a destination field with an identifier associated with a voicemail server containing the voicemail mailbox.