This press release gave me a chuckle. It uses a "best guess" technique to figure out where the call should be routed. Computer: "Hmmmm, I think this VoIP call should go here. Oh wait... Maybe over here...."

Actually, the way it works is that it directs incoming phone calls to a subscriber by first attempting to locate the subscriber at the best guess location. If the best guess location does not successfully answer or is not attempted first, an alternate search method is used, usually searching the remaining numbers associated with the subscriber.

Anyway, here's the release:

SS8 Networks Granted New Patent for Enhancing Voice Processing

Expands Technology Leadership with System for Locating Subscribers Using "Best Guess" Algorithm

SAN JOSE, Calif. - July 20, 2004 - SS8 Networks, a leading developer of signaling and enhanced solutions for the telecommunications industry, announced today that it has been granted Patent No. 6,678,366 B1 by the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office. The new patent, titled "System and Method for Locating Subscribers Using a Best Guess Location Algorithm," is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/387,228, filed August 31, 1999. This telephony invention directs incoming phone calls to a subscriber by first attempting to locate the subscriber at the best guess location. If the best guess location does not successfully answer or is not attempted first, an alternate search method is used.

"The issuance of this patent reinforces SS8 Networks' technology leadership in the field of telecommunications," said SS8 Networks President and CEO Grant Wakelin. "We continue to make investments in technology for the benefit of our customers, and this patent expands and complements the many other signaling and voice and data processing inventions secured by the company."

With the best guess location (BGL) technology, the telephony service first attempts to reach the subscriber at the phone number where it last reached the subscriber to connect an incoming call. Otherwise, the telephony service will use an alternative method to poll the remaining numbers associated with the subscriber. Polling alternatives can be driven by the subscriber, who specifies the order of the telephone numbers to be polled, or by a history database, which computes the likelihood that the subscriber is located at a specified telephone number at a particular time.

The BGL technology also is applicable to other types of real-time communications, such as voice over IP (VoIP) telephone connections where the
subscriber is assigned an IP address instead of a telephone number. In
addition, the patent can be applied to other types of real-time communication systems, such as video/audio communication systems using Internet or other data network connections. In these systems, each subscriber would have a main IP address that is directed to a call/connection management system that then redirects each inbound connection request to one of a list of IP addresses associated with the subscriber, using the same techniques mentioned above for polling conventional telephone devices.