US Patent 7570633 Screening inbound calls in a packet-based communications network

A method and system is provided for performing inbound call screening in a packet-based network, such as an H.323 Voice over IP (VoIP) network. The inbound gateways on the network are registered with inbound gatekeepers, and standard messages are used between an inbound gateway, an inbound gatekeeper and an inbound screening database to decide: whether an inbound call to a particular called number (DID) is to be allowed into the network; whether the called number should be translated into a different called number; and whether a routing index should be included in the called number to indicate the destination of the call.