Patent ID: 8306201

Claim:
A method for providing telephone number sharing services, the method comprising: receiving call details for a call to a called party from a subscriber of a call system, the call details including a called number corresponding to the called party; storing the call details including a call placement preference of the subscriber and the called number; determining whether the call from the subscriber is a first call to the called number; in response to the call being the first call to the called number, assigning a reusable call number that satisfies the call placement preference of the subscriber; and storing the reusable call number assigned to the subscriber for the call with the called number; in response to the call not being the first call to the called number, retrieving a reusable call number assigned to the subscriber from a previous call to the called number; forwarding the call to the called number along with the assigned reusable call number; and in response to receiving a another call from a calling number to a reusable call number at the system, identifying a subscriber of the system associated with the reusable call number and the calling number; in response to a successful identification of the subscriber, forwarding the another call to a phone number of the subscriber; and in response to a unsuccessful identification of the subscriber, notifying the calling number that the reusable call number is not active and terminating the another call.