Conditional Execution of Commands

1. A method for controlling a media gateway, comprising: receiving a command from a media gateway controller, wherein the command comprises: a termination wildcard, according to a media gateway control protocol and having a length according to the media gateway protocol, the termination wildcard addressing, a plurality of terminations of the media gateway; a condition, distinct from the termination wildcard, under which the command is to be executed for a subset of the addressed plurality of terminations, the condition containing both a property parameter and a property value directed to a property of the subset; identifying the plurality of terminations to which the command is addressed according to the termination wildcard; subsequent to the identifying, determining the subset by selecting, from the addressed plurality of terminations identified according to the termination wildcard, terminations that meet the condition contained in the command, wherein the determined subset comprises fewer terminations than the addressed plurality of terminations, wherein each termination selected to be in the determined subset is assigned a respective termination ID having the length of the termination wildcard; executing the command for each termination in the determined subset without executing the command for any termination in the addressed plurality of terminations not selected to be in the determined subset.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising setting the property parameter for a termination before receiving said command, either when that termination is seized or at a later stage.

3. The method according to claim 1 : wherein the condition contains a first condition and a second condition combined by a compound condition rule; wherein the determining of the subset comprises verifying, for each termination of the plurality of terminations to which the command is addressed, whether the first condition and the second condition are met by that termination according to the compound condition rule; and wherein the executing comprises executing the command for each termination verified as meeting the first condition and the second condition according to the compound condition rule.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the media gateway controller contains a plurality of processors, and wherein the property value of the property parameter in the command comprises a group indicator identifying the processor to which the command relates.

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the command is a command to subtract the terminations controlled by a predetermined processor of the media gateway controller, and wherein the terminations controlled by said predetermined processor are identified by the group indicator.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the command is a proprietary media gateway control protocol command that is based on the media gateway control protocol.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the command is a command to modify all terminations in the media gateway meeting a predetermined requirement, the condition indicating said predetermined requirement through said property parameter and said property value.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the command is a command to remove all termination belonging to a predetermined IP domain, the condition indicating said predetermined IP domain through said property parameter and said property value.

9. A media gateway, comprising: receiver circuitry configured to receive a command from a media gateway controller, wherein the command comprises: a termination wildcard, according to a media gateway control protocol and having a length according to the media gateway protocol, the termination wildcard addressing, a plurality of terminations of the media gateway; a condition, distinct from the termination wildcard, under which the command is to be executed for a subset of the addressed plurality of terminations, the condition containing both a property parameter and a property value directed to a property of the subset; one or more processing circuits configured to operate as: an identification unit configured to identify the plurality of terminations to which the command is addressed according to the termination wildcard; a verification unit configured to determine the subset, subsequent to the identifying of the addressed plurality of terminations, by selecting from the addressed plurality of terminations identified according to the termination wildcard, terminations that meet the condition contained in the command, wherein the determined subset comprises fewer terminations than the addressed plurality of terminations, wherein each termination selected to be in the determined subset is assigned a respective termination ID having the length of the termination wildcard; and a controller configured to execute the command for each termination in the determined subset without executing the command for any termination in the addressed plurality of terminations not selected to be in the determined subset.

10. The media gateway according to claim 9 , configured to set the property parameter for a termination before receiving said command, either when that termination is seized or at a later stage.

11. The media gateway according to claim 9 : wherein the condition contains a first condition and a second condition combined by a compound condition rule; wherein the verification unit is configured to determine the subset by verifying, for each termination of the plurality of terminations to which the command is addressed, whether the first condition and the second condition are met by that termination according to the compound condition rule; and wherein the controller is configured to execute the command for each termination verified as meeting the first condition and the second condition according to the compound condition rule.

12. The media gateway according to claim 9 , wherein the media gateway controller contains a plurality of processors, and wherein the property value of the property parameter in the command comprises a group indicator identifying the processor to which the command relates.

13. The media gateway according to claim 12 , wherein the command is a command to subtract the terminations controlled by a predetermined processor of the media gateway controller, and wherein the terminations controlled by said predetermined processor are identified by the group indicator.

14. The media gateway according to claim 9 , wherein the command is a proprietary media gateway control protocol command that is based on the media gateway control protocol.

15. The media gateway according to claim 9 , wherein the command is a command to modify all terminations in the media gateway meeting a predetermined requirement, the condition indicating said predetermined requirement through said property parameter and said property value.

16. The media gateway according to claim 9 , wherein the command is a command to remove all termination belonging to a predetermined IP domain, the condition indicating said predetermined IP domain through said property parameter and said property value.