MXPA97009392A - Method and apparatus for processing calls of da networks - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing data network communication calls. A calling party device sends a call start request to a data network node packaged from a computer. The request includes alternate caller device identifications, along with the respective priority of each device. The node of the packet data network determines the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available and initiates the communication between the device of the calling party and the device of the called party. The device of the called party may be, for example, a computer, a telephone or land line, a wireless mobile station, or a pager. If the device of the called party is a telephone, the node of the network of packaged data establishes a data network connection of the computer of the calling party and a telephone connection with the telephone of the called party and performs the required conversions to allow communication between the calling party's computer and the calling party's phone

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING CALLS OF DATA NETWORKS FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates in a general way to the processing of calls and more particularly to the processing of calls in data networks.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Packed data networks, such as the Internet, are becoming increasingly popular. Such packaged data networks are used for various communication purposes, such as file transfer, e-mail and multi-media information distribution (for example the World Wide Web World Wide Web). Recently, the packed data networks have been used for telephone calls. Specialized computer programming programs and systems are available which allow parties connected to the Internet via a computer to carry out a voice conversation. At the transmission end, programs and programming systems configure the computer to receive signals REF: 26152 of a user's voice (for example, from a microphone connected to the computer), convert the voice signals into appropriate packaged data for transmission via the Internet, and transmit the signals to the other party via the Internet. At the receiving end, programs and programming systems configure the computer to receive the packaged data from the Internet, convert the packaged data into voice signals, and send the voice signals to a speaker so that the user can hear the voice of the transmitting party. Many users of packaged data voice communication programming and programming systems do not have direct connections to the Internet. Such users connect their computers to the Internet via a telephone line connection and a modem. The user connects to the Internet by placing a modem call to an Internet access provider (PAl), which then provides the user with a connection to the Internet. One problem with Internet telephony is that users at both ends of the communication must be connected to the Internet before establishing the telephone connection. This is because there is no way to notify a user that an Internet phone call is waiting unless the user's computer is connected to the Internet. This results in a problem because, as stated above, most Internet users do not have a direct and permanent connection to the Internet, but instead place a modem call to a PAl when they want to connect. to the Internet. In the context of Internet telephony, this means that both ends of the Internet call must know the particular type when the conversation is desired, and make sure they are connected at that moment. One way to achieve this is to have a predetermined time for the call. However, this is undesirable since people's agendas often change and in this way it can be difficult to set a predetermined time. Another problem with a predetermined time is that a voice call often initiated by a party calling the called party and the exact time of such a call is unknown by the called party. One way to handle this is for the calling party to first make a conventional telephone call to the called party and request that the called party connect to a computer to the Internet in advance of a calling party's Internet call. Both parties then end the conventional telephone call, connect their respective computers to the Internet via their PAl, and then the telephone call can be established over the Internet. This solution is inconvenient and expensive because it requires a conventional telephone call (often long distance) for the sole purpose of establishing a telephone call over the Internet. Thus, it may be desirable to have a system and method for processing a telephone call over a network of packaged data more efficiently.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for the improved processing of data network communication calls. According to the invention, a network node receives a call initiation request from a calling party device, wherein the call initiation request includes information describing the alternative called party devices and the relative priority of each device. This call initiation request informs the network node with which device of the called part the calling party wishes to initiate communication with and the priority given to each device. Upon receipt of the call initiation request, the network node determines the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available and establishes communication between the calling party device and the called party device with the highest priority available.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the device of the part that is called is a computer and the device of the called part with the highest priority that is available is a computer. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the network node establishes a data network communication call in which the voice data is passed between the computers to facilitate a voice call. According to another aspect of the invention, the device of the calling party is a computer and the device of the part with the highest priority that is available is a telephone connected to the public switched telephone network. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the network node establishes a data network connection with the calling party's computer and a telephone connection with the called party's telephone. The network node converts the voice data received from the caller's computer into voice signals and transmits the voice signals to the called party's telephone via the telephone network. The network node also converts the voice signals received from the called party into voice data and transmits the voice data to the calling party's computer via the data network. According to another aspect of the invention, the device of the calling party is a computer and the device of the part with the highest priority that is available is a mobile station connected to a wireless communication network. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the network node establishes a data network connection with the calling party's computer and a telephone connection with the called party's telephone via the wireless communication network. The network node converts the voice data received from the caller's computer into voice signals and transmits the voice signals to the called party's telephone. The network node also converts the voice signals received from the called party into voice data and transmits the voice data to the calling party's computer. According to another aspect of the invention, the device of the calling party is a computer and the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available is a pager connected to a paging network. In accordance with this aspect of the invention, the network node sends an appropriate paging signal to the paging network. According to another aspect of the invention, the network node sends status messages to the device of the calling party. According to another aspect of the invention, the call initiation request contains information describing the alternative called party devices, but may not contain the relative priority of each of the devices of the called party. In this mode, the packet data network node attempts to initiate communication with all the devices specified in the call initiation request concurrently by sending an appropriate request to each of the devices. The network node establishes communication between the calling party and the first device of the called party which responds to the request, or to the first device of the called party that is available. Those and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art with reference to the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 shows a communication system in which the present invention can be employed. Figure 2 shows an example of a call start data packet. Figure 3 is a block diagram and a packet network node.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram of the steps carried out by the node of the data network packaged according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION A communication system 100 in which the present invention can be employed is shown in Figure 1. A caller computer 102 is connected to a local telephone switch (CTL) 106 via line 104. In a mode of the invention line 104 is a telephone line from a house to a CTL of a local telephone company 106, which is part of the public switched telephone network (RTCP). As discussed in the background of the invention, this is a standard telephone line that links the telephone of a house to the RTCP and is generally shared by a conventional telephone (not shown) and with a computer equipment. In practice, the user of the computer 102 will typically have a conventional telephone connected to the CTL 106 via the line 104, and will only connect the computer 102 to the CTL 106 when it wishes to connect to a data network. It should be noted that in other embodiments of the invention, line 104 may be a wireless communication link and CTL 106 may be a switch of a wireless telephone network.

The CTL 106 is connected to a packet data network 110. The packet data network 110 includes packet data network nodes 112, 118, and the routing network 116, as shown. The nodes of the packaged data network 112, 118 are nodes which generally belong to a provider of access to the packed data network (PARDE). A PARDE provides subscribers with access to the packet data network 110. The nodes of the packet data network 112, 118 are connected to each other, and to other elements of the packet data network (not shown) via a routing network 116. One such packaged data network that is well known in the art is the Internet. It should also be noted that the caller computer 102 can have a direct connection to the node of the packet data network 112 and thus a direct connection to the packet data network 110. The node of the packet data network 118 it is connected to a wireless communication network 130 comprising a mobile switching center (CCM) 132, a radio base station (EBR) 134, and a mobile station (EM) 138, which will be described in greater detail later. The node of the packet data network 118 is also connected to the RTCP 140 comprising a CTL 142, the telephones 144, 149, the computer 146, and the private exchange (CP) 148, which will be described in greater detail below . The node of the packed data network 118 is also connected to a paging network 160 comprising a paging terminal 162, an antenna 164, and a pager 166, which will be described in greater detail later. In the embodiment shown in Figure 1, the node of the packet data network 118 is shown to be directly connected to the wireless communication network 130, RTCP 140, and paging network 160. In an alternative mode, the network node of packaged data 118 can be connected to the wireless communication network 130, RTCP 140, and the paging network 160, through some intermediate node, such as a local network switch, a cascade access, the RTCP, or some another type of intermediate access switch. In operation, it is assumed that a calling party associated with the computer 102 wishes to establish a telephone voice network data packet with a called party associated with the computer 146. It is assumed that the called party also has an associated telephone 144 which it shares with computer 146 on a single line 143 to CTL 142; the telephone 149 connected to the CP 148 (for example, an office telephone); a mobile station 138 (for example a cell phone); and a pager 166.

According to the invention, if the calling party wishes to initiate a packet data network communication with the called party, the calling party connects the computer 102 to the packet data network 110 via the line 104 and the CTL 106, and sends a call-start data packet to the node of the packet data network 112. The call-start data packet contains information indicating to the calling party the preferences with respect to which of the devices of the called party alternative (138, 144, 146, 149, 166) the calling party wishes to communicate. The call start data packet also includes priority information indicating the relative priority that the calling party assigns to the devices. An example of a call-start data packet 200 is shown in Figure 2. The header 202 of the call-start data packet 200 indicates that the party calling the computer 102 wants to initiate a packet data network call. . Header 202 identifies the calling party's computer by its IP address. The use of IP address to identify computers in a packaged data network is well known in the art. Each of the following fields 204, 206, 208, 210, 212 of the register 200 identifies, in order of priority, the alternative devices with which the calling party wishes to initiate communication. Thus, in the present example, the call start data packet 200 contains the IP address of the called party's computer 146 in field 204, which indicates that the calling party wishes to initiate communication with the calling computer. the called part 146 if that computer is available (i.e. connected to the packaged data network 110). Upon receipt of the start data packet 200 the node of the packet data network 112 will route the packet 200 through the routing network 116 terminating at the node of the packet data network 118. In an advantageous mode the routing it will be efficient in the sense that the call start data packet 200 will be routed to a terminal packet data network node (e.g., the node of the packet data network 118) which is geographically close to the device connection. the called party. The routing of data packets through data networks is well known in the art and will not be described further here. The packet data network node 118 is shown in more detail in Figure 3. The node of the packet data network 118 includes a processor 302 connected to a memory 308. The memory 308 contains computer program instructions, which are executed by the processor 302 which controls the operation of the node of the packaged data network. The memory 308 can be a RAM, ROM, magnetic disk, optical disk, or other type of computer storage medium. In addition, the memory 308 may be a combination of such a computer storage medium. The processor 302 is also connected to a packet data network interface 304 for communicating with the packet data network 110, a telephone network interface 306 for communicating with the RTCP 140 and the wireless communication network 130, and a network interface page 310 to communicate with the paging network 160. The node of the packet data network 118 may also contain other components to perform other functions of the node (for example routing) but those other components are not described here and could be be well known to those skilled in the art. Although the functions of the node of the packed data network 118 have been described here as being controlled by the processor 302 executing the instructions of the stored computer program, it should be understood that such functions could also be carried out by the physical components of the computer. computing, or a combination of programs and programming systems and physical computing components. It should also be noted that the node of the packed data network 112, as well as the other nodes of the packaged data network (not shown) in the packet data network 110, can be configured as packed data network nodes 118 and They can have the same functionality. In accordance with the present invention, the node of the packed data network 118 performs the steps shown in the flow chart of Figure 4 upon receipt of the call start data packet 200. In step 404 the following is determined priority device. Initially, this will be the first device indicated in the call start data packet 200, which in this example is the called party computer 146 as indicated by the entry 204. In step 405 a message is sent from state to the caller computer 102 indicating that the node of the packet data network 118 is determining whether the next priority device (at this point in this example the computer of the called party 146) is available. In step 406 it is determined whether the device is available. Thus, in the example, the node of the packet data network 118 will determine whether the called party computer 146 is available (i.e. connected to the packet data network 110). As described above, if the called party only has a connection to the CTL 142, then such a connection will be shared by a conventional telephone 144 and a computer 146. Generally, the telephone 144 will be connected to the CTL 142, so that the calls telephone can be made and received over the RTCP 140. The called party's computer 146 will be connected only to the CTL 142 when the called party wishes to communicate with the packetized data network 110 via the node of the packed data network 118. In the example In the present case, it is assumed that the called party's computer 146 is connected to the node of the packed data network 118. In such a case, the node of the packed data network 118 will establish and handle the connection in step 408 as follows. The node of the packet data network 118 will indicate to the called party computer 146 that the calling party's computer 102 wishes to initiate a telephone connection. The calling party computer 102 is identified by the called party computer 146 by sending the IP address of the calling party's computer from the header 202 of the call start data packet 200. The computer of the calling party call 102 in the computer of the called party 146 can then be connected in a telephone network session of data packed in accordance with the programs and programming systems that are being executed by the computers. In the scenario described above, it is assumed that if the computer of the called party 146 is connected to the packed data network 110, then it is available.

However, according to another embodiment of the invention, the computer of the called party 146 may be considered unavailable if there is no response in the computer of the called party 146, even though it may be connected to the network of packaged data 110. For example, the called party's computer 146 may be connected to the packet data network 110, but the user of the called party's computer 146 may not be available to communicate and thus may not answer the call. In this situation it is possible for the node of the packet data network 118 to recognize this situation and consider the computer of the called party 146 not available. Additional processing in the event that the called party's computer 146 is deemed unavailable later. Assume now that the called party computer 146 was not connected to the packet data network 110 upon receipt by node of the packet data network 118 of the call start data packet 200. In such case, the determination in the step 406 (Figure 4) and the control could pass the "no" and the control could pass step 407 and a status message will be sent to the caller's computer 102 indicating that the device being verified (in this example the party called computer 146) was not available. The control then goes to step 410 to determine if there are some more devices to verify. In this example, there are additional devices to verify, as indicated in fields 206, 208, 210 and 212 of the call start data packet 200. The control goes to step 411 and the status message is sent to the computer of the calling party 102 indicating that there are additional devices to verify. In step 404 the home telephone could be selected with the next device with the highest priority as indicated by the home telephone number present in field 206 of the call start data packet 200. In step 405 it is sent a message from the state of the calling party computer 102 indicating that the node of the packet data network 118 is determining whether the home telephone is available. In step 406 it could be determined if the home telephone 144 is available. Such a determination can be made as follows. The node of the packaged data network 118 attempts to place a call to the telephone 144 by sending the appropriate signals via the telephone network interface 306 to the CTL 142. Upon receipt of such signals, the CTL 142 will attempt to ring a telephone 144. If the called party picks up the telephone 144, indicates that the device is available and the control will proceed to step 408 in which the packed data network node 118 will establish and operate a telephone connection with the telephone 144 as follows. At this point, the calling party computer 102 is connected to the node of the packet data network 118 via a link of the packetized data network. The telephone of the called party 144 is connected to the node of the network of packaged data 118 via a telephone link. The node of the packet data network 118 handles the connection by converting the signals as follows. The calling party will speak into a microphone of the calling party's computer 102 and the telephone programming programs and systems on the computer 102 will convert the voice signals into data packets, which are suitable for being transmitted to the network node of packaged data 118 via the packet data network 110. Upon receipt of such data packets, the node of the packaged data network 118 will convert the data into speech signals, which are appropriate to be transmitted to the telephone 144 via the link telephone and transmit those signals. The called party will hear the voice signals via the telephone speaker 144. On the contrary, when the called party speaks on the telephone 144, the voice signals will be transmitted via the telephone link to the node of the packed data network 118. Upon receipt of such voice signals, the node of the packaged data network will convert the voice signal into data which are appropriate for transmitted to the telephone 102 via data packets over the packet data network 110. Upon receiving such data packets the computer 102 will convert the data into speech signals in accordance with the telephone programming programs and systems of the computer 102, and the The calling party will hear the voice signals via a loudspeaker attached to the computer 102. The node of the packet data network 118 performs the conversions described above and processes them under the control of the processor 302 (Figure 3) by executing the instructions of the computer program appropriate stored in the memory 308. It is possible that in step 406 it is determined that the telephone of the called party 144 is not available. This may be the result of no answer on the telephone 144 or a busy signal on the telephone 144. In such a case, the determination in step 406 (Figure 4) could be "no" and the control could proceed to the step 407 and a status message will be sent to the caller's computer 102 indicating that the called party's phone was not available. The control then proceeds to step 410 to determine if there is one more device to verify. In this example, there are additional devices to verify, as indicated in fields 208, 210 and 212 of the call start data packet 200 and an appropriate status message is sent to the calling party computer 102 in step 411. In step 404, the office telephone 149 could be selected as the next higher priority device as indicated by the telephone number of the office present in field 208 of the call start data packet 200 and An appropriate status message is sent to the calling party's computer 102 in step 405. In step 406 it could be determined whether the office telephone is available through CP 148. Additional processing with respect to the telephone office 149 could be similar to the processing described above in conjunction with home telephone 144 and will not be described in detail. If it had been determined in step 406 that the office telephone 149 is not available then the determination in step 406 (Figure 4) could be "no", an appropriate status message could be sent to the calling party's computer 102 of step 407, and the control could proceed to step 410 to determine if there is one more device to verify. In this example, there are additional devices to verify, as indicated in fields 210, and 212 of the start data packet 200 and an appropriate status message is sent to the calling party computer 102 in step 411. In step 404 mobile station 138 could be selected as the next highest priority device of everything indicated by the telephone number of the mobile station present in field 210 of call start data packet 200, and a message is sent of state appropriate to the calling party's computer 112 in step 405. In step 406 it could be determined whether the mobile station 138 is available through the CCM 132 and the EBR 134 of the wireless telephone network 130. The processing of the Wireless telephone call is well known in the art. The additional processing with respect to the mobile station 138 could be similar to the processing described above in conjunction with a home telephone 144 and will not be described in detail. If it had been determined in step 406 that the mobile station 138 is not available then the determination in step 406 (Figure 4) could be "no", an appropriate status message could be sent to the caller computer 102 in the step 407, and the control could go to step 410 to determine if there is any more device to verify. In this example, there are additional devices to verify, as indicated in field 212 of the call start data packet 200, and an appropriate message state is sent to the calling party computer 102 in step 411. In step 404 pager 166 could be selected in the next higher priority device as indicated by the pager identification number present in field 212 of call start data packet 200. With respect to pager, assumes that a pager will always be available, and therefore the determination of step 406 will be true. This is because the pager is not a device that registers with the paging system. Instead, when a page is sent to the pager, a signal is transmitted to the entire coverage area, and it is assumed that the pager is operating within the area and that the message would be returned. In step 408, the node of the packaged data network 118 will transmit a paging message to the paging terminal 162 via the paging network interface 310. The paging terminal 162 will revert to the message format and transmit a signal to the paging terminal 162. appropriate page via antenna 164 to pager 166. Paging systems are well known in the art and the details of such systems will not be described here. If it has also been determined in step 410 that there are no more devices to verify, then in step 412 the node of the packet data network 118 could send a message to the calling party's computer 102 indicating that the start of a call to the called party was not successful because none of the devices identified in the call start data packet 200 were available.

In the embodiment described above, the node of the packet data network 118 determines the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available and establishes communication between the device that the calling party and the device of the called party with the highest priority. high that is available. In an alternative embodiment, the call start request contains information describing the alternate call party devices, but may not contain the relative priority of each of the called party devices. In this mode, the node of the packet data network attempts to initiate communication with all the devices specified in the call start request concurrently by sending an appropriate request to each of the devices. The network node establishes the communication between the calling party and the first device of the called party responding to the request, or with the first device of the called party that is available. It should be understood that the above Detailed Description is in each illustrative and exemplary, non-restrictive aspect, and the scope of the invention described herein is not determined by the Detailed Description, but by the claims construed to the fullest extent permitted by the laws of patents It should be understood that the embodiments shown and described herein are only illustrative of the principles of the present invention and that various modifications may be implemented by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. It is noted that in relation to this date, the best method known to the applicant to carry out the aforementioned invention, is that which is clear from the present description of the invention. Having described the invention as above, the content of the following is claimed as property:

Claims (9)

1. CLAIMS 1. A method for processing data network communication calls, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving in a network node of a device of the calling party a call start request including the priority data of the device of the party call; determine at the node of the network a device of the called party with the highest priority that is available; and establish communication between the calling party device and the called party device with higher priority than is available.
2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the device of the calling party is a computer and wherein the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available is a computer connected to the data network, the step of establishing communication also includes the steps of: routing data packets from the caller's computer to the called party's computer; and route packets of data from the computer of the called party to the computer of the calling party.
3. 3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the device of the calling party is a computer and wherein the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available is a telephone connected to the public switched telephone network, the pass of establishing communication further comprises the steps of: converting the received voice data into the network node of the calling party's computer via the data network into voice signals and transmitting such voice signals to the called party's telephone via the public switched telephone network; and converting the received voice signals into the network node of the called party via the public switched telephone network into voice data and transmitting such voice data to the calling party's computer via the data network.
4. 4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the device of the calling party is a computer and wherein the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available is a mobile station connected to a wireless communication network, the The step of establishing communication further comprises the steps of: converting the received voice data into the network node of the calling party's computer via the data network into voice signals and transmitting said voice signals to the mobile station of the calling party. the part called via the wireless communication network; and converting the received voice signals into the network node of the called party via the wireless communication network into voice data and transmitting such voice data to the calling party's computer via the data network.
5. 5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the device of the highest priority called party that is available is a wireless pager, the step of establishing communication further comprises the steps of: transmitting paging signals to the pager of the called party via a paging network.
6. 6. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises the step of: sending a status message to the device of the calling party.
7. 7. A method for processing a packaged data network communication call from a computer of the calling party to a device available from a called party, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: establishing a communication link of data packed between the computer of the calling party and a packed data network node; receiving a packet of call initiation data at the node of the packet data network including call connection alternatives; establish a communication link of packaged data between the node of the packet data network and a computer of the called party if the called party computer is connected to the packet data network; and establishing an alternative communication link between the node of the packet data network and an alternate called party device, based on the call connection alternatives if the called party's computer is not connected to the data network packaged 8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the device of the called, alternative part is a telephone and wherein the step of establishing an alternative communication link further comprises the steps of: establishing a telephone connection between the node of the packaged data network and the called party's telephone; converting the packet data received in the packet data network node of the calling party's computer into voice signals and transmitting said voice signals to the called party's telephone via the telephone connection; and converting the received voice signals into the packet data network node of the called party's telephone into packaged data and transmitting such packetized data to the calling party's computer via the packet data communication link. 9. The method in accordance with the claim 7, characterized in that the device of the called, alternative part is a mobile station and wherein the step of establishing an alternative communication link further comprises the steps of: establishing a telephone connection between the node of the network of packaged data and the mobile station of the called party via a wireless telephone network; • to i- convert lat sera from v _d O 'er adcs - ada in cisics er ~? ? t.6 ao : _t. and 1. . The challenge of cer.f crri aaa co :. the: e ~~ _r.; _ ^ ":. '.-ractep aac because the device of Ja part llar-. : -, alternative, is a pager or locator and where the step of thisPiecer -. alternative lace c: rpre:.? cras 1 ~ - a ^ Cí j-i.a. par- - rad via jna reo oe pag?;. a:? or. or locator 01 of a »- - c. .r rer.sa * e oe, 12. A network node for processing data network communication calls, characterized in that it comprises: means for receiving a call initiation request that includes the priority data of the device of the called part of a device of the calling party; means for determining a device of the called party with higher priority than is available; and means for establishing communication between the device of the calling party and the device of the called party with higher priority than is available. 13. The network node according to claim 12, characterized in that the device of the calling party is a computer and wherein the device of the calling party with the highest priority that is available is a telephone connected to the public switched telephone network , the network node further comprises: means for converting the received voice data into the network node of the calling party's computer via the data network into voice signals and transmitting the voice signals to the called party's telephone via the public switched telephone network; and means for converting the received voice signals into the network node of the called party via the public switched telephone network into voice data and transmitting such voice data to the calling party's computer via the data network. 14. The network node according to claim 12, wherein the device of the calling party is a computer and wherein the device of the called party with the highest priority that is available is a mobile station connected to a wireless communication network , the network node is characterized in that it further comprises: means for converting the received voice data into the network node of the calling party's computer via the data network into voice signals and transmitting such voice signals to the station Mobile of the part called via the wireless communication network; and means for converting the received voice signals into the network node of the called party via the wireless communication network into voice data and transmitting the voice data to the computer of the calling party via the data network. 15. The network node according to claim 12, wherein the positive side of the calling party is a computer and in i:, the device of the called party with priority beyond which is available is a pager, the network node is characterized in that it further comprises: means for transmitting paging signals to the pager of the called party via a paging network. 16. The method according to claim 12, characterized in that it further comprises: means for sending a status message to the device of the calling party. 17. A method for processing network data communication calls, characterized in that it comprises the steps of: receiving in a network node of a device of the calling party a call start request including the device data of the called party; determine in the network node a device of the called party that is first available; and establish communication between the device of the calling party and the device of the called party that is first available. 18. The method according to claim 17, characterized in that it further comprises the step of: sending from the network node a communication request to a plurality of devices of the called party that are specified by the device data of the called party. 19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that the determination step is based on the response to the communication request received from the device of the called party.