Patent ID: 8374332

Claim:
A system for providing automatic call completion in a directory assistance system in a public switched telephone network (PSTN), the system comprising: a telephone subscriber database disposed in a switch in the PSTN; a name resolution adapter disposed in the PSTN and coupled to said telephone subscriber database; a directory assistance system disposed externally to the PSTN and communicatively linked to said name resolution adapter over a data communications network; and, a call billing computation process coupled to said directory assistance system, a call billing computation process coupled to said directory assistance system the process first retrieving an address for a calling party issuing a directory assistance request from the PSTN and second retrieving an address for a telephone number produced by the directory assistance request, computing prospective telephone charges based upon said retrieved addresses, prompting said calling party with said computed prospective charges, and automatically completing a call between said calling party and said telephone number, wherein said first retrieving of the address comprises the steps of querying a line item database (LIDB) through a name resolution adapter disposed in the PSTN for an address for said calling party.