Patent ID: 7474738

Claim:
A system for providing announcements on a communications network comprising: at least one central terminal for routing communications on the communication network and in communication with the network, the at least one central terminal further comprising an announcement digital signal processor in communication with the incoming call, wherein the announcement digital signal processor converts one or more digital packet files to voice signals; an announcement service node coupled to the at least one central terminal further comprising a data schema and an application server for accessing the data schema; wherein the announcement service node is accessible by more than one central terminal coupled to the communications network, wherein said data schema comprises a storage mass for storing a plurality of recorded announcement digital packet files, the plurality of recorded announcement digital packet files including digitized announcement phrases for callers on the communications network; and wherein a call from an individual is connected to the announcement digital signal processor at the at least one central terminal, with the at least one central terminal determining a list of announcement phrases required for at least one announcement, the central terminal sending a request to the announcement service node that includes the list of announcement phrases required for the at least one announcement, the announcement service node receiving the list of announcement phrases required and assembling the digitized announcement phrases into the at least one announcement, the announcement digital signal processor receiving the at least one announcement from the announcement service node while the call from the individual is connected to the at least one central terminal and converting the at least one announcement to a voice file so as to audibly convey information to the calling individual as the at least one announcement is played from the at least one central terminal during the call.