Patent ID: 7756112

Claim:
An IP (Internet Protocol) telephone system, comprising: a call-originating IP telephone apparatus that is connected to an IP network; a call-receiving IP telephone apparatus, having a plurality of assigned telephone numbers, that is connected to the IP network; a Web server that stores control information for controlling an answering function, the control information corresponding to the plurality of telephone numbers assigned to the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus, and transmits to the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus, the control information that corresponds to an intended recipient telephone number of the plurality of telephone numbers in response to a request from the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus; and an ENUM (Telephone Number Mapping) server that stores NAPTR (Naming Authority Pointer) resource records in which URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) specify link information related to the control information, the control information being stored in the Web server, and transmits to the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus a NAPTR resource record in response to a query from the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus, wherein when a call is received by the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus, the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus transmits to the ENUM server a query for a NAPTR resource record according to the intended recipient telephone number, transmits to the Web server a request for the control information corresponding to the URI included in an obtained NAPTR resource record, and controls the answering function according to obtained control information that corresponds to the intended recipient telephone number, and wherein controlling the answering function includes the call-receiving IP telephone apparatus controlling a recording of a message from the call-originating IP telephone apparatus according to the obtained control information from the web server.