DYNAMIC ADDRESS MAPPING
First Claim
1. A method of determining the routing of a communication between an initiator and a recipient, comprising:
- storing associations between communication addresses as address mappings, wherein (i) each address mapping (a) is stored such that it is associated with an initiator address from which a communication is initiated and a recipient address to which the communication is addressed, (b) is retrievable using a combination of both the initiator address and the recipient address, and (c) stores an identifier for at least one final address to which the communication is to be delivered; and
(ii) an address mapping can be dynamically created in response to an edit request; and
determining a final address for a communication from an initiator address addressed to a recipient address, from the final address identified by a stored address mapping retrieved using a combination of the initiator address and the recipient address.
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Accused Products
Abstract
To permit communications between devices using different communication protocols, a mapping device is connected to one or more communication networks, and stores associations between communication addresses as dynamic address mappings. A dynamic address mapping is associated with an initiator address (from which the communication is initiated) and a recipient address (to which a communication is initially addressed) and minimally contains a final address (to which a communication is finally routed). A new dynamic address mapping can be created in response a request, typically from a communication initiator. Communications from the initiator address to the recipient address are routed to the final address, with appropriate format conversion if the protocol of the final address is different to that of the initiator address. A reply address may also be stored in a dynamic address mapping for return communications, and a reply mapping may be automatically generated to map the reply address to the initiator address.
43 Citations
29 Claims
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1. A method of determining the routing of a communication between an initiator and a recipient, comprising:
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storing associations between communication addresses as address mappings, wherein (i) each address mapping (a) is stored such that it is associated with an initiator address from which a communication is initiated and a recipient address to which the communication is addressed, (b) is retrievable using a combination of both the initiator address and the recipient address, and (c) stores an identifier for at least one final address to which the communication is to be delivered; and
(ii) an address mapping can be dynamically created in response to an edit request; and
determining a final address for a communication from an initiator address addressed to a recipient address, from the final address identified by a stored address mapping retrieved using a combination of the initiator address and the recipient address. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method of routing a communication, comprising:
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storing associations between communication addresses as address mappings, wherein each address mapping (i) is stored such that it is associated with an initiator address from which a communication is initiated and a recipient address to which the communication is addressed and which is addressable by the same communication protocol as the initiator address, (ii) is retrievable using a combination of both the initiator address and the recipient address, and (iii) stores an identifier for at least one final address to which the communication is to be delivered, and wherein at least one address mapping can be dynamically created in response to an edit request;
determining a final address for a communication from an initiator address addressed to a recipient address, from the final address identified by a stored address mapping retrieved using a combination of the initiator and recipient addresses; and
routing the communication from the initiator address to the final address. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. Apparatus for routing a communication, the apparatus comprising
mapping means adapted to communicate with one or more communication networks, the mapping means having a data store containing associations between communication addresses as address mappings, wherein each address mapping (a) is stored such that it is associated with an initiator address from which a communication is initiated and a recipient address to which the communication is addressed, (b) is retrievable using a combination of both the initiator address and the recipient address, and (c) stores an identifier for at least one final address to which the communication is to be delivered; - and
search means responsive to a lookup request specifying a combination of an initiator address and a recipient address, for searching the data store for an address mapping associated with the specified initiator and recipient addresses, and for identifying a final address from that address mapping if such an address mapping is found. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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Specification