Patent ID: 7603108

Claim:
A method for automatically establishing a connection in a telecommunications network from an initiating telephone device to at least one predetermined contact, comprising the steps of: an application server receiving a contact request signal from said initiating telephone device, wherein the contact request signal includes an urgency level; the application server accessing a contacts database based upon at least one instruction of the contact request signal, the contacts database including a plurality of predetermined contacts, wherein each of the plurality of predetermined contacts has an associated urgency level; the application server dynamically determining a list of available contacts that match the urgency level from said plurality of predetermined contacts in response to said contact request signal, wherein the determining step identifies a given predetermined contact from said plurality of predetermined contacts as available if: the given predetermined contact is on, the predetermined contact is within service range, the given predetermined contact has a signal of sufficient strength to complete a connection to the given predetermined contact, there is an open communications channel, and the given predetermined contact is not communicating with another device; communicating the determined list of available contacts that match the urgency level to the initiating telephone device; permitting the user to select a particular predetermined available contact from said list of available contacts that match the urgency level; and the application server establishing an automatic connection between the initiating telephone device and the particular predetermined available contact having been dynamically determined to be available.