Patent ID: 8144856

Claim:
A telecommunication device comprising: a receiving module for receiving an incoming call from a calling device; and a programmed processor connected to the receiving module for: identifying a telephone number associated with a recipient of the incoming call, using the identified telephone number to form a first communication path between said processor and a first communication device by dialing a first telephone number and a second different communication path between said processor and a second communication device by dialing a second telephone number, holding the incoming call for a predetermined time until it is determined that the call to the telephone number associated with the recipient has been answered at the first or second communication device, authenticating the answering one of the first and second communication devices by requesting an acknowledgement signal before forming a completed physical circuit connection between the calling device and the device the recipient has answered; and routing the incoming call to the answered device using the completed physical circuit connection; wherein said processor is further programmed to prompt a caller of the incoming call with a menu of call destination options for the recipient of the incoming call and said processor forms at least one of said first communication path and said second communication path in accordance with an option selected by the caller.