Abstract:
A telephone system allowing a caller whose call is intercepted by a telephone answering machine (TAD) to hear an alternate outgoing message from the TAD with instructions allowing the caller, who feels his/her call is an emergency, to override the TAD and cause the user&#39;s phone to ring anyway. This invention being applicable to wired and cellular phones and to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and cable system phones.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation-in-part application of applicants&#39; application U.S. Ser. No. 10/728,377, filed Dec. 4, 2003, now abandoned, which is a continuation of applicants&#39; Ser. No. 09/248,436, filed Feb. 11, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,917,680 on which priority is claimed. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention is in the field of telephones of all types including conventional wired and wireless cellular phones and VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones, and more particularly to the combination of such phones with a telephone answering device (TAD) and/or other devices for receiving, monitoring and routing incoming calls. 
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     Related Art 
     With ever expanding telephone usage, we are increasingly inundated with unwanted telephone calls. Anyone who has been startled awake at night by a “wrong number” knows that it is desirable for telephone subscribers to be able to disable the ringer mechanism of their telephones when they do not want to be disturbed. Thus, one could elect to disable a telephone&#39;s ringer while sleeping, eating, bathing, or simply while engaged in a quiet activity. Prior to modern modular telephone connections, the only method of silencing a telephone&#39;s ringer was to turn down the ringer&#39;s volume, or leave the receiver off of the hook. Now, one can simply disconnect the modular plug from the telephone itself or from the wall jack. With the telephone disconnected, the caller would hear a ring signal and assume the person called is not in, while the person called hears nothing. 
     There are, however, numerous problems associated with disconnecting a telephone&#39;s modular plug. First, this method requires the user to remember to employ the remedy. In addition, the user must also remember to reconnect the modular plug to reinstate telephone service. Thus, disabling a telephone&#39;s ringer via pulling its modular plug is subject to the same risks and problems that are associated with turning the ringer&#39;s volume down or leaving the receiver off the hook. People forget and, thus, receive calls at unwanted times or miss calls they are willing to receive. Over the years, people have attempted to solve the problems addressed by this invention in numerous ways. For example, timers have been used in combination with telephone silencers to disable a telephone for time periods when the user does not wish to be disturbed. Similarly, there are commercial devices available that have on-off switches that allow a telephone ringer to be enabled and disabled. However, these too require that the user remember to employ the remedy in order to avoid phone calls, and then remember to reactivate it when willing to receive calls. Consequently, there is a need for an apparatus that selectively enables and disables a telephone ringer. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention provides an alternative to a conventional telephone answering device (TAD) which is normally operative when the user is away or unavailable or elects not to answer an incoming call such as at night when the user is sleeping and does not want to even hear the ring from an incoming call. Such a conventional TAD has an outgoing message (greeting) stating that the user is unavailable and that the caller may leave a message. The present invention allows the user to direct the TAD to play a different outgoing message stating that instead of leaving a message, the caller may, if he/she feels the call is an emergency, cause the user&#39;s phone to ring anyway. 
     Thus, the new invention gives the caller an option to “override” the normal greeting that merely allows a caller to leave a message, and now the caller can make the user&#39;s phone ring. After the user&#39;s phone rings, the user can pick-up and receive the call, or not pick-up and let the call proceed to the normal greeting which will accept a message. 
     This invention includes a variety of embodiments which may be applicable to standard wired phones, to wireless cellular phones, to cable systems and to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phones. Additional embodiments allow the “emergency override” feature to be activated manually, or by light sensitive or timing device, as further described below. 
     In one embodiment, the present invention includes a light sensing device operable to produce a signal indicative of a level of ambient light; and a controller operable to receive the signal and disable the telephone ringer when the signal indicates that the ambient light has reached a predetermined level. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer includes a light sensing device operable to produce a first signal indicative of a level of ambient light; a timing device operable to produce a second signal indicative of a timing condition; and a controller operable to receive the first and second signals and disable the telephone ringer when either (i) the first signal indicates that the ambient light has reached a predetermined level, or (ii) the second signal indicates that a predetermined timing condition has been satisfied. According to a further aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer includes a light sensing device operable to produce a first signal indicative of a level of ambient light; a timing device operable to produce a second signal indicative of a timing condition; a controller operable to receive the first and second signals and disable the telephone ringer when either (i) the first signal indicates that the ambient light has reached a predetermined level, or (ii) the second signal indicates that a predetermined timing condition has been satisfied; and a recording device operable to communicate with the controller and play back a recording to a calling party. According to still another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer includes a light sensing device operable to produce a first signal indicative of a level of ambient light; a timing device operable to produce a second signal indicative of a timing condition; a recording device operable to play back a recording to a calling party, the recording prompting the calling party to provide indicia that the call is a priority call; and a controller communicating with the light sensing device, the timing device and the recording device, the controller being operable to receive the first and second signals and both (i) disable the telephone ringer, and (ii) enable the recording device such that the recording device may play back the recording to the calling party, when either (i) the first signal indicates that the ambient light has reached a predetermined level, or (ii) the second signal indicates that a predetermined timing condition has been satisfied, the controller being operable to initiate an emergency sequence when the indicia indicates that the call is a priority call. Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the appended claims, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there are shown in the drawing forms which are presently preferred, it being understood, however, that the invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and instrumentalities shown. 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram of an apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer in accordance with at least one aspect the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram of an apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer in accordance with another aspect of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram of an apparatus for disabling a telephone ringer in accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  is simplified block diagram of a cellular phone switching system, its logical entities as well as its relative connection with the public switched telephone network, and a voice mail system operatively connected for communication with the cellular network for controlling a priority call alert associated with receiving a priority call; 
         FIGS. 5A-5C  collectively shows a high level flow diagram depicting one example of the invention in operation; and 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a mobile station according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Referring now to the drawings wherein like numerals indicate like elements, there is shown in  FIG. 1  a first embodiment of the present invention. Apparatus  10  is a telephone controlling system which includes light sensor  12 , controller  14  and timer  16  as shown. Both the light sensor  12  and timer  16  communicate with controller  14  which in turn serves to enable and disable ringer  20  of telephone  18 . 
     While timer  16  is shown in this embodiment, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that timer  16  need not be included in apparatus  10 . That is, apparatus  10  could merely consist of light sensor  12  and controller  14  in communication with telephone  18  and  15  ringer  20 . Accordingly, connection  17  between timer  16  and controller  14  is shown as a dashed line. 
     Light sensor  12  may be a photovoltaic cell, a photo-transistor, a photo-resistor or other photosensitive component known in the art. As the level of 20 ambient light changes, light sensor  12  provides controller  14  with a first signal which changes in accordance with the level of ambient light. When the ambient light reaches a predetermined level (preferably falling below a predetermined level), controller  14  will recognize that light sensor  12  is sending a first signal indicating that the ringer  20  should be disabled. The controller  14  will preferably respond to the first signal by disabling ringer  20  of telephone  18 . 
     Timer  16  may be a clock timer (such as a digital clock circuit) that provides a second signal to controller  14  indicative of a timing condition or set of conditions. For example, the second signal may be representative of periodic pre-set times at which the controller  14  should sequentially enable and disable ringer  20  of telephone  18 . Alternatively, timer  16  may be a multi-day clock timer and provide a second signal to controller  14  indicating that at varying times on varying days the ringer  20  of telephone  18  should be enabled and disabled. 
     In apparatus  10 , controller  14  will enable and disable ringer  20  of telephone  18  in response to a first signal from light sensor  12  and/or a second signal from timer  16 . Those of ordinary skill in the art, however, will appreciate that controller  14  could be adapted in such a manner to be responsive only to the first signal from light sensor  12  or the second signal from timer  16 . Another embodiment of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2  and includes light sensor  12  and timer  16  in communication with controller  26 . Light sensor  12  may be a photovoltaic cell, a photo-transistor a photoresistor or other photo-sensitive component as discussed above with respect to apparatus  10 . Timer  16  is preferably substantially the same as timer  16  of  FIG. 1 . Unlike apparatus  10  in  FIG. 1 , apparatus  22  of  FIG. 2  includes a recording device  34 . Recording device  34  may be in the form of an answering machine, answering service or the like. In the embodiment of the present invention shown in  FIG. 2 , controller  26  preferably disables ringer  32  of telephone  30  and enables recording device  34  (via signal line  33 ) to answer any incoming phone calls in response to a first signal from light sensor  12  and/or second signal from timer  16 . 
     Preferably, recording device  34  is capable of playing back a recording to a calling party and is also capable of receiving and retaining a message from the calling party. Reference is now made to  FIG. 3  which shows an alternative embodiment of the present invention designated as apparatus  50 . Apparatus  50  is a telephone controlling system which includes light sensor  12 , timer  16  and recording device  54  in communication with controller  52 . Timer  16  and light sensor  12  are substantially similar to timers and light sensors, respectively, of the previous embodiments of the present invention. As was the case with the previous embodiments of the present invention, controller  52  operates to disable ringer  32  of telephone  30  in response to first and/or second signals from light sensor  12  and timer  16 , respectively. 
     Recording device  54  is preferably operable to play back a recording to a calling party which states, in pertinent part, “if this is an emergency, press the asterisk ‘*’ button.” This recording is provided to controller  52  via signal line  35  and, thereafter, to the calling party over the telephone line (not shown). Therefore, the calling party  20  can opt to press the asterisk ‘*’ button on his or her telephone handset to initiate an emergency sequence (or indicate that the call is a priority call). It is noted that the recording provided to the calling party may take on many forms as will be apparent to one skilled in the art from the above teaching. Further, one skilled in the art will recognize that it is not necessary to utilize the asterisk ‘*’ button of the telephone as indicia that the emergency sequence should be initiated and that other means of initiating the emergency sequence are available (such as using other keypad buttons or sequences of keypad buttons). 
     Should the calling party choose to initiate the emergency sequence by pressing the ‘*’ button on his or her keypad, the controller  52  may take one or more actions. In particular, the controller  52  may reactivate ringer  32  of telephone  30  such that telephone  30  rings and the user is alerted that an emergency telephone call is being received. Alternatively, (assuming the recording provided to the calling party also states that a message should be left by the calling party) controller  52  may activate recording device  54  to record the calling party&#39;s message and then terminate the calling party&#39;s connection to telephone  30 . Thereafter, controller  52  may alert the user by other means, such as subsequently enabling ringer  32  or enabling an alert device  56  which indicates that an emergency call has been received. Alert device  56  may be a ringer, a light emitting device, or the like. 
     One skilled in the art will appreciate from the teaching herein that the controller  52  need not directly control recording device  54  if the recording device  54  is designed to automatically answer incoming calls irrespective of whether ringer  32  has been disabled by controller  52 . Indeed, known answering machines may be coupled to a telephone line (not shown) which will answer incoming calls without input from controller  52 . Generally, such answering machines (if used for recording device  54 ) may communicate with telephone  30  via its input jack as shown by dashed signal line  36 . However, when controller  52  is in communication with telephone  30  via its input jack and recording device  54  is directly connected to the telephone line, then recording device  54  may communicate with controller  52  via signal line  35  such that telephone  30  may access the telephone line. 
     While the invention as discussed above is generally directed to an apparatus that may by inserted between an input of a telephone (e.g., the input jack to the telephone) and the telephone line (e.g. a modular plug coming from the ring/tip connections of the telephone line), those of ordinary skill in the art will  5  appreciate that the present invention may be used in conjunction with a number of appliances. Indeed, the invention can be incorporated into a telephone answering machine, as well as alarm clocks, and other devices. A complete telephone can even be constructed that contains the invention internally (e.g., integrally). In addition, the invention could also be inserted immediately after the interface of one&#39;s incoming phone service in order to control all of the phones in a house or office. Further, one skilled in the art will recognize that timers  16 ,  16  may be integral to respective controllers  14 ,  26 ,  52 . 
     As seen illustrated in  FIGS. 4-6 , this further embodiment of the present invention provides a method and apparatus for allowing a person to temporarily disable or block the receipt of incoming calls, but allow the caller to override the blocking feature by designating the call as a priority call. Thus, the user can change the normal mode of operation of his/her phone to a “do not disturb” mode of operation (also called “emergency override” mode), such that only incoming calls designated as priority or emergency calls are forwarded to the user (i.e., called party). Other incoming calls not designated as priority calls (i.e., non-priority calls) are sent to standard voice mail for retrieval by the called party at a later time. 
     In particular, the present invention allows a user, who is a subscriber for wireless services with a carrier, such as a common cellular phone service, to send a signal (i.e., notification message) to the voice mail system associated with the service provider (e.g. a wireless communications service provider), to intercept all incoming calls and present a particular voice mail message that presents the caller with an option of making the current call a priority call. If the caller designates the call as a “priority call,” then the priority call is forwarded as an incoming priority call to the called party. Otherwise, if the caller does not designate the call as a priority call, the voice mail system allows the caller to leave a voice mail message or to terminate the call in a conventional manner. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , there is shown a simplified block diagram of a cellular phone switching system forming part of a wireless cellular phone network  400 , its logical entities, as well as the relative connection with the public switched telephone network  414 , and a private base station  444 . 
     The present invention allows a subscriber for phone services to transmit a packetized mode of operation signal, such as: 
     (a) a do-not-disturb message (i.e., voice mail notification), or 
     (b) a normal mode of operation signal, to the messaging center  412  of the service provider. This voice mail notification is forwarded to a voice mail system  420  of the service provider. The packetized information initiates a routine that is performed by the voice mail system in conjunction with other components in the network  400  to block any incoming phone calls to the subscriber, unless the caller designates the call as a priority call. 
     The network  400  includes a plurality of mobile wireless devices, such as for example, the cellular telephone  402   1  belonging to a subscriber of the voice mail system, and the caller&#39;s cellular telephone  402   2 . Other wireless devices could also be used, including one and two-way wireless pagers. Obviously, the caller&#39;s phone could be a cellular or land-line phone. The cellular concept is well known and is described in general in the Bell System Technical Journal, Volume 58, Number 1, January 1979, and specifically in an article entitled The Cellular Concept by V. H. MacDonald, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     In one embodiment a cell phone is provided with at least one selector, such as button or switch  470   1  or  470   2  as shown with respect to phones  402   1  and  402   2 , respectively, for selection of a mode of operation, such as: 
     (a) a normal mode of operation, and 
     (b) a call-blocking (i.e., do-not-disturb) mode of operation. The circuitry of the cellular telephone is described in greater detail below with respect to  FIG. 6 . The phone  402  operates in the normal mode of operation by default, and the button  470  allows a user to send a signal to the service provider to switch back and forth between the call-blocking mode operation and the normal mode of operation. Both of these operational modes are discussed below in further detail with respect to  FIGS. 5A-5C . 
     Included within the cellular switching system is at least one mobile switching center (MSC)  404   1 , and (MSC)  404   2 , the public telephone switched network (PSTN)  414 , a cellular base station (CBS)  406 , and one or more databases  410 . An optional private base station (PBS)  444  can be used at a premise  440 , such as a residence, and is connected to the wireless network via the PSTN  414 . A subscriber station telephone set  442  is also illustratively shown connected to the public telephone switched network  414  in a well known manner. In this particular example, the private base station  444  is illustrated as part of the residential premises. 
     A mobile station, such as a cellular phone  402   1  or  402   2  (collectively cellular phones  402 ), is illustratively shown outside the premises  440 . A messaging center (MC)  412  is connected to a voice mail system (VMS)  420 , the databases  410 , and all Mobile Switching Centers  404  in the network  400  via a Signaling System such as a standard SS7, which is a separate system but may be integral to the cellular network. Although a private base station  444  and telephone set  442  are not essential for practicing the invention, these components are included for the sake of better understanding the applicability of the invention. 
     The databases  410  include a home location register (HLR), a visiting location register (VLR), and a private visiting location register (P-VLR), (these three registers not shown in  FIG. 4 ) which are used to store profile records, authentication information, routing information for a particular area, and other information in a manner well known in the art. For a better understanding of the registers and their interaction with the cellular system  400 , the reader is directed to U.S. Pat. No. 6,418,307, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. 
     For clarity, the mobile switching center  404   1  is illustratively shown connected to at least one other mobile switching center  404   2  and network operation controller (NOC)  408 . The mobile switching centers  404  are part of the overall cellular systems operation and may similarly have as its database  410  a home location register (HLR), a visiting location register (VLR), and a private visiting location register (P-VLR), as well as multiple cellular base stations  406  associated therewith. It is understood that other mobile switching centers also may be part of the cellular system. The network operation controller (NOC)  408  provides overall control, and thereby ensures that the operation of the entire cellular system is supported and serviced. 
     The mobile switching center  404  performs all the switching functions related to call delivery and is interconnected to the public telephone switched network  414 , the databases (i.e., location registers)  410 , and to the cellular base station  406 . The mobile station (or cellular phone  402 ) and cellular base station  406  are designed to operate in a cellular system in accordance with the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) Interim Standard (IS)-136, dated December 1994, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     The voice mail system  420  is operatively in communication with the mobile switching center  404 , the location registers stored in the databases  410 , and the messaging center  412 . The voice mail system  420  can be a separate system apart from the public switched telephone network  414 , part of the public switched telephone network, or integral with the cellular telephone network  400 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 4 , the voice mail system  420  includes at least one controller  421  that is suitable for controlling operations for the voice mail system. Specifically, the controller  421  comprises a processor  422 , as well as memory  426  for storing various control programs and routines to implement the present invention. Although the controller  421  is shown and discussed as being an integral component of the voice mail system  420 , one skilled in the art will appreciate, that the controller  421  can be facilitated on an independent computer device, such as a server or workstation, and need only be in communication with the voice mail system  420  to select the appropriate voice mail messages. 
     Memory  428  is also provided for storing messages, such as incoming messages  432 , outgoing greeting messages  434 , and outgoing priority messages  436  of the present invention. Incoming messages refers to messages recorded by a caller that are stored in the memory  432  for later retrieval by the subscriber (called party). An outgoing greeting message refers to a conventional or personalized greeting prerecorded by the subscriber that is played to a caller in response the called party/subscriber not answering the incoming call. For example, the greeting message may state in part that “the party you called is unavailable, please leave a message after the tone.” The greeting message can be recorded by the subscriber or the service provider, and is stored in the memory  434  for playback in a conventional manner. 
     The outgoing “priority” message refers to a message stored in memory  436  that provides instructions for a caller to make his current call a “priority call” or “emergency override call”, as discussed below in greater detail with respect to  FIGS. 5A-5C . For purposes of describing the invention, a priority call and emergency call or emergency override are treated equivalently. For example, the priority message may state in part, for example, that “if this is an emergency, please press the asterisk (*) button on your phone to alert the called party that this is a priority call” or the message may state in part, for example, “if this is an emergency please press the asterisk (*) button which will override the automatic outgoing greeting and cause the phone of the called party to ring”. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the normal greeting and priority greeting can be any suitable message for the purposes stated herein. 
     The processor  422  may be any conventional processor, such as one or more Intel® processors. The processor  422  cooperates with support circuitry  424 , such as power supplies, clock circuits, I/O circuitry, cache memory, among other conventional support circuitry, to assist in executing the software routines illustratively stored in the memory  426 . 
     The memories  426  and  428  may comprise volatile memory (e.g., RAM), non-volatile memory (e.g., disk drives) and/or a combination thereof. Although the memory is shown as two separate memory devices, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the memory may be provided on one or more memory devices. 
     As such, it is contemplated that some of the process steps discussed herein as software processes may be implemented within hardware, for example, as circuitry that cooperates with the processor  422  to perform various steps. It is noted that an operating system (not shown) and optionally various application programs (not shown) can be stored in the memory  126  to run other specific tasks and enable user interaction. 
     Although the controller  421  of  FIG. 4  is depicted as a general-purpose computer that is programmed to perform various control functions in accordance with the present invention, the invention can be implemented in hardware such as, for example, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). As such, it is intended that the processes described herein be broadly interpreted as being equivalently performed by software, hardware or a combination thereof. 
     The subscriber for cellular telephone services can operate the phone in at least two modes. The first mode is a normal or conventional mode of operation. When a calling party makes a call to a subscriber of the voice mail system  420 , and the subscriber does not answer, the mobile switching center  404  can switch the call over to the voice mail system  420 , which activates a request for the calling party to leave a message in the subscriber&#39;s mailbox  432 . Thus the caller records a message for the called party, which is stored in a portion of memory designated for incoming messages  432 . 
     The second mode of operation is termed a “do-not-disturb” mode of operation or “emergency override”, where the subscriber for cellular services sends a signal to the service provider to switch over from using the normal or standard greeting stored in memory  434  to the priority message stored in  436 . In this second mode of operation, the voice mail system  420  will select from memory  436 , the priority message for playback to a caller. The priority message can be recorded and stored in memory  436  by the subscriber or the service provider. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 5A-5C , a flow diagram is shown illustrating a method  500  for using the voice mail service, which includes the “do-not-disturb” and priority call override features of the present invention. The flow diagram includes three columns that describe the steps and interactions between the user (subscriber), the service provider (SP), and the caller (calling party). 
     The method  500  starts at step  502  ( FIG. 5A ), where a subscriber of the cellular phone services (i.e., user) has his/her cell phone in the default normal mode of operation, and sends a signal (presses button  470 ) from this cell phone to the service provider to initiate the “do-not-disturb” mode of operation. In particular, the user may desire to not be disturbed for a specified time period by incoming phone calls, unless the incoming phone call is from a person who deems it a priority call, such as an emergency situation or some other important circumstance to warrant the calling party to override the do-not-disturb mode of operation by making the call a priority call. 
     The do-not-disturb mode of operation is telephone specific, meaning that this do-not-disturb mode of operation is initiated and applicable for the phone from which the signal is sent to the service provider. The do-not-disturb signal initiates a sequence of steps by the service provider, as described below: (a) to temporarily block an incoming call, (b) forward the incoming call to voice mail, and present the caller with the option of either: (1) making the call a “priority call” to unblock the call and have it routed to the called party, or (2) leaving a message in a conventional manner. 
     At step  504 , the service provider receives the “do-not-disturb with override option” signal from a user. In particular, the packetized signal is carried by the local base station  406  and sent to the MSC (router)  404 , where it is routed to the message center  412 . The message center  412  sends the packet information of the signal to the controller  421 , where the packetized information is stored in memory (e.g., cache) and executed by the processor  422  in a well known manner. 
     At step  506  the controller  421  instructs the voice mail system  420  to select the “priority call message”  436  for playback to callers making incoming priority calls to the subscriber. At step  508 , the controller  421  discontinues using the normal greeting message stored in memory  434  which is normally used for playback. Thus, the do-not-disturb signal switches the voice mail system  420  from the standard mode of operation (where it allows the forwarding of all incoming calls and plays the normal greeting stored in memory  434  in response to an unanswered call) to the do-not-disturb mode of operation. The method  500  then proceeds to step  510 . 
     At step  510  a caller makes a call to the subscriber who has previously initiated the do-not-disturb mode of operation on his/her phone. The caller can make the call from any phone at any location that has connectivity to the network  400 , such as from a phone  442  connected to a land line, a cellular phone  402 , a PDA, a laptop having VoIP capabilities and the like. 
     At step  512  the MSC  404  receives the incoming call and routs the call to the message center  412 . At step  514 , the service provider temporarily blocks the incoming call from being routed to the called party. In one embodiment the message center  412  sends a message to the MSC  404  to instruct the MSC not to rout the call to the called party. Optionally, the MSC  404  provides an acknowledgement message back to the message center  412 . 
     At step  516  the message center  412  communicates with the voice mail system  420  via the controller  421  to play back the priority message that is stored in memory  436  to the caller. At step  518  the caller receives the message containing instructions on how to make the current call a priority call. The method  500  then proceeds to step  520  ( FIG. 5B ). 
     At step  520  the priority message gives the caller the option of:
         (a) not making this call a priority call and merely leaving a message,   (b) making the current call a priority call, leaving a message, or   (c) terminating the call by hanging up.       

     If, at step  520  the caller elects option (a) and sends a signal to leave a voice mail message, then the method proceeds to step  522 , where the caller presses the appropriate button on the phone to instruct the message center  412  that the caller wishes to leave a message. Thereafter, at step  524 , the caller can communicate a personalized message, which at step  526 , is received by the voice mail system  420  and recorded as an incoming message in memory  432  in a well known manner. The method  500  then proceeds to step  599 , where the method ends. 
     If, at step  520 , the caller elects option (b) and decides to make the current call a priority call, the method proceeds to step  528 . At step  528  the caller sends a signal associated with making the current call a priority call. In one embodiment the caller presses a button, such as the asterisk (*) button, which sends the priority call signal (i.e., tone) to the message center  412 . At step  530 , the message center  412  receives the priority call signal, and the message center sends a message to the MSC  404  to rout the current (now priority) call to the called party (i.e., the subscriber). 
     At step  534  the priority call is routed to the subscriber in a conventional manner and an incoming call alert device is activated. The call alert device can be an audible device, such as the phone ringer or tones, a vibrator mechanism of the phone, an illumination device, a text message or any combination thereof. 
     At step  536  ( FIG. 5C ) the subscriber (called party) decides whether to answer the incoming priority call. If the called party decides to answer the phone call, the method  500  proceeds to step  538 , where the called party responds to the alert device and answers the phone in a conventional manner. The two parties can then proceed to converse with each other in a conventional manner, until at step  599 , the phone call is terminated. 
     If at step  536  the called party decides not to answer the incoming priority call, the method  500  proceeds to step  540  where the called party does not respond to the alert device and the phone remains on-hook. At step  542  the MSC (mobile switching center) continues to forward the call until the unanswered call “times out.” That is, the incoming call is considered to have “timed out” after some predetermined metric has elapsed, “metric” meaning a predetermined time having elapsed or a predetermined number of rings having occurred on the user&#39;s phone. At step  544  the controller  421  instructs the voice mail system  420  to select and play the normal greeting message from memory  434 , which instructs the caller to leave a message (e.g., recorded message) in a conventional manner. The normal greeting message is played only to this particular caller, since the called party did not answer the priority call. Recall, that the user has not switched from the do-not-disturb mode of operation back to the normal mode of operation. Thus, the priority call message will be played to any other caller making a call to the subscriber. 
     At step  546  the calling party receives the normal greeting and must decide whether to leave a message. If the calling party decides not to leave the message, the caller can terminate the call at step  548 , and the method  500  proceeds to step  599  where the message ends. Otherwise, the method  500  proceeds to step  550 , where the caller communicates a message to the voice mail system  420 . At step  552  the voice mail system  420  records the caller&#39;s message and stores it in memory  432  for retrieval and playback by the subscriber at a later time. The subscriber can subsequently change the telephone mode of operation back to the normal mode of operation by sending the operation mode signal to the message center  412 , as discussed above. 
     In another embodiment where the subscriber has a “caller ID” feature, the present invention allows the subscriber to input the phone number of one or more prospective callers to the “do-not-disturb” mode of operation. The system will then forward only those callers the user has selected as priority callers. Furthermore, the subscriber can program the system using “caller ID” to recognize particular callers with whom the subscriber does not wish to speak and to not offer them the option of “emergency override”. 
     In particular, the subscriber&#39;s profile database stored at database  410  can include a link to a database that lists caller numbers and/or names that the subscriber deems as being acceptable for making a priority call. The subscriber can update this list of persons/phone numbers in a conventional manner as updating the subscriber&#39;s phone directory. 
     For those numbers/entities that are designated with priority status, any incoming call from one of such numbers/entities is automatically forwarded to the subscriber, regardless of which mode of operation the subscriber has selected. In other words, the priority caller does not have to listen to the outgoing priority call message from the voice mail system  420 . Rather, the MSC  404  checks the database  410  for indication of priority call status for the caller. If the caller has been designated having priority status by the subscriber, the MSC  404  routs the incoming call to the subscriber in a conventional matter. 
     In one embodiment where the caller making the incoming call has not been designated with priority status by the subscriber, the incoming call is treated in a manner discussed above with respect to  FIGS. 5A-5C . In an alternative embodiment, the incoming call can be sent to the voice mail system  420  and the caller is presented with the normal outgoing message, without an opportunity to make the caller&#39;s call a priority call. This latter embodiment advantageously allows the subscriber to block calls that the subscriber deems as usually being undesirable to answer. 
     Although the present invention is described in terms of being implemented in a wireless network, such as a cellular phone network, those persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments including the do-not-disturb mode of operation of the present invention are also applicable to VoIP telephone services occurring over the Internet (Voice over Internet Protocol) or any other communication networks that provides phone services. 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a mobile station  402  according to the present invention. In one embodiment, the mobile station  402  is a cellular telephone, however, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mobile device can be any communication device capable of transmitting and receiving telephone calls. 
     The mobile station  402  comprises a housing  602  for facilitating a transmitter/receiver/modulation circuitry  604 , an antenna  606 , signal processing circuitry  608 , a control circuitry (controller)  610 , support circuitry  612 , memory  614 , and I/O circuitry  616 , as is well known in the art. A radio communication signal sent from a base station  406  is inputted to the radio transmitter/receiver circuit  604  through the antenna  606 . The received radio communication signal is converted to an intermediate frequency signal in the radio transmitter/receiver circuitry  604 . Then, the received intermediate frequency signal is demodulated to a digital signal by a digital modulator/demodulator circuit. The demodulated digital signal is sent to the signal processing circuitry  608  where the digital signal is decoded by an error correcting encoder/decoder circuit, as conventionally known in the art. Digital signals decoded by and outputted from the error correcting encoder/decoder circuit include a digital communication signal and a digital control signal, where the digital control signal is supplied to and identified by control circuit  610 . The digital communication signal, in turn, is decoded by a speech coding encoder/decoder circuit to restore an analog communication signal, which is subsequently outputted from an audio output device, such as a speaker. 
     On the other hand, outgoing speech is first transduced to a transmission signal by a transducer, and the transmission signal is then converted to a digital transmission signal by the speech coding encoder/decoder circuit. The digital transmission signal, after being encoded in the error correcting encoder/decoder circuit together with a digital control signal generated in the control circuit  610 , is inputted to the digital modulator/demodulator circuit and modulated to an orthogonally modulated signal therein. The modulated signal is transmitted to the base station  406  from the antenna  606  after being converted to a high frequency signal by the radio transmitter/receiver circuit  604  for transmission through a predetermined radio channel, as is well known in the art. 
     The control circuit  610 , which employs a microcomputer as a main control unit, interfaces with the transceiver/modulation circuitry  604 , signal processing circuitry  608 , the support circuitry  612 , memory  614  and I/O circuitry  616  in a conventional manner. The support circuitry  612  include a battery power supply to provide electrical power required by the mobile station, GPS circuitry and other support circuitry conventionally known in the art. The support circuitry  612  operates in conjunction with the controller  610  in a well known manner. The I/O circuitry  616  includes circuitry for operating a display panel, speakers, jacks, keyboard, selector buttons and switches, among other conventionally known input and output devices. The I/O circuitry operates in conjunction with the controller  610  in a well known manner. 
     In a preferred embodiment the I/O circuitry includes a mode of operation selector which can be any conventional button or switch  470  that allows the user to manually switch between: (a) the normal mode of operation, which is the default mode of operation of the mobile station, and (b) the call blocking or “do-not-disturb” mode of operation. 
     In operation, a user selects a mode of operation by pressing the button  470 , which provides an input signal to the control circuit  610  to send a mode of operation signal to the service provider. The control circuit  610  retrieves from memory the information required to notify the service provider that the subscriber&#39;s phone is operating in a particular mode of operation. The control circuit  610  transmits the mode of operation signal to the service provider, and more specifically, to the base station  406  and MSC  404  a conventional manner, as described above. In response to receiving the mode of operation signal from a subscriber, the controller  421  changes the outgoing message to correspond with the user is selected mode of operation. 
     For example, if the subscriber selects the “call blocking and emergency override” mode of operation, then, as seen in  FIG. 4 , controller  421  located at the service provider instructs the voice mail system  420  to select the priority message  436  for playback to incoming callers. Similarly, the subscriber can use the selector  470  to instruct the service provider to operate in the normal (default) mode of operation, in which the normal greeting message  434  is provided for playback to incoming callers, as described above with respect to FIGS.  4  and  5 A- 5 C. 
     In another embodiment the mobile station (such as a cellular phone)  402  can store the voicemail program  616 , normal greeting  618  and priority message  620  in the memory  614  of the mobile station. In this embodiment a user presses the mode of operation selector (e.g., button)  470  to switch from normal mode of operation to the do-not-disturb mode of operation. In contrast to step  504  of  FIG. 5A , the mobile station does not send a signal to the MSC  404  of the service provider. Rather, the selection of the do-not-disturb mode of operation turns off the incoming call alert device (e.g., ringer, vibrator, and/or the like)  622  of the mobile station  402 . That is, the incoming call alert devices  622  are disabled in response to the user selecting the do-not-disturb mode of operation. 
     When an incoming call is made by a calling party, the service provider routs the telephone call to the user in a conventional manner. The mobile station  402  will receive the incoming call, and the control circuitry  610  executes the voicemail program  616  to select the appropriate greeting message from memory  614 . That is, the priority message  620  is retrieved from memory for playback to the incoming caller via the signal processing circuitry  608  and the transceiver/modulation circuitry  604  in a conventional manner. 
     The caller then is given instructions by the priority message: 
     (a) to designate the incoming call a priority call, 
     (b) to leave a message, or 
     (c) to terminate the call, as discussed above with respect to method  500  of  FIGS. 5A-5C . If the caller designates the incoming call as a priority call, then the controller  610  receives a signal from the caller&#39;s telephone, for example, by the caller pressing the asterisk button, which activates the alert device  622  into an ON-state. The called party can then answer the incoming priority call in a conventional manner. 
     If the caller does not send a priority signal back to the called party&#39;s mobile station  402 , then the incoming call alert device  622  remains off, and the caller can leave a message in a conventional manner. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the incoming message from the caller can be stored at the voicemail system  420  of the service provider or in the memory  614  of the mobile station  402 . 
     Although the embodiments of the present invention are discussed in terms of a wireless carrier, such as a cellular telephone service provider, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the service provider can be any telecommunications service provider, such as a cable service provider, an internet service provider, or any other telecommunications service provider that can transfer data and/or voice signals between a source node and a destination node. 
     The foregoing description of the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been provided for the purpose of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto.