Patent ID: 8467515

Claim:
A method performed by an answering service on behalf of a predetermined called party when a calling party places an incoming call to the called party and the called party is unable or unwilling to answer the incoming call directly, the method being performed by a computing system of the answering service and comprising: determining that the calling party has placed the incoming call to the predetermined called party and that the incoming call has been forwarded to the answering service because the called party is not immediately available to the calling party; answering the forwarded incoming call from the calling party on behalf of the called party by way of a first call connection of the computing system; identifying the called party based on the incoming call; identifying to an agent at a display associated with the computing system the identified called party and allowing the agent to converse with the calling party relating to a purpose of the incoming call from the calling party; receiving a signal from the agent at a triggering point while the incoming call from the calling party is still in progress, the triggering point being when the agent determines that the calling party is calling regarding a predetermined urgent matter; commencing contact with the called party upon receiving the signal from the agent at the triggering point and while the incoming call from the calling party is still in progress; and establishing such contact with the called party and effectuating communication between the calling party and the called party while the incoming call from the calling party is still in progress, the computing system establishing contact with the called party by automatically placing an outgoing call to a telephone number of the called party by way of a second telephone connection of the computing system, the method further comprising: receiving an answer to the placed outgoing call from the called party by way of the second telephone connection of the computing system; communicatively coupling the incoming call and the placed outgoing call; placing the placed outgoing call in a mute mode so that the called party can hear but cannot be heard; notifying the agent that the coupled outgoing call is in progress so that the agent can then notify the calling party that the called party may be currently available to speak with the calling party; receiving a signal from the agent to place the incoming call on hold; receiving a signal from the agent to remove the mute mode from the outgoing call so that the agent can then consult with the called party regarding a status of the incoming call and the gathered answers; and receiving a signal from the agent to remove the hold on the incoming call to allow the calling party and called party to speak directly by way of the coupled calls.