Importance

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Abstract

A system and method for providing personal communications services are disclosed. A bridging and signaling unit implements a bridge for connecting telephone calls between a caller, a called party, and an alternate destination. A caller who calls the personal telephone number associated with a called party is held at the bridging and signaling unit while waiting for a return telephone call from the called party. The called party is alerted to the existence of the call through a paging system. If the time period during which the caller is on hold exceeds a timeout period, the caller will be connected to an alternate destination, such as a secretary, an answering service, or a voice messaging system. If the called party places the return telephone call while the caller is connected to the alternate destination, the called party will be connected to the caller and the alternate destination in such a manner that the called party can hear the conversation between the caller and the alternate destination, but the caller and the alternate destination cannot hear the called party and do not know that the called party has connected, i.e. the called party is on mute mode. After screening the call, the called party may then indicate that he/she wishes to be connected to the caller, at which time the connection to the alternate destination is terminated and the caller and the called party are connected such that they can speak with each other. If the called party does not wish to speak to the caller, he/she may hang up, and the connection between the caller and the alternate destination may continue.

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First Claim