diff --git a/lib/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParameters.php b/lib/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParameters.php
index 9394053c..f8b4b68d 100644
--- a/lib/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParameters.php
+++ b/lib/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParameters.php
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class ConnectionParameters implements ConnectionParametersInterface
     public function __construct($parameters = array())
     {
         if (!is_array($parameters)) {
-            $parameters = $this->parseURI($parameters);
+            $parameters = self::parseURI($parameters);
         }
 
         $this->parameters = $this->filter($parameters) + $this->getDefaults();
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ class ConnectionParameters implements ConnectionParametersInterface
      * @param string $uri Connection string.
      * @return array
      */
-    private function parseURI($uri)
+    public static function parseURI($uri)
     {
         if (stripos($uri, 'unix') === 0) {
             // Hack to support URIs for UNIX sockets with minimal effort.
diff --git a/tests/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParametersTest.php b/tests/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParametersTest.php
index 1bde141d..d5a95e63 100644
--- a/tests/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParametersTest.php
+++ b/tests/Predis/Connection/ConnectionParametersTest.php
@@ -123,6 +123,52 @@ class ParametersTest extends StandardTestCase
         $this->assertNull($unserialized->unknown);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @group disconnected
+     */
+    public function testParsingURI()
+    {
+        $uri = 'tcp://10.10.10.10:6400?timeout=0.5&persistent=1';
+
+        $expected = array(
+            'scheme' => 'tcp',
+            'host' => '10.10.10.10',
+            'port' => 6400,
+            'timeout' => '0.5',
+            'persistent' => '1',
+        );
+
+        $this->assertSame($expected, ConnectionParameters::parseURI($uri));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @group disconnected
+     */
+    public function testParsingUnixDomainURI()
+    {
+        $uri = 'unix:///tmp/redis.sock?timeout=0.5&persistent=1';
+
+        $expected = array(
+            'scheme' => 'unix',
+            'host' => 'localhost',
+            'path' => '/tmp/redis.sock',
+            'timeout' => '0.5',
+            'persistent' => '1',
+        );
+
+        $this->assertSame($expected, ConnectionParameters::parseURI($uri));
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @group disconnected
+     * @expectedException Predis\ClientException
+     * @expectedExceptionMessage Invalid URI: tcp://invalid:uri
+     */
+    public function testParsingURIThrowOnInvalidURI()
+    {
+        ConnectionParameters::parseURI('tcp://invalid:uri');
+    }
+
     // ******************************************************************** //
     // ---- HELPER METHODS ------------------------------------------------ //
     // ******************************************************************** //