Patent ID: 8712033

Claim:
A method for communicating a call rejection over a data network, comprising: receiving, at a called device, an invite message associated with a calling device over the data network, the invite message requesting establishment of a voice over data communication session; communicating a ring message from the called device to a gateway via the data network indicating that the voice over data communication session is successfully established between the calling device and the called device; presenting, by the called device to a called party one or more of a plurality of call rejection options based on preferences of the called party, wherein the one or more of the plurality of call rejection options are associated with separate call rejection messages activated based at least in part on a time of a day, wherein each of the separate call rejection messages is associated with an expiration date and an expiration time; monitoring, by the called device, a predetermined time interval after the invite message is received to determine whether the called party selected any one of the one or more of the plurality of call rejection options during the predetermined time interval, wherein one of the one or more of the plurality of call rejection options is selected based on receiving a called party input at the called device, the called party input being one of a voice input, a selection of a key on a keypad, and a motion input; determining which one of the one or more of the plurality of call rejection options is selected by the called party during the predetermined time interval and, if a selection is determined not to have been made by the called party within the predetermined time interval, automatically selecting, by the called device, a default call rejection option of the call rejection options; communicating a refer message from the called device, including a first call rejection option of the plurality of call rejection options to a gateway via the data network, wherein the refer message further comprises a network address of the calling device, a network address of the called device, information for routing the voice over data communication session over the data network to a message platform, an outgoing message parameter, a time parameter, and a personalized message parameter; communicating, by the gateway, the refer message to the message platform based on the information for routing the voice over data communication session over the data network to the message platform; and identifying, by the message platform, the refer message and communicating a call rejection message to the calling device based on the first call rejection option included in the refer message.