Patent ID: 6813504
Filing Date: 2004-11-02
Classification: H04M,H04Q

Abstract:
A method for dialing a telephone number indirectly, comprising:obtaining an alphanumeric identifier that is assigned to a telephone subscriber, wherein the identifier comprises an identifier-prefix and an identifier-string, wherein the identifier-prefix classifies a type of the identifier-string, and wherein the identifier-string is assigned by an entity associated with the type and independent of the telephone subscriber, wherein the entity comprises a credit card company, and wherein the identifier-string comprises a credit card number; associating the identifier with a destination telephone number of the telephone subscriber to form a mapping there between; storing the mapping in a lookup table; dialing the identifier using an originating telephone; using the identifier as a pointer to the lookup table so as to recover the destination telephone number from the stored mapping; and establishing a connection between the originating telephone and a destination telephone via the destination telephone number.