Patent ID: 7050558

Claim:
A method of controlling a call forwarding service comprising: operating a peripheral device coupled to a telephone switch to receive a call to a telephone number corresponding to said peripheral device from a caller using a first telephone to make said call, said peripheral device being used to provide said call forwarding service; determining, using automatic number identification information, a first telephone number corresponding to the first telephone from which said call was made; determining, from the first telephone number and stored information, if the first telephone corresponds to a telephone for which said call forwarding service is supported; if it is determined that said first telephone number corresponds to a telephone for which said call forwarding service is supported, and a first signal has been received from the first telephone, performing additional processing including: determining if said first signal is a call forwarding control signal used to activate said call forwarding service, and if it is determined that said first signal is a call forwarding control signal used to activate said call forwarding service, also: i.) determining if a call processing record, associated with said first telephone number, accessible to a service control point coupled to said peripheral device by said telephone switch, includes a previously stored call forwarding telephone number to which forward calls are to be sent; and ii) if it is determined that a previously stored telephone number to which forward calls are to be sent is available, updating said call processing record associated with said first telephone to indicate that call forwarding is active and enabling the forwarding of calls directed to the first telephone to a second telephone using said previously stored call forwarding telephone number; and if it is determined that said first telephone number corresponds to a first telephone for which said call forwarding service is not supported by said peripheral device, requiring entry of a personal identification number and a second telephone number corresponding to a second telephone for which a call forwarding service is supported by said peripheral device prior to implementing a call forwarding control operation enabling or disabling call forwarding with respect to calls directed to said second telephone.