Patent ID: 7636428

Claim:
A method of providing a called party the ability to screen calls, the method comprising: receiving at a call processing system a first call from a caller intended for a called party, wherein the first call includes signaling information having a phone number of the caller; opening a communication channel over the Internet with a networked computer associated with the called party; transmitting, while the first call is in progress, a call alert message, including at least a portion of the signaling information, to a terminal associated with the called party; recording speech from the caller and transmitting the speech to the terminal in substantially real time, wherein the speech is intended to be played to the called party via the terminal; receiving a connection instruction via the terminal, and causing the caller to be connected to at least one of a plurality of potential destinations associated with the called party; placing an outcall from the call processing system to at least one destination, wherein the at least one destination is a phone; bridging the first call and the outcall; and transmitting status information related to the bridged first call and outcall to the terminal.