Patent ID: 8275119

Claim:
A method of conducting a service or transaction between a caller and a call recipient on a telephony network, the method comprising: at a telephony service location remote from a caller and a call recipient: receiving, from the caller, a telephony request for establishing a connection to the call recipient the request having been initiated by the caller specifying a number associated with the call recipient; receiving, from a communication device of the caller, a command signal during a call connect process, the command signal being a single command other than a standard call connect command, the call connect process including at least one phase from a group consisting of a dial phase and an originating phase, the call connect process being before a logical association between the caller and the call recipient; and in response to receiving the command signal, and without connecting through to the call recipient during the telephony request, conducting a service or transaction between the caller and the call recipient other than a standard call connection transaction.