Patent ID: 8073121

Claim:
A communications system, comprising: a network element connected to a calling party communications device having a caller identification messaging device, the network element receiving from the caller identification messaging device a caller identification messaging signal comprising a caller identification message and a destination communications address; and a communications network processing an incoming line identification (ICLID) signal of the calling party communications device and the received caller identification messaging signal; the communications network providing a caller identification profile including a caller identification messaging service associated with the calling party and a type identifier associated with a type of communications device used at the destination communications address; the communications network determining if a receiving party communications device used at the destination communications address supports enhanced caller ID messaging; the communications network sending the caller identification messaging signal to the destination communications address when the communications device used at the destination communications address supports enhanced caller ID messaging; the communications network supplanting the ICLID signal with the caller identification message when the communications device used at the destination communications address does not support enhanced caller ID messaging.