Patent ID: 8897436

Claim:
A method for providing an emergency ring tone in a communication network, comprising: receiving, by a processor, a call setup signaling message from a calling party requesting the emergency ring tone to be sent to a called party, where the emergency ring tone is provided in accordance with an emergency ring tone service feature; and providing, by the processor, the emergency ring tone to the called party, wherein the providing comprises verifying that both the calling party and the called party are registered subscribers of the emergency ring tone service feature and sending the emergency ring tone to the called party, wherein each of the calling party and the called party has registered for a subscription to the emergency ring tone service feature via an application server in the communication network of a service provider before the call setup signaling message is received, wherein the providing further comprises checking that a registered emergency ring tone list of the calling party is set where the emergency ring tone is capable of being sent to all called parties and checking that a registered emergency ring tone list of the called party is set where the emergency ring tone is capable of being received from all calling parties.