Patent ID: 8867716

Claim:
A method for providing communication number sharing services, the method comprising: maintaining, in a computing system, a bank of reusable caller identifiers (IDs), the bank of reusable caller IDs ordered based on usage and including one or more previously assigned caller IDs; receiving, by the computing system, communication details for a communication from a subscriber of the computing system to a contacted number belonging to a contacted party, the communication details including caller identifier (ID) information associated with the subscriber; determining, by the computing system, whether the communication from the subscriber is a first communication to the contacted number; responsive to the communication being the first communication to the contacted number, assigning, by the computing system, a caller ID from the bank of reusable caller IDs by reclaiming a previously assigned caller ID that satisfies the caller ID information associated with the subscriber; storing, in the computing system, the assigned caller ID as a caller ID assigned to communications between the subscriber and the contacted number; responsive to the communication not being the first communication to the contacted number, retrieving, by the computing system, the caller ID previously assigned to communications between the subscriber and the contacted number; and connecting, by the computing system, the communication between the contacted number and the caller ID assigned to the subscriber.