Patent ID: 7050559

Claim:
A central office switch for monitoring a call forwarded to a network-based voice mail system (VMS), comprising: means for receiving a call directed to a called party; if the call is not answered, means for forwarding the call to the VMS; after the call is forwarded to the VMS, means for determining if the call was forwarded prior to being forwarded to the VMS; if the call was not forwarded prior to being forwarded to the VMS, means for receiving a call monitoring provisioned signal from the VMS, wherein the call monitoring provisioned signal indicates that call monitoring is allowed; in response to receiving the call monitoring provisioned signal, means for sending an activate call monitoring data message and a call monitoring alert signal to customer premises equipment (CPE) associated with the called party to alert the called party that call monitoring is available; and if the call was forwarded prior to being forwarded to the VMS, means for denying call monitoring.