8x8 (News - Alert), a provider of cloud communications and computing solutions, announced it has been granted patent entitled, "Virtual Telephone Extension" by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 27, 2011.

The patent number 8,027,332 explains a unique technology to route calls to user communication devices. The technology features a call-routing switch arrangement that uses data in a programmable database to associate or match incoming calls with destination user-communication devices for users employing two or more user identifiers, the company said.

These incoming calls are then routed to the destination user-communication devices in response to the match. The user identifiers may also include “local and virtual telephone numbers for a particular user, the local number pertaining to a geographical location relating to the user's communication device or to a service via which the user's communication device is connected (e.g., a mobile telephone service), and the virtual telephone number to a different geographical location.”

The virtual number can be used to make telephone calls to a particular user to give the impression to a caller that the user is located or has offices in a particular geographical location pertaining to an area code in the virtual number, company officials said.

The Virtual Telephone Extension patent is the 77th United States patent 8x8 received since its inception in 1987. These patents cover a variety of voice and video communications, signaling, processing and storage technologies.

Earlier in June, 8x8 announced it has acquired Zerigo, a Colorado-based server provider offering cloud-based server operations, virtual private servers, managed DNS services and monitoring tools. The acquisition is in line with the company’s strategy to broaden its cloud-based portfolio through organic and inorganic activities.