US Patent 7197128 Telecommunication architecture

The present invention provides a novel telecommunication architecture. The architecture includes a subscriber agent for each subscriber within a telecommunication network. The subscriber agent includes the subscriber's telephone number and calling features. The network also includes terminal agents which are directly associated with one or more terminals such as telephones. The subscriber agent can be associated with one or more terminal agents within the network, so that the subscriber's telephone number and set of calling features can be carried to any terminal within the network. A wide variety of calling features and terminals are supported by the architecture.