US Patent 7639664 Dynamic management of trunk group members

A pool of network resources is provided. Traffic volume between switches is monitored. When traffic volume between two switches justifies the allocation of pool resources a switch-to-switch call is made between the two switches. One or more resources from the pool are used to establish the switch-to-switch call. The switch-to-switch call is used to carry call traffic. When traffic volume subsides, the switch-to-switch call is torn down, thereby freeing the one or more resources for use in the dynamic establishment of other switch-to-switch calls between other switch pairs. Switch-to-switch calls are placed ISUP in TDM bearer networks, using SIP or BICC in IP bearer networks and using BICC in ATM bearer networks.