Patent ID: 7548536

Claim:
A communication system, comprising: a communication network; an originating telephony device coupled to the communication network; a target telephony device coupled to the communication network; and a call manager coupled to the communication network and operable to signal the target telephony device to indicate an incoming call from the originating telephony device, the call manager comprising: an alternate number list operable to identify at least one alternate telephony device to be signaled in response to the incoming call directed to the target telephony device, wherein the alternate telephony device is to be signaled while the target telephony device is signaled, and wherein the alternate number list comprises off-hook processing information associated with each alternate telephony device indicating actions to be taken by the call manager once the target telephony device or one or more of the alternate telephony devices have been taken off-hook to receive the incoming call; and one or more mapping tables associating a packet network address with each identified alternate telephony device.