Patent ID: 7260205

Claim:
A method for alerting an intended recipient of a phone call, the method comprising: identifying an account based on a phone call received from a caller; accessing configuration data related to the account; identifying a first identity and a second identity associated with the account based on the configuration data accessed; querying one or more first external online service provider systems across a network to determine whether the first identity is available to receive a first electronic communication associated with the phone call; querying one or more second external online service provider systems across the network to determine whether the second identity is available to receive a second electronic communication associated with the phone call; sending across the network to the one or more first external online service provider systems the first electronic communication associated with the phone call conditioned on whether the first identity is determined to be available to receive the first electronic communication; and sending across the network to the one or more second external online service provider systems the second electronic communication associated with the phone call conditioned on whether the second identity is determined to be available to receive the second electronic communication, wherein the one or more first external online service provider systems send the first electronic communication to the first identity, and wherein the one or more second external online service provider systems send the second electronic communication to the second identity.