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Abstract

A communication system providing telephony communication across combined circuit switched and packet switched networks, such as a telephone network and the Internet, which are connectable to terminals, such as telephones and computers, for selective communication therebetween. The communication system includes a directory object in the packet switched network, multiple gateways between the circuit switched and packet switched networks providing controlled connectivity between those networks, and an interface between the directory object and the gateways. The directory object is preferably provided in hierarchical architecture as a unitary logical object having distributed instances. In addition to the customary address translation capability the directory object polls or communicates with the gateways through the additional interface and provides an intelligent routing function. The directory object is of an enhanced type with access to a storage of customer routing and handling selections. It includes routing algorithms for determining best routing based on customer prescribed parameters, and also based on provider parameters in the absence of customer preferences. Reservability of communication paths and/or bandwidth may be provided. The system architecture and methodology permits provision of specified bandwidth either on a subscribed basis or on point of call demand. Terminal to terminal communication paths of specified parameters may be reserved in advance.

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