Patent ID: 7412044

Claim:
A method for accessing switch functionality from an external endpoint, comprising: providing at least one of a switch and server, at least one internal endpoint, and at least one external endpoint, each of the at least one internal and external endpoints being in communication with the at least one of a switch and server and being associated with a common user, wherein the at least one internal endpoint comprises a plurality of feature activators for activating a plurality of features; receiving from the at least one external endpoint an incoming contact comprising a packet-switched text communication comprising an identity of at least one of a feature activator and a feature; determining, by the switch, that the text communication comprises a feature command and is not intended to be forwarded to a subscriber; determining, by the switch, based on the source address of the text communication, that the sender has authorization to request invocation of a feature activator and/or feature; parsing, by the switch, the text communication and comparing, by the switch, the parsed text against a set of feature commands to identity the at least one of the selected feature activator and feature; determining when the identified at least one of a feature activator and feature has a corresponding entry in a stored list of identifiers, the entries in the stored list of identifiers being associated with at least one of (i) a plurality of feature activator identifiers associated with the plurality of feature activators and (ii) a plurality of feature identifiers associated with the plurality of features; and when the identified at least one of a feature activator and feature has a corresponding entry in the stored list, activating at least one of the associated feature activator and feature.