Patent ID: 7218717

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving at a service switching point, from a calling party, a dialed number of a called party; generating at the service switching point a dialed number query message in response to the receipt of the dialed number, the dialed number query message comprising the dialed number of the called party; transmitting the dialed number query message from the service switching point to a service control point; at the service control point, retrieving from a caller name database a name of the called party based on the dialed number, in response to the dialed number query message; at the service control point, generating a dialed number reply message in response to the retrieval of the name of the called party, the dialed number reply message comprising the name of the called party; at an intelligent peripheral cooperating with the service switching point to provide telephone service, generating an audio message which includes the name of the called party in response to the dialed number reply message; communicating the audio message from the intelligent peripheral via the service switching point to the calling party; and routing a call between the calling party and the called party after said communicating the audio message.