Importance

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Abstract

A method for alerting a subscriber when a call intended for a telephone line of the subscriber is received from a priority caller. When the call from the priority caller is detected, the preferred embodiment of the present invention can perform one or more priority actions, including (1) ringing a telephone associated with the telephone line with a priority alert signal that is different from a regular ringing tone; (2) generating an outgoing call to another telephone associated with a second telephone line of the subscriber; (3) generating an outgoing call to a wireless telephone of the subscriber via a wireless telephone network; and (4) establishing a communication session with a computer associated with the subscriber via a computer network. The communication session may be a voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) call. At least two methods can be used to determine whether a calling party is a priority caller. First, the telephone number of the priority caller is associated with the subscriber number of the telephone line in a database. Second, the calling party is required to provide a priority code that has been associated with the subscriber number in the database.

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First Claim