Patent ID: 6771754
Filing Date: 2004-08-03
Classification: H04M

Abstract:
In a Service Control Point (SCP) of a communications network, a method for processing a call from a calling party at a calling communication station to a called communication station in a network, the method comprising:receiving the call at switching equipment of the network; generating a trigger in response to an attempt to complete the call from a Service Switching Point (SSP) to the called communication station; suspending completion of the call to the called communication station; receiving a query from the SSP of the communication network, the query including a calling party identification parameter and requesting return of standard Caller ID information for the call; in response to the query, determining if standard Caller ID information can be provided to the called telephone station; if the standard Caller ID information can not be provided, detecting a privacy level defined according to at least one of a privacy schedule established by a called party, a privacy mode selected by a called party, and a privacy level bypass designator for bypassing one or more selected privacy levels; providing call control information to the SSP in accordance with the detected privacy level, the call control information controlling routing of the call to a service platform if the privacy level corresponds to one of a standard privacy level and an enhanced privacy level, and causing the service platform to generate a request to the calling party for audible caller identification information when the privacy level corresponds to the enhanced privacy level, and when the standard Caller ID information can not be provided and the privacy level corresponds to the standard privacy level; the call control information further causing the service platform to record any audible response from the calling party as the audible caller identification information and to play the audible caller identification information from the service platform to the called party and detect call completion instructions from the called party; the call control information further causing the SSP to route the call in response to the received call completion instructions and cancel the call if no audible response is received from the calling party in response to the request; and the call control information causing the SSP to cancel the call without ringing the called communication station if the privacy level corresponds to a blocking mode and to bypass the one or more selected privacy levels in accordance with the privacy designator when the privacy level corresponds to a privacy level bypass mode.