Patent ID: 8223747

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at an instant message IM server, a voice call for a telephone number from a PSTN telecommunications device; determining, via the IM server, routing preferences for the telephone number, the routing preferences indicating if the voice call should be routed to one or more IM usernames associated with the telephone number based upon a status of the one or more IM usernames; determining, via the IM server, if any of the one or more IM usernames associated with the telephone number that satisfy the routing preferences are on-line; causing, via the IM server for each of the one or more IM usernames that are online and satisfy the routing preferences, an IM client on a user device associated with the respective IM username to ring the respective on-line IM username for the voice call; routing, via the IM server, the voice call to one of the IM clients that answers the ring for the voice call; determining, via the IM server, if the IM client answers the call using an IM username; and causing, via the IM server, a change of the status of the IM username associated with the IM client that answered the ringing.