At+t Corp.

Donna W Herrick

Rickie E Meis

In a network of telecommunication switches, a first switch redirects a to-be-covered call to a remote call-covering endpoint served by a second switch, without losing control over the call. The first switch accompanies connection of the call to the second switch with signaling that identifies the call as a coverage call. The second switch responds to the signaling by determining the available status of the remote covering endpoint and signaling the status back to the first switch. If the remote covering endpoint is available, the second switch takes steps to connect the call to the endpoint. If the remote covering endpoint is not available, the first switch disconnects the call from the second switch and proceeds to cover the call to an alternative covering endpoint. The net effect is that call coverage works--from a user viewpoint--identically across a network of switches as it does on a single switch.

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Thornton, CO, United States of America

Donna W Herrick