8x8 Awarded Virtual Telephone Extension Patent

8x8 has been granted United States Patent entitled "Virtual Telephone Extension." The patent relates to methods of routing communications to users and associated equipment by utilizing a user identifier that serves as a virtual extension number.

By utilizing the invention described by the patent, users can remotely direct their calls to communication devices at various geographic, voicemail and email destinations.

Claim 14 of the new patent reads, "A method for routing telephone calls to communication devices using telephone networks, each communication device having a unique device identifier, the method comprising: assigning identifier data to each of a plurality of users, the identifier data for each user including at least two unique telephone numbers and at least one unique device identifier; and in response to receiving a call through one of the telephone networks, matching a telephone number in the call with one of the at least two telephone numbers assigned to a particular user, and switching the call to a destination communication device designated by the device identifier in the identifier data for the particular user."

The issued patent contains twenty claims and was filed in 2002.

According to 8x8, since its establishment in 1987, the company has been awarded seventy-six United States patents covering a variety of voice and video communications, signaling, processing and storage technologies.