Patent ID: 7120243

Claim:
A method for accessing switch functionality from an external endpoint, comprising: providing a switch, at least one internal endpoint, and at least one external endpoint, each of the at least one internal and external endpoints being in communication with the switch and associated with a common user, wherein the at least one internal endpoint comprises a plurality of feature activators for activating a plurality of features; receiving from the at least one external endpoint an incoming contact comprising a feature activate identifier; determining when the feature activate identifier has a corresponding entry in a stored list of feature activate identifiers, the entries in the stored list being associated with at least one of (i) a plurality of feature activator identifiers associated with the plurality of feature activators and (ii) a plurality of feature identifiers associated with the plurality of features; and when the feature activate identifier has a corresponding entry in the stored list, activating at least one of the associated feature activator and feature.