Patent ID: 8504081

Claim:
An apparatus for delivering communications services to users comprising: a service platform for carrying out a plurality of communication services, wherein said plurality of communication services are different from one another and involve at least one form of communication selected from the group consisting of telephony, text message communication, instant message communication, and streaming media communication; a database storing a telephone number uniquely assigned to a particular user; means for generating an alphanumeric code that is uniquely assigned to the particular user, wherein the alphanumeric code is different from said telephone number assigned to the particular user; interface means, operably coupled to the database, for interacting with the particular user to define an association between said alphanumeric code and a user-selected one of the plurality of communications services, and storing in said database information representing the association between said alphanumeric code and the user-selected one communication service; means for receiving a text-based message from a requesting party, the text-based message including said alphanumeric code; and a control block, coupled to said database and said service platform, for controlling said service platform to initiate the user-selected one communication service that is associated with said alphanumeric code included in the received text-based message as dictated by the information stored in said database; wherein said plurality of communication services include a calling service; and wherein, in the event that said alphanumeric code is associated with the calling service by said interface, the control block is configured to initiate the calling service as associated with said alphanumeric code included in the received text-based message by controlling the service platform to carry out a number of operations including establishing a connection to the requesting party, establishing a connection to the telephone number stored in the database for the particular user associated with the alphanumeric code included in the received text-based message, and bridging the two connections together for voice communication there between.