Patent ID: 7801284

Claim:
A communication system for providing an enhanced dial-by-name feature, comprising: a directory of subscribers within said communication system; a voice terminal configured to receive speech input from a user indicating directory search criteria for searching said directory to identify said subscribers matching said input and to provide both a list of said subscribers matching said input and presence information on each of said subscribers in said list to said user, wherein said presence information for each of said subscribers indicates availability of said respective subscriber; a presence system for collecting and storing said presence information on said subscribers, wherein said presence system is operable to provide said presence information on each of said subscribers in said list to said voice terminal; and a private branch exchange (PBX) coupled to said directory, said voice terminal and said presence system and providing an interface between said voice terminal, said directory and said presence system for receiving said input from said voice terminal, accessing said directory to retrieve said list of subscribers, providing said list of subscribers to said presence system to retrieve said presence information and providing said list of subscribers and said presence information to said voice terminal; wherein said presence information is organized into presence levels, a first one of said presence levels indicating availability of said subscribers in said list and a subsequent one of said presence levels of a subscriber of said subscribers indicating availability of the subscriber per media type, said subsequent level is retrieved in response to the user selection via user interface from said presence level.